Text as political weapon: the legacy of the Attic orators in Early Hellenistic Athens (322-261 BCE)

Abstract

This thesis investigates the transmission and political reception of fourth-century Athenian political oratory in early Hellenistic Athens (henceforth EHA) – viz. the period spanning from the Lamian War (322 BCE) to the end of the Chremonidean War (261 BCE). The thesis traces the earliest phases of the transmission of the Attic Orators’ speeches (most notably Demosthenes’) and their reception in the political landscape of that period. It argues for the importance of text-dissemination for a more rounded understanding of EHA: the speeches of the Attic Orators held a critical role in the political debates of that period, and often served as actual political weapons to assert and re-define Athenian identity and democracy in an anti-Macedonian perspective. The thesis holds that EHA’s documentary evidence (especially honorific decrees) is crucial for a more rounded understanding of how the corpora of the Attic Orators were interpreted – as well as appropriated – by EHA politics. This investigation pioneers the integration of cultural history into the study of EHA, tackling textual dissemination as a fundamental aspect of cultural and political history. The Introduction sets out the methodological perspectives of the research: it discusses the exploitation of the Attic Orators’ corpora as memory carriers in the dense and discrete cultural framework of EHA. Chapter 1 examines the idiosyncrasies of EHA’s democratic discourse. The study of the contemporary language and the decision-making processes shows that the Athenian democratic framework of EHA should be assessed in close continuity with its late Classical predecessor. The chapter also discusses (and rules out) the opportunity of using the category of ‘factions’ in the political and cultural arena of the period. Chapter 2 delves into the early Hellenistic origin of the Demosthenic corpus. It argues that the earliest (posthumous) collection of Demosthenes’ speeches was arranged not in Ptolemaic Alexandria but in early Hellenistic Athens: specifically, in the period between Demosthenes’ death (322 BCE) and Callimachus’ Pinakes. This chapter examines the relevant evidence for Demosthenes personally publishing his speeches during his lifetime; manuscript tradition and stichometry; and the presence of spuria (particularly [Dem.] 17). It contends that Demosthenes’ Athenian Urexemplar was collected by a close associate of the orator, most likely Demochares of Leuconoe; and that the edition had a crystal-clear political significance, insomuch as it embodied the anti-Macedonian sentiment in a period marked by multiple phases of Macedonian domination. Chapter 3 provides a broad re-assessment of the political and intellectual activity of Demochares of Leuconoe, nephew of Demosthenes and major protagonist on the political scene of EHA. It shows how he consistently pursued policies re-enacting a Demosthenic persona: the anti-Macedonian paradigm of his uncle provided him with a model he looked at for his political and cultural activity. The chapter goes through Demochares’ biography and positions in his Histories. It examines in detail the text of the request (aitēsis) for the highest honours which Demochares submitted for Demosthenes in 281/80 (XOr. 850f – 851c). It uncovers the complex memorial strategies with which the text engages and argues that the document’s motivation clause reflects and echoes the arguments that Demosthenes employed in his speeches – most notably his self-defence speech On the Crown. Chapter 4 investigates Peripatetic criticism of Demosthenes in the age after Aristotle. It illustrates how Peripatetic rhetorical criticism of Demosthenes and other Attic Orators was imbued with an underlying political judgment in the context of the clashes between opposing views on the politics of memory pervading the cultural arena of EHA. Chapter 5 explores the early Hellenistic reception of Lycurgus of Boutade and his corpus of speeches – focusing on the posthumous honours proposed for him by Stratocles of Diomea (IG II² 457 + 3207 ≈ XOr. 852). The honours for Lycurgus dwell on two dimensions of the orator’s activity: financial administration and religious oversight. I illustrate how these two spheres can be profitably read in the extant fragments of Lycurgus. The chapter also inspects Lycurgus’ legacy within the genos of the Eteoboutadai; and how politicians like Stratocles and Lycurgus’ son Habron sought to foster the coexistence of the patriotic memory of the orator with the new Athenian political landscape after 307. The Conclusion argues for the central role of early Hellenistic debates in the Nachleben of Attic oratory in the centuries to come.