Isocrates

E95389

Athenian citizen ancient Greek rhetorician logographer orator teacher

Isocrates was a prominent 4th-century BCE Athenian orator and rhetorician, renowned for his influential school of rhetoric and his political writings that shaped classical Greek education and thought.

Statements (82)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	Athenian citizen → ancient Greek rhetorician → logographer → orator → teacher →
activity	taught rhetoric for a fee in Athens → wrote speeches for others to deliver in court →
ageAtDeath	about 98 years →
birthPlace	Athens →
citizenship	Athens → Classical Greece →
contemporaryOf	Demosthenes → Philip II of Macedon NERFINISHED → Plato → Xenophon NERFINISHED →
dateOfBirth	circa 436 BCE →
dateOfDeath	338 BCE →
deathCause	traditionally said to have starved himself to death →
deathContext	died shortly after the Battle of Chaeronea →
education	student of Gorgias → student of Prodicus → student of Theramenes →
ethnicity	Greek →
father	Theodorus →
floruit	4th century BCE →
genre	educational treatise → epideictic oratory → political discourse →
influenced	Cicero → Quintilian → Roman rhetorical theory → classical rhetorical education → later humanist education →
knownFor	developing a practical, civic-oriented rhetoric → emphasis on moral character in education → founding an influential school of rhetoric in Athens → influence on classical Greek education → political pamphlets and speeches →
language	Ancient Greek →
legacy	considered one of the ten Attic orators → helped shape the ideal of the educated orator-statesman → major source for understanding 4th-century Athenian intellectual life →
movement	Attic oratory → classical rhetoric →
name	Isocrates →
notableWork	Against the Sophists → Antidosis → Areopagiticus → Busiris → Evagoras → Helen → On the Peace → Panathenaicus → Panegyricus → To Philip →
philosophicalView	advocated Panhellenism → criticized radical democracy at Athens → emphasized rhetoric as training for political leadership → promoted unity of Greek city-states against Persia → valued moderate oligarchic elements in government →
politicalPosition	appealed to Philip II of Macedon to lead a Panhellenic campaign → initially sympathetic to moderate oligarchic factions → later supported a strong monarch to unify Greece →
profession	political writer → rhetorician → speechwriter → teacher of rhetoric →
schoolInfluence	attracted students from across the Greek world →
schoolLocation	Athens →
schoolType	school of rhetoric →
student	Ephorus of Cyme → Hypereides → Isaeus → Lycurgus of Athens → Speusippus → Theopompus of Chios → Timotheus →
style	balanced and elaborate sentence structure → periodic prose →
viewOnEducation	advocated long-term training combining natural talent, practice, and instruction →
viewOnPhilosophy	identified philosophy with practical training in speech and judgment →
viewOnSophists	criticized contemporary sophists for deception and empty display →

Referenced by (4)

Subject (surface form when different)	Predicate
Xenophon →	contemporaryOf
Gorgias →	influenced
Demosthenes →	influencedBy
Isocrates →	name