Isocrates

Catherine Psilakis (Université Claude Bernard, Lyon I)

Ed. by Laura Swift, The Open University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.1.1: Greek Writing and Culture: Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic and Imperial, -800--100.
Vol. editors: Eleni Bozia (University of Florida), Jonathan Burgess (University of Toronto), Anca Dan (École Practique de Hautes Études PSL), Martine Diepenbroek (University of Johannesburg), Giacomo Fedeli (University of Exeter), Victoria Fendel (University of Oxford), Emily Kneebone (University of Nottingham), Vaios Liapis (Open University of Cyprus), Elodie Paillard (University of Sydney), Mali Skotheim (Ashoka University), Laura Swift (The Open University), Guendalina Daniela Maria Taietti (University of Liverpool)

Dates

Born -436
Died -338
Activity -416--338

Places

Born in Ancient Greece
Active in Ancient Greece

Activities

Primary

Political writer
Rhetorician/ Orator
Teacher/ Professor

Resources

Life and Times

Isocrates was an Athenian lawyer, rhetorician and a teacher of rhetoric, who lived during the last century of liberty for the Greek cities. He was born when Athenian power had peaked before the Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.), lived during the Second Athenian Confederation (377 B.C.) and the Social War (357-355 B.C.), and died the year of the battle of Chaeronea (338 B.C.), a turning point in history after the defeat of the Athenians, the Thebans and their allies by Philip II, king of Macedonia.

Born into a well-to-do family, Isocrates benefited from the education delivered by the sophists, those itinerant professional teachers and orators who moved to Athens and to other Greek cities to offer their services. According to Pseudo-Plutarch (Lives of the Ten Orators, IV, 1), Isocrates was the pupil of...

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2347 words

Citation: Psilakis, Catherine. "Isocrates". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 October 2017 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5833, accessed 09 June 2026.]