User:MinervaNix/Isocrates

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Isocrates (/aɪˈsɒkrəˌtiːz/; Ancient Greek: Ἰσοκράτης [isokrátɛ̂ːs]; 436–338 BC), an ancient Greek rhetorician, was one of the ten Attic orators. Among the most influential Greek rhetoricians of his time, Isocrates made many contributions to rhetoric and education through his teaching and written works.

Greek rhetoric is commonly traced to Corax of Syracuse, who first formulated a set of rhetorical rules in the fifth century BC. His pupil Tisias was influential in the development of the rhetoric of the courtroom, and by some accounts was the teacher of Isocrates. Within two generations, rhetoric had become an important art, its growth driven by social and political changes such as democracy and courts of law. Two years before his 100^th birthday, Isocrates starved himself to death {[1][2] from main article}.

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  • Isocrates was born into a prosperous family in Athens at the height of Athens’ power shortly before the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC). Suda writes that Isocrates was the son of Theodorus who owned a workshop that manufactured aulos. His mother’s name was Heduto, he had one sister and three bothers; His brothers were Tisippos (Ancient Greek: Τίσιππος) and Theomnestos (Ancient Greek: Θεόμνηστος). and {[4] from main article}.
  • His passed his youth in a gloomy period following the death of Pericles , a great Athenian leader and statesman, it was a period in which wealth – both public and private – was dissipated, and political decisions were ill conceived and violent. Isocrates would have been 14 years old when the democracy voted to kill all the males citizens of the small Thracian city of Scione.
  • Late in his life he married a woman named Plathane, daughter of the sophist Hippias, and adopted Aphareus, one of her sons by a previous marriage.
  • “[Isocrates] is reported to have studied with several prominent teachers, including Tisias (one of the traditional founders of rhetoric), the sophists Prodicus and Gorgias, and the moderate oligarch Theramenes, and to have associated with Socrates, but these reports may reflect later views of his intellectual roots more than historical fact”.

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Adding somewhere, I have not decided where yet though: “At the core of his teaching was an aristocratic notion of arete (“virtue, excellence”), which could be attained by pursuing philosophia – not so much the dialectical study of abstract subjects like epistemology and metaphysics that Plato marked as “philosophy” as the study and practical application of ethics, politics and public speaking”.

His professional career is said to have begun with logography: he was a hired courtroom speechwriter. Athenian citizens did not hire lawyers; legal procedure required self-representation. Instead, they would hire people like Isocrates to write speeches for them. Isocrates had a great talent for this though he lacked confidence in public speaking. His weak voice motivated him to publish pamphlets and although he played no direct part in state affairs, his written speech influenced the public and provided significant insight into major political issues of the day.

Around 392 BC he set up his own school of rhetoric (at the time, Athens had no standard curriculum for higher education; sophists were typically itinerant), and proved to be not only an influential teacher, but a shrewd businessman. His fees were unusually high, and he accepted no more than nine pupils at a time. Many of them went on to be philosophers, legislators and historians. As a consequence, he amassed a considerable fortune. According to Pliny the Elder (NH VII.30) he could sell a single oration for twenty talents.

including many who became prominent orators (Isaeus, Hyperides), writers (Theopompus, Ephorus, Androtion), and military and political leaders (Timotheus, Nicocles).

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(copied from home page): Prior to Isocrates, teaching consisted of first-generation Sophists [remove internal link], walking from town to town as itinerants [add internal link?], who taught any individuals interested in political occupations how to be effective in public speaking. Some popular itinerants of the late 5th century BC include Gorgias and Protagoras. Around 392-390 BC, Isocrates founded his academy in Athens at the Lyceum, which was known as the first academy of rhetoric. The foundation of this academy brought students to Athens to study. Prior to this, teachers travelled amongst cities giving lectures to anyone interested. The first students in Isocrates’ school were Athenians. However, after he published the Panegyrius in 380 BC, his reputation spread to many other parts of Greece. Following the founding of Isocrates’ academy, Plato (a rival of Isocrates) founded his own academy as a rival school of philosophy. Isocrates encouraged his students to wander and observe public behavior in the city (Athens) to learn through imitation. His students aimed to learn how to serve the city. Some of his students included Isaeus, Lycurgus, Hypereides, Ephorus, Theopompus, Speusippus, and Timotheus. Many of these students remained under the instruction of Isocrates for three to four years. Timotheus had such a great appreciation for Isocrates that he erected a statue at Eleusis and dedicated it to him.