Isocrates
Isocrates ( Greek Ἰσοκράτης Isokrátēs ; * 436 BC in Athens ; † 338 BC ) was an ancient Greek rhetorician . He was counted among the ten well-known Attic speakers .
Isocrates opened around 390 BC. A school for speakers in Athens. Later he also worked as a political publicist. Its importance lies in the development of new literary forms, in its role model function for later rhetoric and its related influence on the ancient education system as well as in its examination of Plato .
Life
Isocrates came from a wealthy Athenian family and was the son of a Theodoros. He studied with the sophist Gorgias in Thessaly , and this teacher-student relationship is said to have been shown on his grave tablet. He was married to plane tree, the widow of the sophist Hippias . He lost his fortune in the Peloponnesian War . Hence, from then on he was forced to work. Because of his shyness and weak voice, he never appeared as a speaker himself and was therefore unable to pursue a political career. He began as a logographer , that is, as a commissioner for court speeches, which those involved in the litigation had to present themselves. After opening his school, he gave up the little-regarded logographer activity.
Isocrates prepared his students for practical work in the Athenian democracy . To do this, he let them hold speeches and criticize one another. Sometimes there were former students present who already played an active role in the polis, as the dialogical parts of the speech to Philip and Panathenaicos show.
There was a rivalry between the school of Isocrates and the academy , the school of Plato, which was also due to fundamental differences of opinion between the two principals. Plato radically rejected the rhetoric concept advocated by Isocrates, Isocrates judged the practical value of the studies carried out in the academy to be low.
After 378 BC Isocrates supported his former student Timotheus , who as a strategist played a leading role in Athens politics. After his death in 354 BC Isocrates took a new direction in his political writings. Other students of Isocrates were the Athenian politicians Lycurgus and Androtion , the orator Isaios and the historians Ephoros and Theopompus . After the battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC. BC and the defeat of Athens against the Macedonian hegemony, Isocrates passed away voluntarily.
Works
21 speeches and 9 letters are preserved under Isocrates' name. Speeches 16 to 21 are court speeches from his time as a logographer.
The speeches against the Sophists (13th) and the Helenarede (10th) date from the time the school was founded and are directed against Cynical speech teachers and writers such as Polykrates and Antisthenes .
The Busiris (11th) is directed against Sparta- oriented ideas of an exemplary state. Formally it is a criticism of the defense of the busiris of the rhetorician Polykrates .
In the Panegyrikos (4th), which appeared for the Olympic Games in 380, Isocrates called for the unity of all Greeks and a common struggle against the Persians under the leadership of Athens. The Panegyrikos says that all Greeks were better off under the rule of Athens than they are now under the Spartan hegemony. At the same time, he promises that Athens will not repeat its mistakes from the time of the First Sea Confederation . Two years later the Second Attic Sea Confederation was founded.
In Plataikos (14th) and Archidamos' speech (6th) Isocrates turned against the Thebans and advocated rapprochement with Sparta.
In the Cypriot speeches ( speech of Nicocles [2.], speech of Nicocles to the Cypriots [3.], and Euagoras [9.]) Isocrates created the image of an ideal ruler. At the same time the Euagoras contains a defense of Konon . This served to support Konon's son Timotheus .
After Timotheus' death, Isocrates called in the Areopagiticus (7th) for a return to the Solonic constitution. In the speech about peace (8th) he advocated a renunciation of imperial ambitions. The leadership of the Greeks in the fight against the Persians he now handed to other powers ( An Philipp , [5.]).
In the Antidoseus speech (15th), often referred to as the first autobiography, Isocrates gives an account of his work.
Aristotle designed his admonition to Themison (Protreptikos) based on the Cypriot speeches . Presumably a student of Isocrates answered this with Demonikos (1.). Because of its general content, this work was placed first by the ancient editors.
His last work, the Panathenaikos (12th), is a review of the failed Athens policy. The long dialogue with his students at the end, which prompts every reader to find new interpretations by reading again, is particularly remarkable here.
philosophy
Isocrates explains his teaching, which he himself called philosophy, as follows:
“I do believe, however, that people can become better and more valuable than they naturally are if they are ambitious in speaking and strive to gain persuasiveness from their listeners and also want their advantage, and not the one is taken for it by the incomprehensible, but rather the one who really has this meaning. I think I will be able to show you quickly that this is the case. First of all, someone who has made it his business to give and write speeches that deserve praise and recognition will not choose any unjust, insignificant or private litigation-related subject on his subject [...] He will also choose from among all subjects that relate to its topic, choose the most appropriate and useful. If you get used to focusing your attention on it and examining it, you will acquire the same ability not only for the current speech, but also for all your other activities. Thus all inquisitive people who are ambitious in the art of speaking will have the ability to speak well and think well at the same time. But those who want to have a convincing effect on others will not neglect virtue , but will pay particular attention to the fact that they enjoy the best possible reputation among their fellow citizens. "
Survival
Along with Demosthenes, Isocrates was considered the greatest exponent of Greek rhetoric. Aristotle often drew his examples in rhetoric from Isocrates' work.
