The speeches of Pseudo-Demosthenes are those preserved among the speeches of Demosthenes, but not thought to have been authored by him.
Among the Pseudo-Demosthenic works are six of those written for Apollodorus of Acharnae, (46, 49, 50, 52, 53, and 59), all of which seem to have been written by the same author. [1] The author of these speeches has been identified as Apollodorus himself. [2] Demosthenes' speech 45 also concerns Apollodorus, but seems to be genuine. [1] Additionally, speech 47, though it does not concern Apollodorus, was probably written by the same author as these six, which Friedrich Blass considered to be evidence that the speeches were not in fact written by Apollodorus, but an otherwise unknown minor logographer. [3] However, Kapparis considers that speech 46 can only have been composed by Apollodorus, as there is no reason that he would have hired two different logographers, one to compose his first speech and a second to draft his reply to the defence. Kapparis concludes that either speech 46 must be written by Demosthenes or Apollodorus, and as it is stylistically drastically different from Demosthenes' speeches and similar to the other speeches given by Apollodorus, Apollodorus himself must have been the author of these speeches. [4]
Additionally, at least two of the Apollodoran speeches, 52 and 53, cannot have been authored by Demosthenes, because he would not have been old enough when they were written. [5]
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.
The Bibliotheca, also known as the Bibliotheca of Pseudo-Apollodorus, is a compendium of Greek myths and heroic legends, arranged in three books, generally dated to the first or second century AD.
Hetaira, also hetaera, was a type of prostitute in ancient Greece, who served as an artist, entertainer and conversationalist in addition to providing sexual service. Unlike the rule for ancient Greek women, hetairas would be highly educated and were allowed in the symposium.
Apollodorus of Athens son of Asclepiades, was a Greek scholar, historian, and grammarian. He was a pupil of Diogenes of Babylon, Panaetius the Stoic, and the grammarian Aristarchus of Samothrace, under whom he appears to have studied together with his contemporary Dionysius Thrax. He left Alexandria around 146 BC, most likely for Pergamon, and eventually settled in Athens.
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.
Phryne was an ancient Greek hetaira (courtesan). From Thespiae in Boeotia, she was active in Athens, where she became one of the wealthiest women in Greece. She is best known for her trial for impiety, where she was defended by the orator Hypereides. According to legend, she was acquitted after baring her breasts to the jury, though the historical accuracy of this episode is doubtful. She also modeled for the artists Apelles and Praxiteles, and the Aphrodite of Knidos was based on her.
Lycurgus was a logographer in Ancient Greece. He was one of the ten Attic orators included in the "Alexandrian Canon" compiled by Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of Samothrace in the third century BC.
Demosthenes was a prominent Greek statesman and orator of ancient Athens. His orations constitute the last significant expression of Athenian intellectual prowess and provide a thorough insight into the politics and culture of ancient Greece. The Alexandrian Canon compiled by Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of Samothrace recognized Demosthenes as one of the ten greatest Attic orators and logographers. Cicero acclaimed him as "the perfect orator" and the one who "has pre-eminence over all others", while Quintilian extolled him as lex orandi.
Apollodorus of Acharnae in Attica was an Athenian politician known from several ancient forensic speeches which were preserved as part of the Demosthenic corpus. He was the son of Pasion, a wealthy banker who had been granted Athenian citizenship in thanks for the gifts he had made to the city of Athens.
Neaira, also Neaera, was a hetaera who lived in the 4th century BC in ancient Greece. She was brought to trial between 343 and 340 BC, accused of marrying an Athenian citizen illegally and misrepresenting her daughter as an Athenian citizen.
Nikarete was a madam from Corinth, who lived in the 5th and 4th century BC.
Xenokleides was an Athenian poet of the 4th century BC. None of his works have survived. He was one of the hetaera Neaira's lovers. According to Apollodorus of Acharnae, 369 BC, he spoke out against Callistratus's request to support Sparta over Thebes. He was prosecuted for avoiding military service, though as a tax-collector for the year he was exempt from military duties, convicted, and disenfranchised. This prosecution, brought by one Stephanos on behalf of Callistratus, was probably intended to remove Xenokleides as a political opponent. In 343, Xenokleides was living in Macedonia, and was banished by Philip II; he appears to have been once again living in Athens by the time the speech Against Neaira was delivered.
The Basilinna or Basilissa (βασίλισσα), both titles meaning "queen", was a ceremonial position in the religion of ancient Athens, held by the wife of the archon basileus. The role dated to the time when Athens was ruled by kings, and their wives acted as priestesses (Hiereiai). The duties of the basilinna are described in the pseudo-Demosthenic speech Against Neaira, which is the main source of evidence about the position.
The study of the lives of women in Classical Athens has been a significant part of classical scholarship since the 1970s. The knowledge of Athenian women's lives comes from a variety of ancient sources. Much of it is literary evidence, primarily from tragedy, comedy, and oratory; supplemented with archaeological sources such as epigraphy and pottery. All of these sources were created by—and mostly for—men: there is no surviving ancient testimony by Classical Athenian women on their own lives.
"Against Neaera" was a prosecution speech delivered by Apollodoros of Acharnae against the freedwoman Neaera. It was preserved as part of the Demosthenic corpus, though it is widely considered to be pseudo-Demosthenic, possibly written by Apollodoros himself. The speech was part of the prosecution of Neaera, a hetaera who was accused of unlawfully marrying an Athenian citizen. Though the speech claims that the case was brought for personal reasons, the date of the prosecution has led scholars to believe that it was in fact politically motivated. In common with most legal cases from ancient Athens, the outcome is unknown.
In Classical Athens, there was no exact equivalent of the English term "adultery", but the similar moicheia was a criminal offence often translated as adultery by scholars. Athenian moicheia was restricted to illicit sex with free women, and so men could legally have extra-marital sex with slaves and prostitutes. Famously, Athenian culture and adultery laws considered seduction of a citizen woman a worse crime than rape.
The speeches "Against Stephanos" were two orations surviving in the Demosthenic corpus, and delivered by Apollodoros of Acharnae. The second speech against Stephanos, preserved as Demosthenes' 46th, was certainly not composed by Demosthenes, but the authorship of the first speech is disputed. The speeches are part of a dispute between Apollodoros and his stepfather Phormion.
"For Phormion" was a speech composed by the Athenian logographer Demosthenes. It was delivered on Phormion's behalf, possibly by Demosthenes himself, probably in 350–49 BC. It is the thirty-sixth speech in the Demosthenic Corpus.
Theoris of Lemnos was an ancient Greek woman from Lemnos who lived in Athens in the fourth century BC. She worked as a witch or folk-healer. At some point before 323, she was tried and executed along with her children, though the precise details of her offence are unclear. Three ancient accounts survive of her prosecution, which constituted the most detailed account of a witch trial to survive from Classical Greece.
Gnathaena was an Athenian hetaira, a class of ancient Greek prostitutes who were companions to wealthy men. Though there is no source for either her date of birth or date of death, Gnathaena is known to have lived during the 4th century BCE due to her affiliations with various men of the era. Her most notable lover was Diphilus, an Athenian New Comedy playwright. According to Athenaeus, Gnathaena was famous for her lavish parties and witty repartee, and even wrote a treatise on proper conduct at her symposiums entitled, "Rules for Dining in Company".