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Leptines
Leptines ( grc-gre, Λεπτίνης) was an Athenian orator. He is known as the proposer of a law that no Athenian, whether citizen or resident alien (with the sole exception of the descendants of Harmodius and Aristogeiton), should be exempt from the public charges ('' leitourgiai'') for the state festivals. The object was to provide funds for the festivals and public spectacles at a time when both the treasury and the citizens generally were short of money. It was further asserted that many of the recipients of immunity were really unworthy of it. Against this law Demosthenes delivered (354 BC) his well-known speech "Against Leptines" in support of the proposal of Ctesippus that all the cases of immunity should be carefully investigated. Great stress is laid on the reputation for ingratitude and breach of faith which the abolition of immunities would bring upon the state. Besides, the law itself had been passed unconstitutionally, for an existing law confirmed these privileges, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Against Leptines
"Against Leptines" was a speech given by Demosthenes in which he called for the repeal of a law sponsored by Leptines, which denied anyone a special exemption from paying public charges ('' leitourgiai''). It was probably delivered in the year 355–54 BC. Unusually for Athenian law courts, though Demosthenes wrote the speech for Ctesippus, the son of Chabrias, he probably delivered it himself. It is thus the first speech which Demosthenes delivered in a public case. History This law had been proposed by a man named Leptines, so the speech came to be known as "Against Leptines". Although Dio Chrysostom (31.128-9) says that Demosthenes won the case, his account has been dismissed as inaccurate. West says that "we do not know the verdict". An inscription shows that Ctesippus, son of Chabrias (whose inheritable exemption Demosthenes was arguing to preserve), performed a liturgy that "is unlikely to have been voluntary," and there is no evidence of any grants of exemption after the tri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leitourgiai
The liturgy ( el, λειτουργία or λῃτουργία, leitourgia, from λαός / Laos, "the people" and the root / ergon, "work" ) was in ancient Greece a public service established by the city-state whereby its richest members (whether citizens or resident aliens), more or less voluntarily, financed the State with their personal wealth. It took its legitimacy from the idea that "personal wealth is possessed only through delegation from the city". The liturgical system dates back to the early days of Athenian democracy, but gradually fell into disuse by the end of the 4th century BC,Christ 1990, p. 148 eclipsed by the development of euergetism in the Hellenistic period. However, a similar system was in force during the Roman empire. Principles and types The liturgy was the preferred mode of financing of the Greek city, to the extent that it allowed them to easily associate each public expense with a ready source of revenue. This flexibility makes it particularly suit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ctesippus
:''The name Ctesippus may also refer to a character in Plato's Euthydemus and Lysis, and to a historical figure, see Leptines and Against Leptines.'' In Greek mythology, the name Ctesippus (; Ancient Greek: Κτήσιππος means 'possessing horses') may refer to: *Ctessipus, son of Heracles by Deianira.Apollodorus, 2.7.8 He was the father of Thrasyanor, grandfather of Antimachus and great-grandfather of Deiphontes. Thersander, son of Agamedidas, is also given as his great-grandson. *Ctesippus, another son of Heracles by Astydameia the daughter of Amyntor or Ormenius. *Ctessipus, two of the suitors of Penelope, one from Same, and the other from Ithaca. The rich and "lawless" Ctesippus of Same, son of Polytherses, who has 'fabulous wealth' appears in the ''Odyssey''; he mocks the disguised Odysseus and hurls a bull's hoof at him as a 'gift', mocking xenia, though Odysseus dodges this. Telemachus says if he had hit the guest, he would have run Ctesippus through with his spea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harmodius And Aristogeiton
Harmodius (Greek: Ἁρμόδιος, ''Harmódios'') and Aristogeiton (Ἀριστογείτων, ''Aristogeíton''; both died 514 BC) were two lovers in Classical Athens who became known as the Tyrannicides (τυραννόκτονοι, ''tyrannoktonoi'') for their assassination of Hipparchus, the brother of the tyrant Hippias, for which they were executed. A few years later, in 510 BC, the Spartan king Cleomenes I forced Hippias to go into exile, therefore opening the way to the subsequent democratic reforms of Cleisthenes. The Athenian democrats later celebrated Harmodius and Aristogeiton as national heroes, partially to conceal the role played by Sparta in the removal of the Athenian tyranny. Cleisthenes notably commissioned the famous statues of the Tyrannicides. Background The two principal historical sources covering Harmodius and Aristogeiton are the ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' (VI, 56–59) by Thucydides, and '' The Constitution of the Athenians'' (XVIII) attribut ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Demosthenes
