Aeschines (Athens)

Statue of Aeschines, from the Villa dei Papiri of Herculaneum . National Archaeological Museum of Naples . Photo by Paolo Monti , 1969

Aischines ( ancient Greek Αἰσχίνης , Aischínēs ; * 390/389 BC; † around 314 BC) was an orator and politician in Athens. His speech against Ctesiphon (3rd) is hardly inferior to the speech Für Ktesiphon (18th speech, also called wreath speech), which Demosthenes gave as a reply and which was long held in high regard as the greatest speech of antiquity.

Life

According to Demosthenes' not necessarily trustworthy information, he was temporarily active as an actor and subordinate writer.

346 BC BC he belonged with Philocrates and Demosthenes to the ten-member Athens delegation that concluded a peace treaty with Philip II in Pella . He was later accused by Demosthenes for this (1st and 2nd speech). Aeschines was therefore not the most important of Demosthenes' opponents. The actual leaders of his party were Eubulus and later Demades as well as the strategist Phocion .

340 BC Aeschines Pylagoros, that is, Athenian representative in the council of the Delphic Amphictyony . In this function he was jointly responsible for the outbreak of the Fourth Holy War , which later led to the defeat of the alliance of the Greek Poleis against Macedonia in the important Battle of Chaironeia .

330 BC He faced Demosthenes in a sensational trial (3rd speech), in which he accused his friend Ctesiphon of the allegedly illegal request for an honorary wreath for Demosthenes. However, not even 1/5 of the judges agreed with his charge, so he had to pay a fine and left Athens. Aeschines is said to have gone to Rhodes and given rhetoric lessons there.

Works

Three speeches by Aeschines have survived. Twelve letters preserved under his name are spurious. There are also several ancient biographies.

In his first attack on Aeschines because of the "false embassy" Demosthenes made a mistake in selecting the plaintiff. Aeschines succeeded in a counterclaim with the speech against Timarchos (1) to convince the judges that he had prostituted himself in his youth. This speech contains very interesting information about the demi-world of ancient Athens. Finally, Demosthenes is also attacked as a seducer of young men.

After this failure, Demosthenes had to bring the lawsuit against Aeschines himself. Both speeches or speech drafts have been preserved (Parapresbeia speeches: Demosthenes 19. [as an unfinished draft probably published from the estate], Aeschines On the “Tragedy” [2.])

Finally, the speech against Ctesiphon (3rd), a great reckoning with the politics of Demosthenes.

Survival

Between about 322 and 307 BC A portrait statue of the speaker was erected. It is handed down in the depicted Roman copy from Herculaneum and other head replicas.

literature

Evangelos Alexiou: Aeschines. In: Bernhard Zimmermann , Antonios Rengakos (Hrsg.): Handbook of the Greek literature of antiquity. Volume 2: The Literature of the Classical and Hellenistic Period. CH Beck, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-406-61818-5 , pp. 825-836
Anargyros Anastassiou and Dieter Irmer (editors): Smaller Attic speakers (= Paths of Research Volume CXXVII), Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1977, ISBN 3-534-03843-6 .
Edward M. Harris: Aeschines and Athenian Politics . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1995, ISBN 0-19-508285-0 .
Waldemar Heckel : Who's Who In The Age Of Alexander The Great: Prosopography of Alexander's Empire . Oxford 2006, pp. 5f.
Theodor Thalheim : Aeschines (Athens) . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume I, 1, Stuttgart 1893, Col. 1050-1062 (outdated).

Web links

Commons : Aeschines - collection of images, videos and audio files

Wikisource: Aeschines - Sources and full texts

Literature by and about Aeschines in the catalog of the German National Library
Works by and about Aischines in the German Digital Library
Speeches of the Aeschines (Greek and English translation)

Individual evidence

↑ The statue of Aeschines translates the type of poet statue known from Sophocles (340 BC) , who was 20-30 years older than him, into the sculptural style of the late 4th century. Another 30-40 years later the statue of Demosthenes (280 BC) follows , now in the style of early Hellenism . - On the Aischines : L. Laurenzi: Eschine . In: Enciclopedia dell'arte antica classica e orientale . tape 3 . Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1960 (Italian, treccani.it ): “Si potrebbe dunque pensare (...) che l'originale dell'Eschine sia stato costruito più tardi, fra il 322 e il 307 a. C., quando ad Atene ritornò al potere il partito macedone, nel quale doveva essere vivo e grato il ricordo di Eschine. (One could therefore assume (...) that the original of the Aeschines was written later, between 322 and 307 BC, when the pro-Macedonian party came to power again in Athens, which the Aeschines a lively and grateful one Memory must have preserved.) ” - On Demosthenes : Reinhard Lullies : Portrait statue of Demosthenes von Polyeuktus . In: Karl Schefold (ed.): The Greeks and their neighbors (= Propylaea art history . Volume 1 ). Propylaeen-Verlag, Berlin 1967, p. 195 Fig. 120 .

personal data
SURNAME	Aeschines
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Aeschines (rhetorician)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Attic orator
DATE OF BIRTH	around 390 BC Chr.
PLACE OF BIRTH	Athens
DATE OF DEATH	around 314 BC Chr.

[1] The statue of Aeschines translates the type of poet statue known from Sophocles (340 BC) , who was 20-30 years older than him, into the sculptural style of the late 4th century. Another 30-40 years later the statue of Demosthenes (280 BC) follows , now in the style of early Hellenism . - On the Aischines : L. Laurenzi: Eschine . In: Enciclopedia dell'arte antica classica e orientale . tape 3 . Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1960 (Italian, treccani.it ): “Si potrebbe dunque pensare (...) che l'originale dell'Eschine sia stato costruito più tardi, fra il 322 e il 307 a. C., quando ad Atene ritornò al potere il partito macedone, nel quale doveva essere vivo e grato il ricordo di Eschine. (One could therefore assume (...) that the original of the Aeschines was written later, between 322 and 307 BC, when the pro-Macedonian party came to power again in Athens, which the Aeschines a lively and grateful one Memory must have preserved.) ” - On Demosthenes : Reinhard Lullies : Portrait statue of Demosthenes von Polyeuktus . In: Karl Schefold (ed.): The Greeks and their neighbors (= Propylaea art history . Volume 1 ). Propylaeen-Verlag, Berlin 1967, p. 195 Fig. 120 .