eidolopoeia
A rhetorical technique in which a speech is attributed to a deceased person, a phantom, an image or an idol.
uncountable
The status of the speaker at the time the speech is imagined as being given is what determines whether it is ethopoeia or eidolopoeia. A speech Heracles might have given while alive is an example of ethopoeia, a speech he might have given after death is an eidolopoeia
Where it comes from
From Ancient Greek εἰδωλοποιία (eidōlopoiía, “formation of images; putting words into the mouth of a dead person”), from εἰδωλοποιός (eidōlopoiós, “producing phantom-like appearances”), from εἴδωλον (eídōlon, “phantom”) + ποιός (poiós, “-like”).
Adapted from the Wiktionary entry eidolopoeia (CC BY-SA 4.0).