Cicero wrote: “Like the Trojan horse, true princes emerged from the school of Isocrates.” In the attic dispute , however, he resisted the demand that Isocrates' style should also be exemplary for the court speech.
The appreciation that Isocrates found was almost always for the outstanding stylist. It was only in the modern era that Isocrates was honored in isolated cases: Werner Jaeger calls him the real “father of humanistic education”. Heinrich Niehues-Pröbsting writes: “The course at Isokrates is organized in such a way that one might think that an educational functionary and university reformer of our day would have designed it: It is as practice-oriented as it is generally educational, subject to fees and limited to three to four years; that is how long the courses last, then the students are sent home and into life. And it proves its efficiency through the success of its graduates. "
expenditure
- Vasilis G. Mandilaras (Ed.): Isocrates opera omnia. Three volumes. Munich 2003 (critical edition).
- Isocrates. Complete Works. Translated by Christine Ley-Hutton, introduced and explained by Kai Brodersen. Hiersemann, Stuttgart 1993-1997. Volume 1: Reden I-VIII , 1993, ISBN 3-7772-9307-5 ; Volume 2: Reden IX – XXI, Letters, Fragments , 1997, ISBN 3-7772-9711-9 .
- Isocratis oratio ad demonicum, cum interpretatione latina […] Dilingae , Formis Academicis. Ignatius Mayer (printer), Dillingen 1654 (Greek and Latin text parallel).
literature
Overview representations
- Evangelos Alexiou: Isocrates. In: Bernhard Zimmermann , Antonios Rengakos (Hrsg.): The literature of the classical and Hellenistic time (= manual of the Greek literature of antiquity. Volume 2). CH Beck, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-406-61818-5 , pp. 781-799.
- Juan Luis López Cruces, Pedro Pablo Fuentes González: Isocrate d'Athènes. In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques. Volume 3. CNRS Éditions, Paris 2000, ISBN 2-271-05748-5 , pp. 891-938.
Investigations and Comments
- Evangelos Alexiou: The Euagoras of Isocrates. A commentary (= studies on ancient literature and history. Volume 101). De Gruyter, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-11-022988-2 .
- Werner Jaeger : Isocrates' speech for the Plateans and the Second League. In: Werner Jaeger: Demosthenes. The statesman and his becoming. De Gruyter, Berlin 1939, pp. 196-200.
- Friedrich Seck (Ed.): Isokrates (= ways of research. Volume 351). Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1976, ISBN 3-534-05713-9 .
- Christoph Eucken : Isocrates. His positions in dealing with contemporary philosophers (= investigations into ancient literature and history. Volume 19). De Gruyter, Berlin et al. 1983, ISBN 3-11-008646-8 .
- Sylvia Usener: Isocrates, Plato and their audience. Listeners and readers of literature in the 4th century BC . BC (= . Script orals belt 63 = script orals. Series A: . Altertumswissenschaftliche row band 14). Narr, Tübingen 1994, ISBN 3-8233-4278-9 (also: Freiburg (Breisgau), university, dissertation, 1992/93).
- Takis Poulakos, David Depew (Eds.): Isocrates and Civic Education. University of Texas Press, Austin TX 2004, ISBN 0-292-70219-1 .
Web links
- Literature by and about Isokrates in the catalog of the German National Library
- Works by and about Isokrates in the German Digital Library
Remarks
- ↑ Cicero , De oratore 52,176 = Hermann Diels, Walther Kranz (ed.): Fragments of the pre-Socratics 82A32.
- ^ Pseudo-Plutarch , Vitae decem oratorum 10, 838d = Diels / Kranz, fragments of the pre-Socratics 82A17.
- ↑ Isokrates, Antidose Speech 275–278.
- ↑ Cicero, De oratore 2.64.
- ↑ Werner Jaeger: Paideia. The formation of the Greek man. Volume 3. Berlin 1955, p. 105 f.
- ^ Heinrich Niehues-Pröbsting: The ancient philosophy , Frankfurt 2004, p. 122.
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Isocrates |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Attic orator |
DATE OF BIRTH | 436 BC Chr. |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Athens |
DATE OF DEATH | 338 BC Chr. |
Place of death | Athens |