Lacritus

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Lacritus (Ancient Greek : Λάκριτος) was a sophist, and native of Phaselis, known to us chiefly from the speech of Demosthenes against him, and for having been the tutor of Archias of Thurii.

A sophist was a specific kind of teacher in ancient Greece, in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE. Many sophists specialized in using the tools of philosophy and rhetoric, though other sophists taught subjects such as music, athletics, and mathematics. In general, they claimed to teach arete, predominantly to young statesmen and nobility.

Phaselis human settlement

Phaselis was an ancient Greek and Roman city on the coast of Lycia. Its ruins are located north of the modern town Tekirova in the Kemer district of Antalya Province in Turkey. It lies between the Bey Mountains and the forests of Olympos National Park, 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) south of the tourist town of Kemer and on the 57th kilometre of the Antalya–Kumluca highway. Phaselis and other ancient towns around the shore can also be accessed from the sea by daily yacht tours.

Demosthenes ancient Athenian statesman and orator

Demosthenes was a Greek statesman and orator of ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual prowess and provide an 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 argued effectively to gain from his guardians what was left of his inheritance. For a time, Demosthenes made his living as a professional speech-writer (logographer) and a lawyer, writing speeches for use in private legal suits.

The subject of the speech entails a man named Androcles, who had lent a sum of money to Artemo, the brother of Lacritus. [1] The latter, on the death of his brother, refused to refund the money, though he had become security for his brother, and was his heir. Hence the suit instituted against him by Androcles, for whom Demosthenes composed the speech in question. Lacritus was a pupil of Isocrates, of which he seems to have been rather vain. [2] [3] speaks of him likewise as the author of some Athenian laws. [4]

Isocrates ancient Athenian rhetorician

Isocrates, an ancient Greek rhetorician, was one of the ten Attic orators. Among the most influential Greek rhetoricians of his time, Isocrates made many contributions to rhetoric and education through his teaching and written works.

Notes

  1. Carawan, Edwin (2007). "Oral 'Agreement', Written Contract, and the Bonds of Law at Athens". In Cooper, Craig Richard. The Politics of Orality. Mnemosyne Leiden / Supplementum. 280. Brill Publishers. p. 324. ISBN   9789004145405 . Retrieved 2017-09-30.
  2. Demosthenes, Against Lacritus p. 928
  3. Photios I of Constantinople, Bibliotheca 260, p. 487a. ed. Bek.
  4. Plutarch, Dec. Orat. p. 837b.

PD-icon.svg  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain :  Mason, Charles Peter (1870). "Lacritus". In Smith, William. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology . 2. p. 701. 

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William Smith (lexicographer) English lexicographer

Sir William Smith was an English lexicographer. He also made advances in the teaching of Greek and Latin in schools.

<i>Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology</i> encyclopedia/biographical dictionary

The Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology is an encyclopedia/biographical dictionary. Edited by William Smith, the dictionary spans three volumes and 3,700 pages. It is a classic work of 19th-century lexicography. The work is a companion to Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities and Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography.

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