Aristophon () was the

eponymous archon In ancient Greece the chief magistrate in various Greek city states was called eponymous archon (ἐπώνυμος ἄρχων, ''epōnymos archōn''). "Archon" (ἄρχων, pl. ἄρχοντες, ''archontes'') means "ruler" or "lord", frequently ...

in the year 330 BCE. Second century BCE philosopher

Theophrastus Theophrastus (; ; c. 371 – c. 287 BC) was an ancient Greek Philosophy, philosopher and Natural history, naturalist. A native of Eresos in Lesbos, he was Aristotle's close colleague and successor as head of the Lyceum (classical), Lyceum, the ...

calls this Aristophon an orator. That this man, who was archon in the same year in which

Demosthenes Demosthenes (; ; ; 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 cu ...

delivered his oration on the crown, was not the same as Aristophon of Colyttus is clear from that oration itself, in which Aristophon of Colyttus is spoken of as deceased. Whether this Aristophon was actually an orator, as Theophrastus wrote, is considered doubtful by some scholars, since it is not mentioned anywhere else. The scholar

David Ruhnken David Ruhnken (2 January 172314 May 1798) was a Dutch classical scholar of German origin. Origins Ruhnken was born in Bedlin (today Bydlino) near Stolp, Pomerania Province, (today Słupsk, Poland). After he had attended Latin school at Köni ...

conjectures that the word ''rhetor'' (ῥήτωρ) was inserted over the centuries into a manuscript of Theophrastus by someone who believed that either Aristophon of Colyttus or

Aristophon of Azenia Aristophon (; lived 4th century BC) was native of the deme of Azenia in Attica. He lived about and after the end of the Peloponnesian War. In 412 BC, Aristophon, Laespodias, and Melesias were sent to Sparta as ambassadors by the oligarchical gove ...

was meant in that passage.Clinton, F. H. ad ann. 330

References

{{DGRBM, author=LS, title= Aristophon(3), volume=1, page=317, url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moa/acl3129.0001.001/332 4th-century BC Athenians 4th-century BC Greek politicians Attic orators Eponymous archons