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Isaeus
Isaeus ( ''Isaios''; fl. early 4th century BC) was one of the ten Attic orators according to the Alexandrian canon. He was a student of Isocrates in Athens, and later taught Demosthenes while working as a ''metic'' logographer (speechwriter) for others. Only eleven of his speeches survive, with fragments of a twelfth. They are mostly concerned with inheritance, with one on civil rights. Dionysius of Halicarnassus compared his style to Lysias, although Isaeus was more given to employing sophistry. Life The time of his birth and death is unknown, but all accounts agree in the statement that he flourished () during the period between the Peloponnesian War and the accession of Philip II of Macedon, so that he lived between 420 and 348 BC. He was a son of Diagoras, and was born at Chalcis in Euboea; some sources say he was born in Athens, probably only because he came there at an early age and spent the greater part of his life there. He was instructed in oratory by Lysias and Isoc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Demosthenes
Demosthenes (; ; ; 384 – 12 October 322 BC) was a Greek statesman and orator in ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual prowess and provide insight into the politics and culture of ancient Greece during the 4th century BC. Demosthenes learned rhetoric by studying the speeches of previous great orators. He delivered his first judicial speeches at the age of 20, in which he successfully argued that he should gain from his guardians what was left of his inheritance. For a time, Demosthenes made his living as a professional speechwriter ( logographer) and a lawyer, writing speeches for use in private legal suits. Demosthenes grew interested in politics during his time as a logographer, and in 354 BC he gave his first public political speeches. He went on to devote his most productive years to opposing Macedon's expansion. He idealized his city and strove throughout his life to restore Athens' suprema ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Attic Orators
The ten Attic orators were considered the greatest Greek orators and logographers of the classical era (5th–4th century BC). They are included in the "Canon of Ten", which probably originated in Alexandria. A.E. Douglas has argued, however, that it was not until the second century AD that the canon took on the form that is recognised today. Alexandrian "Canon of Ten" * Aeschines * Andocides * Antiphon * Demosthenes * Dinarchus * Hypereides * Isaeus * Isocrates * Lycurgus * Lysias As far as Homer (8th or 9th century BC), the art of effective speaking was of considerable value in Greece. In Homer's epic, the ''Iliad,'' the warrior, Achilles, was described as "a speaker of words and a doer of deeds".Iliad 9.443 Until the 5th century BC, however, oratory was not formally taught. It was not until the middle of that century that the Sicilian orator, Corax, along with his pupil, Tisias, began a formal study of rhetoric. In 427 BC, another Sicilian named Gorgias of Leontini ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Thomas Tyrwhitt
Thomas Tyrwhitt (; 27 March 173015 August 1786) was an English writer, classical scholar, and critic. He was best known for his edition of The Canterbury Tales in which he modernized the language and provided extensive notes as well as a glossary. Early life and education He was born in London, where he also died. He was educated at Eton College and Queen's College, Oxford. He was elected a fellow of Merton College, Oxford in 1755. In 1756, he was appointed under-secretary at war, in 1762 clerk of the House of Commons. In 1768, he resigned his post, and spent the remainder of his life in learned retirement. In February 1771, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1784, he was elected a trustee of the British Museum, to which he bequeathed a portion of his valuable library. Works His principal classical works are: *''Fragmenta Plutarchi II. inedita'' (1773), from a Harleian manuscript *''Dissertatio de Babrio'' (1776), containing some fables of Aesop, hitherto unedite ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Angelo Mai
Angelo Mai (''Latin'' Angelus Maius; 7 March 17828 September 1854) was an Italian Cardinal and philologist. He won a European reputation for publishing for the first time a series of previously unknown ancient texts. These he was able to discover and publish, first while in charge of the Ambrosian Library in Milan and then in the same role at the Vatican Library. The texts were often in parchment manuscripts that had been washed off and reused; he was able to read the lower text using chemicals. In particular he was able to locate a substantial portion of the much sought-after ''De Republica'' of Cicero and the complete works of Virgilius Maro Grammaticus. In 1954, to celebrate the first century after his death, the public library of Bergamo, the city where he was from, was named after him Biblioteca civica Angelo Mai e archivi storici. Biography He was born of humble parents at Schilpario in what is now the province of Bergamo, Lombardy. In 1799 he entered the Society of Jes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Didymus Chalcenterus