Demosthenes (; el, Δημοσθένης, translit=Dēmosthénēs; ; 384 – 12 October 322 BC) 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. Demosthenes grew interested in politics during his time as a logographer, and in 354 BC he gave his first public political speeches. He went on to devote his most productive years to opposing Macedon's expansion. He idealized his city and s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates and is the capital of the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, with its recorded history spanning over 3,400 years and its earliest human presence beginning somewhere between the 11th and 7th millennia BC. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state. It was a centre for the arts, learning and philosophy, and the home of Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum. It is widely referred to as the cradle of Western civilization and the birthplace of democracy, largely because of its cultural and political influence on the European continent—particularly Ancient Rome. In modern times, Athens is a large cosmopolitan metropolis and central to economic, financial, industrial, maritime, political and cultural life in Gre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orator
An orator, or oratist, is a public speaker, especially one who is eloquent or skilled. Etymology Recorded in English c. 1374, with a meaning of "one who pleads or argues for a cause", from Anglo-French ''oratour'', Old French ''orateur'' (14th century), Latin ''orator'' ("speaker"), from ''orare'' ("speak before a court or assembly; plead"), derived from a Proto-Indo-European base *''or-'' ("to pronounce a ritual formula"). The modern meaning of the word, "public speaker", is attested from c. 1430. History In ancient Rome, the art of speaking in public (''Ars Oratoria'') was a professional competence especially cultivated by politicians and lawyers. As the Greeks were still seen as the masters in this field, as in philosophy and most sciences, the leading Roman families often either sent their sons to study these things under a famous master in Greece (as was the case with the young Julius Caesar), or engaged a Greek teacher (under pay or as a slave). In the young revolutiona ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solon
Solon ( grc-gre, Σόλων; BC) was an Athenian statesman, constitutional lawmaker and poet. He is remembered particularly for his efforts to legislate against political, economic and moral decline in Archaic Athens.Aristotle ''Politics'' 1273b 35–1274a 21 His reforms failed in the short term, yet Solon is credited with having laid the foundations for Athenian democracy.Stanton, G. R. ''Athenian Politics c. 800–500 BC: A Sourcebook'', Routledge, London (1990), p. 76.E. Harris, ''A New Solution to the Riddle of the Seisachtheia'', in ''The Development of the Polis in Archaic Greece'', eds. L. Mitchell and P. Rhodes (Routledge 1997) 103 His constitutional reform also succeeded in overturning most laws established by Draco. Modern knowledge of Solon is limited by the fact that his works only survive in fragments and appear to feature interpolations by later authors and by the general paucity of documentary and archaeological evidence covering Athens in the early 6th c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Edwin Sandys
Sir John Edwin Sandys ( "Sands"; 19 May 1844 – 6 July 1922) was an English classical scholar. Life Born in Leicester, England on 19 May 1844, Sandys was the 4th son of Rev. Timothy Sandys (1803–1871) and Rebecca Swain (1800–1853). Living at first in India, Sandys returned to England at the age of eleven, and was educated at the Church Missionary Society College, Islington, then at Repton School. In 1863, he won a scholarship to St John's College, Cambridge. On 17 August 1880, John married Mary Grainger Hall (1855–1937), daughter of Rev. Henry Hall (1820–1897), vicar of St Paul's Church in Cambridge. Mary was born in St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England, and she died in Vevey, Switzerland, where at the time of her death she was a resident of the Hotel du Lac. She made a bequest to the Museum of Classical Archaeology, Cambridge (founded in 1884) which was the basis of a fund known as the Museum of Classical Archaeology Endowment Fund. John and Mary had no children. San ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
4th-century BC Athenians
The 4th century (per the Julian calendar and Anno Domini/Common era) was the time period which lasted from 301 ( CCCI) through 400 ( CD). In the West, the early part of the century was shaped by Constantine the Great, who became the first Roman emperor to adopt Christianity. Gaining sole reign of the empire, he is also noted for re-establishing a single imperial capital, choosing the site of ancient Byzantium in 330 (over the current capitals, which had effectively been changed by Diocletian's reforms to Milan in the West, and Nicomedeia in the East) to build the city soon called Nova Roma (New Rome); it was later renamed Constantinople in his honor. The last emperor to control both the eastern and western halves of the empire was Theodosius I. As the century progressed after his death, it became increasingly apparent that the empire had changed in many ways since the time of Augustus. The two emperor system originally established by Diocletian in the previous century fell int ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
218-219-Halai_honorific_decree-2.JPG "Click for more on -> Leitourgiai")
