Isocrates (
436–
338 BC), Greek
rhetorician, was one of the ten
Attic orators. In his time, he was probably the most influential rhetorician in Greece and made many contributions to rhetoric and education through his teaching and written works.
Greek rhetoric is commonly traced to
Corax of Syracuse, who first formulated a set of rhetorical rules in the fifth century BC. His pupil,
Tisias, was influential in the development of the rhetoric of the courtroom, and by some accounts was the teacher of Isocrates. Within two generations, rhetoric had become an important art, its growth driven by the social and political changes, such as democracy and the courts of law.
The demand for rhetorical training was so high that a number of philosophers and teachers set up their own schools to train orators. Among these were the
Sophists, which included such teachers as Isocrates and
Gorgias. These schools proved to be a lucrative enterprise, and later attracted less reputable characters.
Isocrates was born to a wealthy family--his father owned a successful flute factory--and received a fine education. He studied with Gorgias and possibly
Socrates, among others. After the
Peloponnesian War, Isocrates' family lost its wealth, and Isocrates was forced to earn a living.
Isocrates' professional career is said to have begun as a
logographer, or a hired courtroom speech writer. Around
392 BC he set up his own school of rhetoric, and proved to be not only an influential teacher, but a shrewd businessman. His fees were unusually high, but he managed to attract more students than any other school. As a consequence, he amassed a considerable fortune.
Isocrates' program of rhetorical education stressed the ability to use language to address practical problems, cases where absolute truth was not obtainable. He also stressed civic education, training students to serve the state. Students would practice composing and delivering speeches on various subjects. He considered natural ability and practice to be more important than rules or principles of rhetoric. Rather than delineating static rules, Isocrates stressed "fitness for the occasion," or
kairos--the rhetor's ability to adapt to changing circumstances and situations.
Because of
Plato's attacks on the Sophists, Isocrates' school of rhetoric and philosophy came to be viewed as unethical and deceitful. Yet many of Plato's criticisms are hard to discern in the work of Isocrates, and at the end of his
Phaedrus Plato even has Socrates praising Isocrates. Isocrates saw the ideal orator as someone who must not only possess rhetorical gifts, but possess also a wide knowledge of philosophy, science, and the arts. The orator should also represent Greek ideals of freedom, self-control, and virtue. In this, he was an influence on Roman rhetoricians, such as
Cicero and
Quintilian, and on the idea of liberal education.
On the art of rhetoric, he was also an innovator. He promoted a clear and natural style that avoided artificiality, while providing rhythm and variation that commanded the attention of the listener. Like most rhetoricians, he saw rhetoric as a method of clarifying the truth, rather than one of obscuring it.
Of the 60 orations in his name available in Roman times, 21 were transmitted by ancient and medieval scribes. Another three orations were found in a single
codex during a
1988 excavation at Kellis, a site in the Dakhleh Oasis of
Egypt. We have nine letters in his name, but the authenticity of four have been questioned. He is said to have compiled a treatise, the
Art of Rhetoric, but it has not survived. In addition to the orations, other works include his autobiographical
Antidosis and educational texts, such as
Against the Sophists.
External links
References
- Bryant, Donald C., ed. Ancient Greek and Roman Rhetoricians: A Biographical Dictionary. Columbia, MO 1969.
- Euken, Ch. Isokrates (Berlin/New york) 1983.
- Haskins, Ekaterina V. Logos and Power in Isocrates and Aristotle. Edited by Thomas W. Benson. University of South Carolina Press, 2004.
- Isocrates. Volumes I and II, translated by George Norlin. Volume III, translated by Larue van Hook. Loeb Classical Library, London, 1928, 1929, 1945.
- Isocrates. The Rhetorical Tradition. Second Edition. Ed. Patricia Bizzell and Bruce Herzberg. Bedford/St. Martin's, Boston, 2001.
- Isocrates II, translated by Terry Papillon. University of Texas Press-Austin, 2004.
- Livingstone, Niall A Commentary on Isocrates' Busiris. (Brill) 2001. The first scholarly commentary on Busiris.
- Poulakos, T. Speaking for the Polis: Isocrates' Rhetorical Education (South Carolina) 1997.
- Too, Y.L. The Rhetoric of Identity in Isocrates (Cambridge) 1995.
- Usener, S.Isokrates, Platon und ihre Publikum (Tübingen) 1994.
See also
5th century BC - 4th century BC
460s BC 450s BC 440s BC - 430s BC - 420s BC 410s BC 400s BC
439 BC 438 BC 437 BC - 436 BC - 435 BC 434 BC 433 BC
Politics
State leaders - Sovereign states
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4th century BC - 3rd century BC
360s BC 350s BC 340s BC - 330s BC - 320s BC 310s BC 300s BC
341 BC 340 BC 339 BC - 338 BC - 337 BC 336 BC 335 BC
Politics
State leaders - Sovereign states
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Rhetoric (from Greek
ῥήτωρ, rhêtôr, orator, teacher) is generally understood to be the art or technique of persuasion through the use of oral, visual, or written language; however, this definition of rhetoric
..... Click the link for more information. ten attic orators; here Demosthenes practises his craft.]]
