Hegesippus was a statesman and orator, nicknamed "knot", probably from the way in which he wore his hair. He lived in the time of Demosthenes, whose anti-Macedonian policy he enthusiastically supported. In 343 BC, he was one of the ambassadors sent to Macedonia to discuss, amongst other matters, the restoration of the island of Halonnesus, which had been seized by king Philip of Macedonia. The mission was unsuccessful, but soon afterwards Philip wrote to Athens, offering to resign possession of the island or to submit to arbitration the question of ownership. In reply to this letter the oration De Halonneso was delivered, which, although included among the speeches of Demosthenes, is generally considered to be by Hegesippus. Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Plutarch, however, favour the authorship of Demosthenes.
The Middle Comedy poet Crobylus is sometimes "confounded" with Hegesippus.
Demosthenes was a Greek statesman and orator in ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual prowess and provide insight into the politics and culture of ancient Greece during the 4th century BC. Demosthenes learned rhetoric by studying the speeches of previous great orators. He delivered his first judicial speeches at the age of 20, in which he successfully argued that he should gain from his guardians what was left of his inheritance. For a time, Demosthenes made his living as a professional speechwriter (logographer) and a lawyer, writing speeches for use in private legal suits.
This article concerns the period 349 BC – 340 BC.
Halicarnassus was an ancient Greek city in Caria, in Anatolia. It was located in southwest Caria, on an advantageous site on the Gulf of Gökova, which is now in Bodrum, Turkey. The city was famous for the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, also known simply as the Tomb of Mausolus, whose name provided the origin of the word "mausoleum". The mausoleum, built from 353 to 350 BC, ranked as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
Dionysius of Halicarnassus was a Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric, who flourished during the reign of Emperor Augustus. His literary style was atticistic – imitating Classical Attic Greek in its prime.
Demetrius of Phalerum was an Athenian orator originally from Phalerum, an ancient port of Athens. A student of Theophrastus, and perhaps of Aristotle, he was one of the first members of the Peripatetic school of philosophy. Demetrius had been a distinguished statesman who was appointed by Cassander, the King of Macedon, to govern Athens, where Demetrius ruled as sole ruler for ten years. During this time, he introduced important reforms of the legal system, while also maintaining pro-Cassander oligarchic rule.
Aeschines was a Greek statesman and one of the ten Attic orators.
Isaeus was one of the ten Attic orators according to the Alexandrian canon. He was a student of Isocrates in Athens, and later taught Demosthenes while working as a metic logographer (speechwriter) for others. Only eleven of his speeches survive, with fragments of a twelfth. They are mostly concerned with inheritance, with one on civil rights. Dionysius of Halicarnassus compared his style to Lysias, although Isaeus was more given to employing sophistry.
Demochares, nephew of Demosthenes, Athenian orator and statesman, was one of the few distinguished Athenians in the period of decline.
Cardia or Kardia, anciently the chief town of the Thracian Chersonese, was situated at the head of the Gulf of Melas. It was originally a colony of the Milesians and Clazomenians; but subsequently, in the time of Miltiades, the place also received Athenian colonists, as proved by Miltiades tyranny. But this didn't make Cardia necessarily always pro-Athenian: when in 357 BC Athens took control of the Chersonese, the latter, under the rule of a Thracian prince, was the only city to remain neutral; but the decisive year was 352 BC when the city concluded a treaty of amity with king Philip II of Macedonia. A great crisis exploded when Diopeithes, an Athenian mercenary captain, had in 343 BC brought Attic settlers to the town; and since Cardia was unwilling to receive them, Philip immediately sent help to the town. The king proposed to settle the dispute between the two cities by arbitration, but Athens refused. Demosthenes, the famous Greek patriot and orator, spoke on this very matter to the Athenian Senate in 341 BC his "Oration On The State Of The Chersonesus":
Our present concernment is about the affairs of the Chersonesus, and Philip's expedition into Thrace...but most of our orators insist upon the actions and designs of Diopithes...which, if one moment neglected, the loss may be irreparable; here our attention is instantly demanded...shall Philip be left at full liberty to pursue all his other designs, provided he keeps from Attica; and shall not Diopithes be permitted to assist the Thracians? And if he does, shall we accuse him of involving us in a war?...none of you can be weak enough to imagine that Philip's desires are centered in those paltry villages of Thrace...and has no designs on the ports...arsenals...navies...silver mines, and all the other revenues of Athens; but that he will leave them for you to enjoy...? Impossible! No; these and all his expeditions are really intended to facilitate the conquest of Athens....let us shake off our extravagant and dangerous supineness; let us supply the necessary expenses; let us call on our allies...so that, as he hath his force constantly prepared to injure and enslave the Greeks, yours too may be ever ready to protect and assist them.
