DEMOSTHENES: BIOGRAPHY, CONTRIBUTIONS, SPEECH, WORKS - PHILOSOPHY - 2025

Demosthenes was one of the most important orators and politicians of Ancient Greece. Born in the year 384 a. In Athens, he began practicing the profession of logographer in his youth, a job that consisted of writing speeches or legal defenses on request.

Despite the fact that he never abandoned this profession, Demosthenes intended to be seen as a statesman, especially after writing his first political speech. To do this, he became involved in the public life of the polis and managed to become one of the most influential voices in the city.

Demostene, Roman copy of the 2nd century AD. C. - Source: MM / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

Part of his success came from his civic actions, as well as his moral views. Likewise, he also participated decisively in the foreign policy decisions that were taken in Athens.

Demosthenes had to overcome the problems posed by his poor health and stuttering to become the great orator that he was. In this activity they highlighted his speeches against Philip II, King of Macedonia and his claim to control all the Greek polis. These discourses received the name of Filípicas.

Biography

Demosthenes came to the world in Athens, in 384 BC. His father owned a furniture factory and an arms factory. This, despite providing him with an important benefit, caused him to be frowned upon by the city's upper classes, who valued the trade negatively.

The future speaker was orphaned of a father at age 7 and the family's wealth was left in the hands of three guardians, two uncles and a friend. These, who had to manage it in the name of the young Demosthenes, were little by little squandering it. This caused the young man and his mother to be left in poverty.

Upon coming of age, Demosthenes sued his guardians, with the intention of regaining his inheritance. To face the trial, Demosthenes had trained his oratorical skills. The result was five speeches against the defendants and the court ruling that they should return part of the money.

Education and improvement

The good economic position of the Demosthenes family allowed him to receive a good education. Despite his delicate health, he always had the desire to learn and, thanks to his readings, he soon became one of the most educated young people in the city.

According to Plutarch, the pedagogue of Demosthenes took him to an Assembly of the city when he was 16 years old. There he contemplated how Calistrato, a politician, won an important lawsuit thanks to his oratory. This experience was essential for the young man to decide to learn rhetoric.

However, Demosthenes had a problem that greatly impaired his purpose. From childhood he suffered from stuttering, something that had always puzzled him.

To overcome it, he began to perform declamation exercises, practicing speaking with a handful of stones in his mouth to force himself to speak without stuttering. In addition, she would scream on the beach to strengthen her voice. Although it took him several years, Demosthenes managed to speak normally.

After the lawsuits against his guardians, Demosthenes began working as a speechwriter for others to use in private trials. His good work allowed him to get a good portfolio of clients among the upper classes of the city.

At the same time, he continued his training as a lawyer and began to take care of some cases. Similarly, he gave lessons on various subjects and was introduced to the political life of the polis.

Political career

From the year 354 a. C., without abandoning his activity as a logographer. Demosthenes began to give his first political speeches in public. In them, the speaker called for the public sense to be reestablished in Athens and defended the preservation of Greek culture.

Furthermore, Demosthenes also wrote two fierce attacks against those who sought to eliminate tax exemptions. Likewise, he denounced public actions that he considered dishonest or contrary to the traditions of the polis.

At first, the author took a position in favor of the political faction led by Eubulo. Demosthenes delivered a political speech defending one of his proposals: to reform the financing of the city's fleet.

Later, Demosthenes stopped supporting Eubulus and declared against the foreign policy of Athens in the speech By the Megalopolitans. In this writing, he warned about the power of Sparta and the danger it represented.

Anti-Macedonian Party

Demosthenes' first speeches did not find much echo. However, it was making a name for itself among the political personalities of the city.

His next step was to found his own political party, based on opposition to the Macedonian claim to seize power in Greek cities and eliminate democracy.

In the year 355 a. C., Demosthenes pronounced the Olínticas, some speeches written to support Olinto, the last city of the Calcídica that was free of the Macedonian dominion, in front of Filipo II of Macedonia. However, their interventions did not succeed in getting Athens to send an army to defend the town.

Since that year and until 341 BC. C., Demosthenes focused all his speeches on opposing the claims of Philip II. The set of these discourses received the name of Filípicas.

Coalition against Philip II

Two years before the death of Philip II, Demosthenes organized a coalition between Athens and Thebes to fight against the Macedonian monarch.

