Demosthenes: On the Crown

Demosthenes’ speech On the Crown is one of the finest artistic achievements of Greek prose. Delivered in an Athenian court in 330 BCE, and circulated in written form soon afterwards, the speech made an immediate impression on contemporary Greeks and for centuries served the writers and speakers of antiquity as the primary model of forceful argument and vigorous style. In this volume Harvey Yunis presents a new edition of the speech. The book contains an introductory essay outlining the historical situation that gave rise to the speech, the nature of Demosthenes’ rhetorical art, and the history of the text. A new Greek text of the speech is accompanied by a select textual apparatus. The greater part of the book consists of a commentary, which elucidates the text and makes clear how Demosthenes achieved his objectives.

• Makes this masterpiece of Greek literature accessible to today’s students • Contains a new text with full commentary on all linguistic, historical and rhetorical matters • Designed for a broad audience: students at all levels as well as teachers and scholars

Preface; List of abbreviations; Map of Greece, Macedon and the Aegean; Introduction; 1. Athenian politics in response to Macedonian expansion; 2. The graphē paranomōn and the trial on Demosthenes’ crown; 3. Explaining Chaeronea; 4. Demosthenes’ rhetorical art; 5. Speech, text, transmission; Demosthenous Hyper Ktesiphontos Peri Tou Stephanou; Commentary; Appendix I. Synopsis of the argument; Appendix II. Timeline of major events; Bibliography; Index of Greek words; General index.