Chares of Athens was a 4th-century BC Athenian military commander (Strategos), who for a number of years was one of Athens's foremost commanders. He was also a well connected politician enabling him to procure the commands he desired, commands he primarily used to enrich himself and his adherents.
Lycurgus was a statesman and logographer in Ancient Greece. In the aftermath of the Athenian defeat at the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC, he became the leading figure in Athenian politics, taking control of Athenian finances and pushing through a range of measures which drastically increased Athens' revenues. This money was used to expand the navy, improve the city's fortifications, develop the temples and religious ceremonies, and to build up a hefty reserve. He also encouraged the restoration of traditional values and prosecuted those who fell short of his expectations of civic behaviour. Because of his leading role, the period from 338 to 324 BC is often known in modern scholarship as the "Age of Lycurgus."
Callias of Chalcis, son of Mnesarchus, together with his brother Taurosthenes, succeeded his father as tyrants of Chalcis. Callias formed an alliance with Philip of Macedon against Plutarch, tyrant of Eretria, with the view of extending his authority over the whole of Euboea, a design which, according to Aeschines, he disguised as a plan for uniting in one league the states of the island and establishing a general Euboean congress based at Chalcis.
Moerocles was an Athenian orator, native of Salamis. He was a contemporary of Demosthenes, and like him an opponent of the kings Philip and Alexander, and was one of the anti-Macedonian orators whom Alexander demanded to have given up to him after the destruction of Thebes, though he subsequently withdrew his demand on the mediation of Demades. We find mention of him as the advocate of Theocrines, and in the oration against Theocrines, which was once placed among those of Demosthenes, he is spoken of as the author of a decree in accordance with which the Athenians and their allies joined their forces for the suppression of piracy. On one occasion he was prosecuted by Eubulus for an act of extortion practised upon those who rented the silver mines, and Timocles, the comic poet speaks of him as having received bribes from Harpalus. At one period of his life he had been imprisoned, though we do not know on what charge. He was afterwards the accuser of the sons of Lycurgus, according to a letter ascribed to Demosthenes, but whose authenticity is debated. According to the Pseudo-Plutarch, however, it was Menesaechmus on whose charge they were imprisoned. Moerocles is mentioned by Aristotle.
"On the Crown" is the most famous judicial oration of the prominent Athenian statesman and orator Demosthenes, delivered in 330 BC.
Demosthenes's "Funeral Oration" was delivered between August and September of 338 BC, just after the Battle of Chaeronea. It and the Erotic Essay are the only two surviving epideictic orations of Demosthenes.
"On the Halonnesus" is a political oration attributed to the prominent Athenian statesman and orator Demosthenes.
The Theorica, also called the Theoric Fund or Festival Fund, was the name for the fund of monies in ancient Athens expended on festivals, sacrifices, and public entertainments of various kinds. The fund was, in certain circumstances, also distributed among the people in the shape of largesses from the state.
Pharnabazus III was a Persian satrap who fought against Alexander the Great. His father was Artabazus II, and his mother a Greek from Rhodes.
Archias of Thurii was an actor turned military agent of the Macedonian general Antipater in the 4th century BCE in ancient Greece. He was nicknamed "the hunter of the exiles" (φυγαδοθήρας).
