See Also: Demosthenes(encyclopedia)

Demosthenes (sh)




born 384 BC, Athens
died Oct. 12, 322, Calauria, Argolis

Athenian statesman known as the greatest orator of ancient Greece.

According to Plutarch, he was a stutterer in his youth and improved his speech by placing pebbles in his mouth and practicing before a mirror. His talents were recognized early, and powerful clients engaged him as a speechwriter. Throughout his life he espoused democratic principles. He roused Athens against Philip II by his great "Philippics," and later against Philip's son Alexander the Great. In so doing he incurred the enmity of Aeschines, who argued that Philip's intentions were peaceable; Demosthenes succeeded in having Aeschines ostracized (330), but he was himself later forced into exile (324). Recalled after Alexander's death (323), he fled Alexander's successor and committed suicide.


Demosthenes, marble statue, detail of a Roman copy of a Greek original of c. 280 BC; in the Ny ...

Courtesy of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen