Demochares ( grc-gre, Δημοχάρης; c. 355275 BC), nephew of Demosthenes, Athenian orator and statesman, was one of the few distinguished

Athenians 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 a ...

in the period of decline.

Biography

Demochares is first heard of in 322, when he spoke in vain against the surrender of Demosthenes and the other anti-Macedonian orators demanded by

Antipater Antipater (; grc, , translit=Antipatros, lit=like the father; c. 400 BC319 BC) was a Macedonian general and statesman under the subsequent kingships of Philip II of Macedon and his son, Alexander the Great. In the wake of the collaps ...

. During the next fifteen years he probably lived in exile. On the restoration of the democracy by Demetrius Poliorcetes in 307 he occupied a prominent position, but was banished in 303 for having ridiculed the decree of

Stratocles Stratocles son of Euthydemos of Diomeia ( el, Στρατοκλῆς Εὐθυδήμου Διομεεὺς), was an Athenian politician during the third and fourth centuries BCE. He was a member of a family from the deme of Diomeia. At some time, ...

, which contained a fulsome eulogy of Demetrius. Demochares was recalled in 298, and during the next four years he fortified and equipped the city with provisions and ammunition. In 296 (or 295) he was again banished for having concluded an alliance with the Boeotians, and did not return until 287 (or 286). In 280 he induced the Athenians to erect a public monument in honour of his uncle with a suitable inscription. After his death (some five years later) the son of Demochares proposed and obtained a decree that a statue should be erected in his honour, containing a record of his public services, which seem to have consisted in a reduction of public expenses, a more prudent management of the state finances (after his return in 287) and successful begging missions to the rulers of Egypt and Macedon. Although a friend of the Stoic Zeno, Demochares regarded all other philosophers as the enemies of freedom, and in 306 supported the proposal of one Sophocles, advocating their expulsion from Attica. According to Cicero Demochares was the author of a history of his own times, written in an oratorical rather than a historical style. As a speaker he was noted for his freedom of language (Parrhesiastes ). He was violently attacked by Timaeus, but found a strenuous defender in

Polybius Polybius (; grc-gre, Πολύβιος, ; ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , which covered the period of 264–146 BC and the Punic Wars in detail. Polybius is important for his analysis of the mixed ...

. See also Plutarch, ''Demosthenes'', ''Demetrius'', ''Vitae decem oratorum''; cites Plutarch, ''Vitae decem oratorum'
p. 847
/ref>

J. G. Droysen Johann Gustav Bernhard Droysen (; ; 6 July 180819 June 1884) was a German historian. His history of Alexander the Great was the first work representing a new school of German historical thought that idealized power held by so-called "great" men. ...

's essay on Demochares in ''Zeitschrift fur die Altertumswissenschaft'' (1836), Nos. 20, 21.

Notes

References

* {{Authority control Ancient Athenians 4th-century BC Greek people 3rd-century BC Greek people 350s BC births 275 BC deaths