Polykrates (rhetorician)

Polykrates ( Greek Πολυκράτης Polykrátēs ) was an orator in ancient Athens who lived in the late 5th and early 4th centuries BC. Lived.

Life

Polykrates first lived in Athens. He published around 392 BC. An accusation of Socrates and a defense of Busiris . These not preserved writings were showpieces of rhetorical skills and were used to advertise his teaching. Isocrates replied to Polykrates with his busiris . It can be deduced from it that by this time Polycrates had already left Athens; he lived from about 390 BC. In Cyprus , where he opened a school.

Talk

The question of the extent to which Polykrates used Plato's writings for his accusation of Socrates is controversial . Xenophon used (for lack of other sources) the accusation of Socrates in the "Schutzschrift". Lysias answer Polycrates; His defense of Socrates was also a rhetorical showpiece. The extent to which Plato, Antisthenes and Aeschines answered Polycrates is controversial. The “ eulogy of salt ” mentioned by Isocrates and Plato presumably also originated from him, and other speeches on curious topics can probably be ascribed to him. Also Libanios responded to Polycrates' Socrates speeches.

literature

Ernst Gebhardt: Polykrates' accusation against Socrates and Xenophon's reply. A source analysis of “Mem, I.1” . Dissertation, University of Frankfurt am Main 1957
Michel Narcy: Polycrate d'Athènes . In: Richard Goulet (Ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Vol. 5, Part 2, CNRS Éditions, Paris 2012, ISBN 978-2-271-07399-0 , pp. 1246–1252

Web links

Meskschrift on Libanios (PDF; 2.9 MB)

Footnotes

personal data
SURNAME	Polycrates
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Greek rhetorician
DATE OF BIRTH	5th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH	4th century BC Chr.

[1] tnote 591

[2] Eduard Meyer: Geschichte des Altertums , Darmstadt 1965, Vol. 5, pp. 322-330.

[3] Mem. I 2; Plato, Martin von Schanz: Collection of selected dialogues of Plato , Tauchnitz publishing house, 1893, pages 22, 28, 36 u. a.