Didymus Chalcenterus (Latin; Greek: , ''Dídymos Chalkéderos'', "Didymus Bronze-Guts"; c. 63 BC – c. AD 10) was an Ancient Greek scholar and grammarian who flourished in the time of Cicero and Augustus. Life The epithet "Bronze-Guts" came from his indefatigable industry: he was said to have written so many books that he was unable to recollect what he had written in earlier ones, and so often contradicted himself. Athenaeus (4.139c) records that he wrote 3,500 treatises, while Seneca gives the figure of 4,000. As a result, he acquired the additional nickname (, ''biblioláthas''), meaning "Book-Forgetting" or "Book-forgetter", a term coined by Demetrius of Troezen. He lived and taught in Alexandria and Rome, where he became the friend of Varro. He is chiefly important as having introduced Alexandrian learning to the Romans. Works He was a follower of the school of Aristarchus, and wrote a treatise on Aristarchus' edition of Homer entitled ''On Aristarchus' recension'' ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Dionysius Of Halicarnassus
Dionysius of Halicarnassus (, ; – after 7 BC) was a Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric, who flourished during the reign of Emperor Augustus. His literary style was ''atticistic'' – imitating Classical Attic Greek in its prime. He is known for his work ''Rhōmaikē Archaiologia'' (Roman Antiquities), which describes the history of Rome from its beginnings until the outbreak of the First Punic War in 264 BC. Out of twenty books, only the first nine have survived. Dionysius' opinion of the necessity of a promotion of paideia within education, from true knowledge of classical sources, endured for centuries in a form integral to the identity of the Greek elite. Life He was a Halicarnassian. At some time after the end of the civil wars he moved to Rome, and spent twenty-two years studying Latin and literature and preparing materials for his history. During this period, he gave lessons in rhetoric, and enjoyed the society of many distinguished men. The date of his d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Isocrates
Isocrates (; ; 436–338 BC) was an ancient Greek rhetorician, one of the ten Attic orators. Among the most influential Greek rhetoricians of his time, Isocrates made many contributions to rhetoric and education through his teaching and written works. Greek rhetoric is commonly traced to Corax of Syracuse, who first formulated a set of rhetorical rules in the fifth century BC. His pupil Tisias was influential in the development of the rhetoric of the courtroom, and by some accounts was the teacher of Isocrates. Within two generations, rhetoric had become an important art, its growth driven by social and political changes such as democracy and courts of law. Isocrates starved himself to death - due to the perceived loss of Greek liberty, following the Battle of Chaeronea, two years before his 100th birthday. Early life and influences Isocrates was born into a prosperous family in Athens at the height of Athens' power shortly before the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War (431 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Metics In Classical Athens
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Ancient Drachma
In ancient Greece, the drachma (, ; Grammatical number, pl. drachmae or drachmas) was an ancient currency unit issued by many city-states during a period of ten centuries, from the Archaic Greece, Archaic period throughout the Classical Greece, Classical period, the Hellenistic period up to the Roman period. The ancient drachma originated in Greece around the 6th century BC. The coin, usually made of silver or sometimes gold had its origins in a bartering system that referred to a drachma as a handful of wooden spits or arrows. The drachma was unique to each city state that minted them, and were sometimes circulated all over the Mediterranean. The coinage of Classical Athens, Athens was considered to be the strongest and became the most popular. Origins The name ''drachma'' is derived from the verb (, "(I) grasp"). It is believed that the same word with the meaning of "handful" or "handle" is found in Linear B tablets of the Mycenaean Greece, Mycenean Pylos. Initially a dra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Speechwriters
A speechwriter is a person who is hired to prepare and write speeches to be delivered by another person. Speechwriters are employed by many senior-level elected officials and executives in the government and private sectors. They can also be employed to write for weddings and other social occasions. Skills and training A speechwriter typically works at the highest levels of government or businesses and directly with political leaders or executives to determine the points, themes, positions, or messages that should be included in a speech, and usually to author the speech itself. Speechwriters need to be able to accept criticism and comments on the different drafts of the speech, and be able to incorporate the proposed changes into the draft. Speechwriters have to be able to work on several different speeches at once, and manage their time so that they can meet demanding deadlines for finishing the speech on time. Speechwriters must also be able to accept anonymity, because wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
