The Rhetoric of the Past in Demosthenes and Aeschines: Oratory, History, and Politics in Classical Athens

The Rhetoric of the Past in Demosthenes and Aeschines examines how democratic politicians in classical Athens created versions of the city’s past to persuade mass decision-making audiences of Athenian citizens, especially in the city’s lawcourts and in the political Assembly. It does this by analysing all the surviving public speeches of two major politicians active in the mid-fourth century BC, Demosthenes and Aeschines (who were contemporaries and bitter rivals), and tracing how they fashion arguments and illustrations based on popular understandings of Athenian history in order to cement their own authority and to compete with one another for public endorsement.