Rhetorician (436 BC – 338 BC)
The most renowned rhetorician and orator of ancient Athens. Isocrates descended from a wealthy family and studied next to his greatest contemporary philosophers Protagoras, Gorgias, Prodicus and Socrates. At the beginning of this career he worked as a logographer (speechwriter). This proved to be very profitable for Isocrates as Aristotle mentions that his forensic speeches were highly sought after. These were spoken in courtrooms, orations or in public speeches. Nevertheless, hiding behind the public speaker did not please Isocrates and so he founded a school of rhetoric speech and philosophy.
Isocrates’ school became one of the most successful schools in all of Greece. He taught his students to speak efficiently and to persuade large crowds of people by making the intellect capable of forming correct judgments. Furthermore, in conjunction with philosophy and political sciences, which he also taught, Isocrates aimed at cultivating the spirit of his students and providing them with prudence and an ethical morality.
Cicero paralleled his school with the Trojan Horse because from it emerged the most virtuous men of letters armed with the power of eloquence. His students came from all around Greece and became teachers themselves, something that Isocrates was very proud of. Notable students of his school include Timotheus, Theodectus, Hyperides, Aeschines and many more who were involved in politics, tragic poetry and philosophy. Numerous kings such as Evagoras of Salamis were also students of Isocrates.
Isocrates’ orations are estimated to be 68 speeches, 31 of which survive today. Undoubtedly his greatest work is Panegyricus, which took 12 years to complete. It is a literary masterpiece in which Isocrates calls for the unification of all Greek city-states under the leadership of Athens for the greater good of defeating the Persian barbarians. With this work Isocrates prompted Philip II and later Alexander the Great to found the Panhellenic union, unite all the Greeks and eradicate the Persian Empire. Alexander made this into a reality. A similar Panhellenic idea is expressed in his work Philippus, addressed to Philip II. Other notable orations include De Pace, in which Isocrates introduces the concept of autonomy for the islands, Antidosis, a semi-autobiographic oration written in the age of 80, Areiopageticus, where he calls for a return to the democratic model of Solon and Cleisthenes, Panathenaicus, in which he praises both Athens and Sparta and several other orations, epitaphs and letters.
Isocrates was distinguished from the rest orators of his time because of two things. First, he taught his students to be dominant in speech, to be righteous and truthful. Thanks to them, the citizens of Athens became honest and decent men and women. Second, his philopatry was a catalyst for Alexander’s conquest because he expressed the truth that all the Greek city-states compose one common nation, Greece, which has the ability to reign over all as a result of its intellectual and civilizational supremacy.
Bibliography
- Isocrates. Helios New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Passas, I. Athens, 1946. Print.
- Pleures, Konstantinos. The King Alexander. Georgiades: Athens, 2015. Print.