Philip II presented a peace treaty, but Athenians and Thebans refused to accept it. After some small coalition victories on the battlefield, the Macedonians defeated their enemies in a great battle near Queronea in 338 BC. C.

Demosthenes was part of the Athenian army as a hoplite, a citizen-soldier, but his military ability was nil and the speaker ended up fleeing in the middle of the confrontation. Plutarco wrote the following: he did nothing honorable, nor did his behavior live up to his speeches. "

Macedonian government

After winning the Battle of Queronea, Philip II imposed Macedonian rulers in Tenas. However, the Macedonian king was somewhat less harsh on Athens, as he only forced the city to eliminate its naval league and to withdraw from its possessions in Thrace.

The Ekklesia (City Assembly) chose Demosthenes to deliver a funeral speech for those killed in the war against Macedonia.

Somewhat later, Philip II seized power in Athens. Demosthenes did not stop making speeches against that rule, something in which he had the support of the inhabitants of the city.

In 336 a. C., Ctesiphon, another orator, from Athens proposed that Demosthenes receive the golden crown of the city as a tribute to his work. This was rejected by the Promacedonian political faction that, in the midst of a great controversy, managed to have the Ctesiphon accused of committing irregularities in carrying out the proposal.

About the Crown

The accusation to Ctesiphon was answered by Demosthenes with what is considered his most brilliant speech: On the Crown. The speaker, in addition to defending the accused, attacked the Macedonians with great vehemence, as well as those Athenians who were in favor of reaching a peace agreement with the invaders.

Demosthenes also used the speech to make a defense of his own political career, stating that all his actions had come from his loyalty to the city.

The speech was so brilliant that Ctesiphon was acquitted and Aeschines, in charge of the public prosecution, left the city.

Revolt of Athens

The assassination of King Philip II, in 336 BC. C., led his son Alexander to the Macedonian throne. Athens tried to take advantage of this fact to regain its independence. Demosthenes was one of the leaders of the revolt that broke out in the city.

In 335 a. C., Alexander was fighting against Thrace and Iliria. Rumors of his death reached Thebes and Athens and both cities rebelled against Macedonia, with the financial support of Darius III of Persia. Some sources claim that Demosthenes received part of the gold sent by the Persians, something that found him after being accused of misappropriation.

The rumors about the death of Alexander the Great turned out to be false and the Macedonian king reacted by devastating Thebes. The Athenians, at this news, panicked and begged the monarch for mercy.

Alexander decided not to attack Athens, but demanded that all the politicians of the anti-Macedonian faction be banished. Demosthenes appeared first on the list, but several illustrious Athenians convinced Alexander to forgive him.

Loss of influence

Demosthenes was accused of corruption in the year 324 a. C., which caused its influence to decline. That year, Harpalo, who had been appointed by Alexander governor of Babylon and guarded very valuable treasures, fled with the booty and took refuge in Athens.

Demosthenes demanded of the Ekklesia that Harpalo be captured and that his wealth be confiscated, which was approved and carried out. The problem arose later, when an audit accused Demosthenes of having kept some of the money.

The speaker was fined, but unable to pay the required amount, he had to go to prison. However, he escaped in a short time and took refuge in Aegina until Alexander's death.

Death

The death of Alexander the Great, in 323 BC. C., was used by the Greek polis to rebel against the Macedonian domain. Demosthenes then returned to Athens and began to demand a new war against Macedonia.

Bust of Alexander the Great, by Archaeological Museum of Rhodes, via Wikimedia Commons However, the revolt was put down by Alexander's successor. The Macedonians demanded that the Athenians hand over Demosthenes and other leaders of their faction. The Assembly, on this occasion, condemned the political agitators to death.

Demosthenes had to flee again, this time to the island of Calauria. A confidant of the Macedonians discovered his whereabouts.

Faced with this, the Athenian politician and orator committed suicide by taking poison in the temple of Poseidon in 322 BC. C.

Contributions of Demosthenes

The main contributions of Demosthenes were in the field of oratory and eloquence. In other fields, such as politics, his performance had supporters and detractors.

Politics

As noted, Demosthenes' contribution to Athenian politics has had different evaluations.

Among the positive ones are those of Plutarco. The Greek historian and philosopher praised the coherence of Demosthenes' political beliefs, who always defended the same ideas.

