Democles ( grc-gre, Δημοκλῆς; fl. 4th century BC) was an
Athenian
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 ...
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 ...
, and a contemporary of
Demochares, among whose opponents he is mentioned.
He was a disciple of
Theophrastus
Theophrastus (; grc-gre, Θεόφραστος ; c. 371c. 287 BC), a Greek philosopher and the successor to Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. He was a native of Eresos in Lesbos.Gavin Hardy and Laurence Totelin, ''Ancient Botany'', Routle ...
, and was chiefly known as the defender of the children of
Lycurgus
Lycurgus or Lykourgos () may refer to:
People
* Lycurgus (king of Sparta) (third century BC)
* Lycurgus (lawgiver) (eighth century BC), creator of constitution of Sparta
* Lycurgus of Athens (fourth century BC), one of the 'ten notable orators' ...
against the
calumnies of
Moerocles and
Menesaechmus Menesaechmus ( grc, Μενέσαιχμος; lived during the 4th century BC), an Athenian and an inveterate enemy of the orator Lycurgus, by whom he was impeached on a charge of impiety and convicted. When Lycurgus felt his end drawing near (323 BC) ...
. It seems that in the time of
Dionysius of Halicarnassus, some orations of Democles were still extant, since that critic attributes to him an oration, which went by the name of
Dinarchus Dinarchus or Dinarch ( el, Δείναρχος; Corinth, c. 361 – c. 291 BC) was a logographer (speechwriter) in Ancient Greece. He was the last of the ten Attic orators included in the "Alexandrian Canon" compiled by Aristophanes of Byzanti ...
. It must be observed that Dionysius and the ''
Suda'' call this orator by the patronymic form of his name, Democleides, so he may be the same person called Democleides who was the
eponymous archon in 316 BC.
He wrote a treatise on machinery.
Vitruvius
Vitruvius (; c. 80–70 BC – after c. 15 BC) was a Roman architect and engineer during the 1st century BC, known for his multi-volume work entitled '' De architectura''. He originated the idea that all buildings should have three attribut ...
vii, introduction
Notes
References
*
Smith, William (editor); ''
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' (1849, originally published 1844 under a slightly different title) is an encyclopedia/biographical dictionary. Edited by William Smith, the dictionary spans three volumes and 3,700 ...
''
"Democles (2)" Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, (1867).
{{Ancient Athenian statesmen
4th-century BC Athenians
4th-century BC writers