The ten Attic orators were considered the greatest orators and logographers of the classical era (5th century BC–4th century BC).
..... Click the link for more information.
Corax (Korax), along with Tisias, was one of the founders of Greek rhetoric. It has sometimes been asserted that they are merely legendary personages. Other scholars contend that Corax and Tisias were the same person, described in one fragment as "Tisias, the Crow" (Corax
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Tisias (5th Century BC, fl. circa 467 BC), along with Corax of Syracuse, was one of the founders of Greek rhetoric, or sophism. Tisias was reputed to have been the pupil of the lawyer Corax, who agreed to teach Tisias under the condition that he would give him payment for schooling
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Sophism can mean two very different things: In the modern definition, a sophism is a confusing or illogical argument used for deceiving someone. In Ancient Greece, the sophists were a group of teachers of philosophy and rhetoric.
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Gorgias (Greek: Γοργίας, ca. 487-376 BC), Greek sophist, pre-socratic philosopher and rhetorician, was a native of Leontini in Sicily. Along with Protagoras, he forms the first generation of Sophists.
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SOCRATES is the European Community action programme in the field of education. The second phase of the programme covers the period January 1 2000 to December 31 2006. It draws on the experiences of the first phase (1995-1999) building on the successful aspects of the programme,
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Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) was an Ancient Greek military conflict, fought by Athens and its empire against the Peloponnesian League, led by Sparta. Historians have traditionally divided the war into three phases.
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The title of logographer (from the Ancient Greek λογογράφος, logographos, a compound of λόγος, logos, 'word', and γράφω, grapho
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4th century BC - 3rd century BC
420s BC 410s BC 400s BC - 390s BC - 380s BC 370s BC 360s BC
395 BC 394 BC 393 BC - 392 BC - 391 BC 390 BC 389 BC
Politics
State leaders - Sovereign states
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Kairos (καιρός) is an ancient Greek word meaning the "right or opportune moment". The ancient Greeks had two words for time, chronos and kairos.
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PLATO was one of the first generalized Computer assisted instruction systems, originally built by the University of Illinois and later taken over by Control Data Corporation (CDC), who provided the machines it ran on.
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Marcus Tullius Cicero
Cicero around age 60, from an ancient marble bust
Born: January 3, 106 BC
Arpinum, Italy
Died: December 7, 43 BC
Formia, Italy
Occupation: Politician, lawyer, orator and philosopher
Nationality: Ancient Roman
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Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (ca. 35-ca. 100) was a Roman rhetorician from Hispania, widely referred to in medieval schools of rhetoric and in Renaissance writing. In English translation, he is usually referred to as Quintilian, although the alternate spellings of
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codex (Latin for block of wood, book; plural codices) is a book in the format used for modern books, with separate pages normally bound together and given a cover.
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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1950s 1960s 1970s - 1980s - 1990s 2000s 2010s
1985 1986 1987 - 1988 - 1989 1990 1991
Year 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII
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Gumhūriyyat Miṣr al-ʿArabiyyahArab Republic of Egypt
Flag Coat of arms
AnthemBilady, Bilady, Bilady..... Click the link for more information. Loeb Classical Library is a series of books, today published by the Harvard University Press, which presents important works of ancient Greek and Latin Literature in a way designed to make the text accessible to the broadest possible audience, by presenting the original Greek or
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Aristotle (Greek: Ἀριστοτέλης Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great.
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PLATO was one of the first generalized Computer assisted instruction systems, originally built by the University of Illinois and later taken over by Control Data Corporation (CDC), who provided the machines it ran on.
..... Click the link for more information.
Rhetoric (from Greek
ῥήτωρ, rhêtôr, orator, teacher) is generally understood to be the art or technique of persuasion through the use of oral, visual, or written language; however, this definition of rhetoric
..... Click the link for more information. Sophism can mean two very different things: In the modern definition, a sophism is a confusing or illogical argument used for deceiving someone. In Ancient Greece, the sophists were a group of teachers of philosophy and rhetoric.
..... Click the link for more information.
ten attic orators; here Demosthenes practises his craft.]]
The ten Attic orators were considered the greatest orators and logographers of the classical era (5th century BC–4th century BC).
..... Click the link for more information.
Antiphon the Sophist lived in Athens probably in the last two decades of the 5th century BC. There is an ongoing controversy over whether he is one and the same with Antiphon of the Athenian deme Rhamnus in Attica (480–411 BC), the earliest of the ten Attic orators.
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Andocides, or Andokides , (Greek Ἀνδοκίδης, 440–390 BC) one of the ten Attic orators.
He was implicated during the Peloponnesian War in the mutilation of the Herms on the eve of the departure of the Athenian
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Lysias (Greek: Λυσίας) (born ca. 445 BC; died ca. 380 BC) was an Attic orator.
Life
According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus and the author of the life ascribed to Plutarch, Lysias was born in 459 BC, which would accord with a tradition that
..... Click the link for more information. Isaeus (Latin; Greek Ἰσαῖος Isaios), fl. early 4th century BC. One of the ten Attic Orators according to the Alexandrian canon.
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- For the follower of Socrates and writer of Socratic dialogues, see Aeschines Socraticus
Aeschines (in Greek
Αἰσχίνης..... Click the link for more information.