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Lysias

File:Parc_de_Versailles,_Rond-Point_des_Philosophes,_Lysias,_Jean_Dedieu_inv1850n°9452_03.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

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Lysias (; ; c. 445 – c. 380 BC) was an Athenian logographer and one of the ten Attic orators later canonized by Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of Samothrace. He wrote speeches for litigants across a wide range of public and private actions during the late fifth and early fourth centuries BC, with thirty-four transmitted in the medieval corpus and many others known by title or fragment. Ancient critics, especially Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and modern scholarship identify Lysias as an exemplar of the plain style, emphasizing idiomatic diction, character-appropriate voice, and concis

Person · Open Library

Works
186

Top works

  • Select orations of Lysias
  • Ausgewaehlte Reden des Lysias
  • Orationes ad codicem Palatinum nunc denuo collatum
  • Eratosthenes, hoc est, brevis et lvclvlenta definsio Lysiae pro caede Eratosthenis, praelectionibus illustrata Andreae Dvnaei ...
  • Orationes recensuit Theodorus Thalheim

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Music · MusicBrainz

Type
Person
Active from
1937-05-13

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners
24
Total plays
37

<a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Lysias">Read more on Last.fm</a>

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Quotes

  • τοιαῦτα αὐτοῖς τὸ μέγεθος καὶ τοσαῦτα τὸ πλῆθος εἴργασται, ὥστε μήτ᾿ ἂν ψευδόμενον δεινότερα τῶν ὑπαρχόντων κατηγορῆσαι, μήτε τἀληθῆ βουλόμενον εἰπεῖν ἅπαντα δύνασθαι, ἀλλ᾿ ἀνάγκη ἢ τὸν κατήγορον ἀπειπεῖν ἢ τὸν χρόνον ἐπιλιπεῖν.
  • παύσομαι κατηγορῶν. ἀκηκόατε, ἑοράκατε, πεπόνθατε, ἔχετε· δικάζετε.
  • οὐχ ἅπαξ μέλλεις λέγειν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τῶν δικαστῶν;

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Key facts

Writer.name
Lysias
Writer.image
Parc de Versailles, Rond-Point des Philosophes, Lysias, Jean Dedieu inv1850n°9452 03.jpg
Writer.caption
Statue by Jean Dedieu (Gardens of Versailles)
Writer.birth_date
c. 445 BC
Writer.birth_place
Athens (traditional; sometimes given as Syracuse)
Writer.death_date
c. 380 BC
Writer.occupation
Logographer (speechwriter)
Writer.notableworks
Against Eratosthenes Against Agoratus Olympic Oration
Writer.relatives
Cephalus (father) Polemarchus (brother)

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Image
Parc de Versailles, Rond-Point des Philosophes, Lysias, Jean Dedieu inv1850n°9452 03.jpg
Show 3 more facts
date of birth
0445-00-00
date of death
0380-00-00
Commons category
Lysias
Sources (3)

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Works in European collections

33 objects attributed to Lysias, held across European museums, libraries & archives · via Europeana

~19 min read

Article

10 sections
Contents
  • Life
  • Style
  • Works
  • Extant speeches
  • Fragments
  • Miscellaneous
  • Editions
  • References
  • Further reading
  • External links

Lysias (; ; c. 445 – c. 380 BC) was an Athenian logographer and one of the ten Attic orators later canonized by Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of Samothrace. He wrote speeches for litigants across a wide range of public and private actions during the late fifth and early fourth centuries BC, with thirty-four transmitted in the medieval corpus and many others known by title or fragment. Ancient critics, especially Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and modern scholarship identify Lysias as an exemplar of the plain style, emphasizing idiomatic diction, character-appropriate voice, and concise narrative framing. His speech Against Eratosthenes and the fragmentary Olympic Oration are commonly cited for historical evidence on postwar Athens and for programmatic statements on Greek politics.

==Life== According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus and the author of the life ascribed to Plutarch, Lysias was born in 459 BC, which would accord with a tradition that Lysias reached, or passed, the age of eighty. This date was evidently obtained by reckoning back from the foundation of Thurii (444 BC), since there was a tradition that Lysias had gone there at the age of fifteen. Modern critics, in general, place his birth later, c. 445 BC, and place the trip to Thurii around 430 BC.

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