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Lysias
Lysias (; ; c. 445 – c. 380 BC) was a Logographer (legal), logographer (speech writer) 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. Life According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus and the author of the life ascribed to Plutarch, Lysias was born in 459 BC, which would accord with a tradition that Lysias reached, or passed, the age of eighty. This date was evidently obtained by reckoning back from the foundation of Thurii (444 BC), since there was a tradition that Lysias had gone there at the age of fifteen. Modern critics, in general, place his birth later, c. 445 BC, and place the trip to Thurii around 430 BC. Cephalus#Historical persons, Cephalus, his father, was a native of Syracuse, Italy, Syracuse, and on the invitation of Pericles had settled at Athens. The opening scene of Plato's ''The Republic (Plato), Republic'' is set at the hous ...
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Against Eratosthenes
"Against Eratosthenes" is a speech by Lysias, one of the ten Attic orators. In the speech, Lysias accuses Eratosthenes, a member of the Thirty Tyrants who ruled Athens following the Peloponnesian War, of the murder of his brother, Polemarchus (around 403 BCE). Overview Lysias's career as a speech writer, or logographer, was interrupted by the occupation of the Thirty Tyrants, an oligarchic junta placed in power by the Spartans following their victory against Athens in the Peloponnesian War, which ended in 404 BCE. Lysias, along with a small group of fellow metics, including his brother, Polemarchus, were arrested by the pro-Spartan regime on charges of general hostility and resistance to the Thirty Tyrants. According to Lysias, the group was arrested on trumped up charges just so the Thirty Tyrants could have a reason to confiscate their substantial wealth and property. The subsequent execution of Polemarchus is one of the subjects of the speech. Eratosthenes was a member of the ...
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Phaedrus (dialogue)
The ''Phaedrus'' (; ), written by Plato, is a dialogue between Socrates and Phaedrus (Athenian), Phaedrus, an interlocutor in several dialogues. The ''Phaedrus'' was presumably composed around 370 BC, about the same time as Plato's ''Republic (Plato), Republic'' and ''Symposium (Plato dialogue), Symposium''. Although ostensibly about the topic of love, the discussion in the dialogue revolves around the art of rhetoric and how it should be practiced, and dwells on subjects as diverse as metempsychosis (the Greek tradition of reincarnation) and erotic love, and the nature of the human soul shown in the famous chariot allegory. Setting Socrates runs into Phaedrus (Athenian), Phaedrus on the outskirts of Athens. Phaedrus has just come from the home of Epicrates of Athens, where Lysias, son of Cephalus, has given a speech on love. Socrates, stating that he is "sick with passion for hearing speeches", walks into the countryside with Phaedrus. Socrates is hoping that Phaedrus will repea ...
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Epicrates Of Athens
Epicrates (''Epikratês;'' ) was the name of several Athenians who lived during the 4th century BCE.  Scholars have had trouble telling them apart because their patronymics (father's name) and demotics (''deme'' designations) are not always included in ancient sources. Even the ancients had such troubles.  Harpocraton included this entry in his lexicon.Epikrates: Isaios in ''On the Speeches Made in Macedonia''. This is the Athenian demagogue who is nicknamed ‘shield-bearer' whom Demosthenes also mentions in ''On the Embassy''. There is another Epikrates whom Lykourgos mentions in ''On the Financial Administration'', saying that a bronze (statue) was set up on account of his law concerning the ''ephebes'', whom they say owned property worth 600 talents. There is another Epikrates, a brother in law of the orator Aischines, as is shown by him in his defense ''On the Embassy''. This one, moreover, used to have the eponym ''Kyrebion'', as Demosthenes says in ''Against Aischines''.T ...
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Polemarchus
Polemarchus (; ; 5th century – 404 BC) was an ancient Athenian philosopher from Piraeus. Life The son of Cephalus of Syracuse, Polemarchus had two brothers, the famous orator Lysias and Euthydemus, and a sister who married Brachyllus. Polemarchus and Lysias traveled to Thurii when the latter was 15-years old. During the Athenian political upheaval in the late 5th century, Polemarchus was singled out by the Thirty Tyrants for being a wealthy metic. Unlike his brother, he did not manage to escape and was executed by being forced to drink hemlock. Melobius, one of the Thirty, snatched golden earrings from Polemarchus' wife. After Polemarchus' death, the Thirty forbade his family from holding a funeral in any of their houses. Plato's ''Republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their ...
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Metic
In ancient Greece, a metic (Ancient Greek: , : from , , indicating change, and , 'dwelling') was a resident of Athens and some other cities who was a citizen of another polis. They held a status broadly analogous to modern permanent residency, being permitted indefinite residence without political rights. Origin The history of foreign migration to Athens dates back to the archaic period. Solon was said to have offered Athenian citizenship to foreigners who would relocate to his city to practice a craft. However, metic status did not exist during the time of Solon. Scholars have tended to date the development of metic status to the reforms of Cleisthenes in 508 BC. However, the rate of the increase in the Athenian population in the years following 480 BC is difficult to explain by purely natural growth – suggesting that immigrants to Athens could still become Athenians citizens at this point, and metic status did not yet exist. The first known use of the word is in Aeschy ...
