Antiphon: The Speeches

A commentary on the six surviving speeches of the fifth-century BC orator Antiphon.

This volume provides a commentary on the six surviving speeches of the fifth-century BC Athenian orator Antiphon, all of which concern homicide, together with a fragment of Antiphon's final speech at his own trial for treason in 411 BC. The commentary discusses grammatical, stylistic, textual, legal, rhetorical, historical and other matters and focuses especially on Antiphon's argumentation and forensic strategy: why he presents these arguments in this particular way. The work includes a new Greek text which restores some of the special qualities of Antiphon's style that twentieth-century editors have edited out and a substantial introduction to the life and work of Antiphon, the nature of Athenian law and legal oratory and the style and textual tradition of Antiphon.