Androtion ( grc, Ἀνδροτίων, gen.: Ἀνδροτίωνος; before 405after 346 BC), was a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

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 one of the leading politicians of his time. He was born between 415 and 405 BC, the son of Andron, who was a member of the

Four Hundred 400 (four hundred) is the natural number following 399 and preceding 401. Mathematical properties 400 is the square of 20. 400 is the sum of the powers of 7 from 0 to 3, thus making it a repdigit in base 7 (1111). A circle is divided into ...

and an associate of

Theramenes Theramenes (; grc-gre, Θηραμένης; died 404 BC) was an Classical Athens, Athenian statesman, prominent in the final decade of the Peloponnesian War. He was particularly active during the two periods of Oligarchy, oligarchic government at ...

. Androtion was probably Andron's first son, and seems to have inherited his fortune. In the late 390s or early 380s BC, he studied under Isocrates. He may have been the author of a work on agriculture which survives in fragmentary form. Androtion began his political career not long before 385, and the first position we can place him as holding is that of

epistates An ( gr, ἐπιστάτης, plural ἐπιστάται, ) in ancient Greece was any sort of superintendent or overseer. In the Hellenistic kingdoms generally, an is always connected with a subject district (a regional assembly), where the , as ...

, some time in the 370s BC. Androtion held various other positions during his career, including governing Arkesine on

Amorgos Amorgos ( el, Αμοργός, ; ) is the easternmost island of the Cyclades island group and the nearest island to the neighboring Dodecanese island group in Greece. Along with 16 neighboring islets, the largest of which (by land area) is Nik ...

for at least two years up to 357–6, and being a member of the boule in 356/5 BC. In 355–4, Androtion was brought to trial by Euktemon and Diodorus, accused of illegally proposing a crown be awarded to the Council of Five Hundred at the end of its term of office. The prosecution speech, composed by

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 pr ...

, survives as speech " Against Androtion", and it is a major source of information about his career up to this point. Androtion was acquitted, and was appointed as an ambassador to

Mausolus Mausolus ( grc, Μαύσωλος or , xcr, ��𐊠��𐊸𐊫𐊦 ''Mauśoλ'') was a ruler of Caria (377–353 BCE) and a satrap of the Achaemenid Empire. He enjoyed the status of king or dynast by virtue of the powerful position created by ...

, the ruler of

Caria Caria (; from Greek: Καρία, ''Karia''; tr, Karya) was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid- Ionia (Mycale) south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Ionian and Dorian Greeks colonized the west of it and joined ...

. He is said to have gone into exile at Megara, and to have composed an ''Atthis'', or annalistic account of

Attica Attica ( el, Αττική, Ancient Greek ''Attikḗ'' or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and its countryside. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean S ...

from the earliest times to his own days (''

Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to: *Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium'' *Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC * Pausanias of Sicily, physician of t ...

'' vi. 7; x. 8). It is disputed whether the annalist and orator are identical. Professor

Gaetano De Sanctis Gaetano De Sanctis (15 October 1870, Rome – 9 April 1957) was an Italian ancient historian, classicist and lifetime senator (1950-1957). As the collection of his 'scritti minori' illustrates, his scope of scholarship ranged from Homer down to ...

(in ''L'Attide di Androzione e un papiro di Oxyrhynchos'',

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...

, 1908) attributes to Androtion, the

Atthidographer In ancient Greece, Atthidographers ( grc, Ἀτθιδογράφος, ''atthidographos'') were local historians of Attica. They wrote histories of Athens called ''Atthides'' (singular: ''Atthis''). Atthidography is the best-attested genre of loca ...

, a 4th-century historical fragment, discovered by B. P. Grenfell and A. S. Hunt (''Oxyrhynchus Papyri'', vol. v.). Strong arguments against this view are set forth by E. M. Walker in the ''Classical Review'', May 1908.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Androtion Ancient Greek rhetoricians 4th-century BC Athenians Demosthenes