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Phaedrus (Athenian)
Phaedrus (), son of Pythocles, of the Myrrhinus deme (Ancient Greek language, Greek: Φαῖδρος Πυθοκλέους Μυῤῥινούσιος, ''Phaĩdros Puthokléous Murrhinoúsios''; c. 444 – 393 BC), was an Classical Athens, ancient Athenian aristocrat associated with the inner-circle of the Ancient Greek philosophy, philosopher Socrates. He was indicted in the profanation of the Eleusinian Mysteries in 415 during the Peloponnesian War, causing him to flee Athens. He is best remembered for his depiction in the dialogues of Plato. His philosophically Eros, erotic role in his Phaedrus (dialogue), eponymous dialogue and the ''Symposium (Plato), Symposium'' inspired later authors, from the Ancient Greek comedy, ancient comedic playwright Alexis (poet), Alexis to contemporary philosophy, contemporary philosophers like Robert M. Pirsig and Martha Nussbaum.Martha Nussbaum, ''The Fragility of Goodness'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001; pp. 200–224 Life Phaed ...
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Slavery In Ancient Greece
Slavery was a widely accepted practice in ancient Greece, as it was in contemporaneous societies. The principal use of slaves was in agriculture, but they were also used in stone quarries or mines, as domestic servants, or even as a public utility, as with the ''demosioi'' of Athens. Modern Historiography, historiographical practice distinguishes between Personal property, chattel slavery (where the slave was regarded as a piece of property, as opposed to a member of human society) and land-bonded groups such as the Penestai, ''penestae'' of Thessaly or the Spartan helots, who were more like medieval Serfdom, serfs (an enhancement to real estate). The chattel slave is an individual deprived of liberty and forced to submit to an owner, who may buy, sell, or lease them like any other chattel. The academic study of slavery in ancient Greece is beset by significant methodological problems. Documentation is disjointed and very fragmented, focusing primarily on the city-state of At ...
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Logographer (legal)
The title of logographer (from the Ancient Greek , ''logographos'', a compound of , ''logos'', 'word', and , ''grapho'', 'write') was applied to professional authors of judicial discourse in Ancient Greece. The modern term speechwriter is roughly equivalent. In the Athens of antiquity, the law required a litigant to make his case in front of the court with two successive speeches. Lawyers were unknown, and the law permitted only one friend or relative to aid each party. If a litigant did not feel competent to make his own speech effectively, he would seek the service of a logographer (also called a , ''logopoios'', from , ''poieo'', 'to make'), to whom he would describe his case. The logographer would then write a speech that the litigant would learn by heart and recite in front of the court. Antiphon (480–410 BC) was among the first to practice this profession; the orator Demosthenes (384–322) was also a logographer. Many logographers built a foundation for a later career i ...
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Thirty Tyrants
The Thirty Tyrants (, ''hoi triákonta týrannoi'') were an oligarchy that briefly ruled Classical Athens, Athens from 404 BC, 404 BCE to 403 BC, 403 BCE. Installed into power by the Sparta, Spartans after the Athenian surrender in the Peloponnesian War, the Thirty became known for their Tyrant, tyrannical rule, first being called "The Thirty Tyrants" by Polycrates (sophist), Polycrates. Although they maintained power for only eight months, their reign resulted in the killing of 5% of the Athenian population, the confiscation of citizens' property, and the exile of other Athenian democracy, democratic supporters. Historical background After the Athenian navy was destroyed at the battle of Aegospotami in 405 BCE, Lysander led the Spartan and Peloponnesian League naval force to Athens for the final destruction of the city. The Athenians prepared for a siege, but without a navy to defend them or import food, many Athenian citizens starved. After the Spartans began cutting them off by ...
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Thurii
Thurii (; ; ), called also by some Latin writers Thūrium (compare , in Ptolemy), and later in Roman times also Cōpia and Cōpiae, was an ancient Greek city situated on the Gulf of Taranto, near or on the site of the great renowned city of Sybaris, whose place it may be considered as having taken. The ruins of the city can be found in the Sybaris archaeological park near Sibari in the Province of Cosenza, Calabria, Italy. History Foundation Thurii was founded as a colony of Athens along with exiles from Sybaris in 443 BC. Justin writes that people say that the city of Thurii was built by Philoctetes and his monument is seen there even to his days, as well as the arrows of Hercules which laid up in the temple of Apollo. The site of that city had remained desolate for a period of 58 years after its destruction by the Crotoniats; when at length, in 452 BC, a number of the Sybarite exiles and their descendants made an attempt to establish themselves again on the spot, ...
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Cephalus
Cephalus or Kephalos (; ) is the son of Hermes, husband of Eos and a hero-figure in Greek mythology. Cephalus carried as a theophoric name by historical persons. The root of this name is , meaning "head". Mythological * Cephalus, son of Hermes and Herse. * Cephalus, son of Deion/Deioneos, husband of Procris. Historical *Cephalus, son of Lysanias from Syracuse (5th century BCE), a wealthy metic and elderly arms manufacturer living in Athens who engages in dialogue with Socrates in Plato's ''Republic''. He was the father of orator Lysias, philosopher Polemarchus and Euthydemus. *Cephalus, Athenian orator who flourished after the time of the Thirty Tyrants. *Cephalus, a Molossian who sided with Perseus in the Third Macedonian War.Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythologby William Smith See also * List of commonly used taxonomic affixes Notes References * Gaius Julius Hyginus, ''Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus'' translated and edited by Mary Grant. U ...
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Rhetoric
Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or writers use to inform, persuade, and motivate their audiences. Rhetoric also provides heuristics for understanding, discovering, and developing arguments for particular situations. Aristotle defined rhetoric as "the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion", and since mastery of the art was necessary for victory in a case at law, for passage of proposals in the assembly, or for fame as a speaker in civic ceremonies, he called it "a combination of the science of logic and of the ethical branch of politics". Aristotle also identified three persuasive audience appeals: logos, pathos, and ethos. The five canons of rhetoric, or phases of developing a persuasive speech, were first codified in classical Rome: i ...
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