Eubulus (politician)

Eubulus (* around 405 BC ; † around 335 BC ) was an Attic politician who lived between 355 BC. BC and 342 BC BC was one of the most important statesmen of Athens and took care of the city's finances.

Almost nothing is known about Eubulus' early life, except that he came from the Demos Anaphlystos. He was promoted by the statesman and orator Diophantos from the Demos Sphettos and was soon charged with overseeing the city's finances. He is primarily credited with having Athens in the middle of the 4th century BC. BC managed to recover financially and to develop prosperity that had not been known for a long time. So he enforced a law according to which smaller military ventures should no longer be financed from the public budget.

When it came to dealing with the up-and-coming Macedonian kingdom, Eubulus belonged to the “peace party” and thus (from around 352) stood in opposition to Demosthenes , who sought armed conflict with Philip II . Eubulus on the other hand, like other statesmen like Meidias , Aeschines and Phokion , strove for a general peace , which in the year 346 BC. BC also came about with significant participation of Philocrates (see Peace of Philocrates ).

A few years later, however, Philip intervened again in central Greece. Eubulus again pleaded for a peaceful solution, but now the war party under Demosthenes prevailed. After Athens' catastrophic defeat by Macedon at the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC. BC Eubulus no longer appears in the sources.

Web links

• Literature by and about Eubulus in the catalog of the German National Library