However, Polybius, another historian, was very critical of the Athenian orator, whom he accused of carrying out unfounded attacks against great men of the time, especially those of other cities. Thus, Polybius affirmed that Demosthenes only took care of the well-being of Athens and that, in practice, he only got them to be defeated at Queronea.

In general, almost all scholars, of his time and today, have emphasized that Demosthenes' abilities as a politician and strategist were much less than as a speaker.

Oratory

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, historian and professor of Greek rhetoric, affirmed that Demosthenes was able to combine the best characteristics of the basic styles of oratory. In this way, he was able to wear a normal, archaic or elegant style depending on the circumstances.

The speaker had the ability to combine short messages with longer explanations. His language was simple and natural, without using strange words. His only weak point, according to Dionisio, was the lack of sense of humor.

One of the criticisms that other historians made of Demosthenes was that he never wanted to talk about topics that he had not previously studied. The orator meticulously prepared his speeches and was not given to improvisations.

On the other hand, the effectiveness of Demosthenes' speeches were not based only on the word. The speaker had learned to use non-verbal language to enhance the force of his arguments.

Demosthenes' speech

Demosthenes is considered one of the great orators in history thanks to his mastery of all existing techniques.

Philippic

The speeches written by Demosthenes to criticize King Philip II of Macedon and his intention to seize power in the Greek cities were collectively called the Philippians.

In total, the speeches that are part of the Philippians were four, with the common argument of trying to make the Athenians stand up to the Macedonian monarch.

In the first of the speeches, Demosthenes tried to encourage the Athenians so that they would not give up. In addition, he proposed to form two armies, one composed of citizens and the other of mercenaries. On the other hand, the speaker also criticized the Athenians who had allowed the advance of Philip II.

The next speech was focused on convincing the Athenians not to trust the peace treaty proposed by the King of Macedonia. For Demosthenes, this distrust should be the main weapon to resist the expansionist claims of the Macedonians.

The demand to carry out an attack on Philip II was the basis for the third philippic. Demosthenes once again accused his fellow citizens of not resisting the Macedonian expansion.

The last of these speeches was aimed at trying to balance the situation of rich and poor so that everyone remained united. Likewise, he proposed to reach an agreement with the Persians.

Olínticas

Demosthenes wrote and publicly delivered three speeches after Philip II attacked and conquered Olinto, a city allied to Athens.

The set of them received the name of Olínticas. The intention in writing these speeches was that Athens would help her ally militarily.

Against Meidias

One of Demosthenes's best-known judicial speeches was the one called Against Meidias. This was written in 348 BC. C. to be used in a trial that pitted Meidias, a rich Athenian, with Demosthenes himself, whom the former had slapped in public.

This speech has allowed historians to obtain important information about the judicial system and Athenian law of the time.

About the Crown

Many historians consider that On the Crown, a speech delivered in 330 BC. C., was the most brilliant performance of Demosthenes, at least in the judicial sphere.

In this speech, Demosthenes defended Ctesiphon and attacked the supporters of reaching a peace agreement with Macedonia. In the text, the speaker stated that all his previous acts had been motivated by his loyalty to the city.

Plays

Experts note that Demosthenes wrote the vast majority of his speeches. After his death, these were kept in two different cities: Athens and Alexandria, in his famous library.

Today sixty-one speeches are preserved, although the authorship of nine of them is under discussion. On the other hand, six letters and fifty-six prologues have also been preserved.

Main private speeches

- Against Aphobe

- In defense of Phormio

- Against Androción

- Against Timocrates

- Against Leptines

- Against Noera

Main public speeches

- About simmonies

- In favor of the megalopolitans

- The Philippians

- Olínticas

- Pro crown

References

1. Sánchez, Edith. Demosthenes, the great stuttering orator. Obtained from lamenteesmaravillosa.com
2. Bru de Sala, Xavier. Demosthenes of Athens. Obtained from elperiodico.com
3. Ruiza, M., Fernández, T. and Tamaro, E. Demosthenes. Obtained from biografiasyvidas.com
4. Murphy, James J. Demosthenes. Retrieved from britannica.com
5. Cartwright, Mark. Demosthenes. Retrieved from ancient.eu
6. Gill, NS Profile of Demosthenes, the Greek Orator. Retrieved from thoughtco.com
7. Encyclopedia of World Biography. Demosthenes. Retrieved from encyclopedia.com