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:For the Athenian general during the Peloponnesian
War, see Demosthenes (general).

Image:Demosthenes.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Demosthene
s 
Demosthenes (384 BC – 322 BC) is generally
considered the greatest of the Attic orators, and
thus the greatest of all Ancient Greek orators.
His writings provide an insight into the life and
culture of Athens at this period of time.

Born the son of a wealthy sword-maker, Demosthenes
was orphaned at the age of seven. His father left
him well-provided-for, but his legal guardians
defrauded him and squandered his inheritance,
causing him to seek retribution through the courts
when he came of age.

As a boy Demosthenes suffered from a speech
impediment and he worked at a series of
self-designed exercises to overcome it. A common
story tells of his talking around mouthfuls of
rocks to improve his diction, but it is unknown
whether this is fact or merely a legendary example
of his perseverance and determination. Either way,
Demosthenes  became a prominent logographer
(legal)|logographer and political orator
(speech-maker), making his living through his
ability to write and make speeches. He is
best-known for his Philippic Orations, urging the
populace to rise up and defend their country
against Philip II of Macedon, who was steadily
gaining power and territory for the Macedonian
state.

Demosthenes's speaking style was relatively
straightforward and generally without rhetorical
flair. It was considered somewhat vulgar by the
standards of the day, but was nevertheless very
popular. He also made use of his body to
accentuate his words, and as a result was able to
project his ideas and arguments much more
forcefully (later famous orators like Henry Clay
would mimic this technique). Although
Demosthenes's arguments were the products of
careful study and preparation – he often
declined to comment on subjects he had not studied
beforehand – he was famous for his sharp
wit, and his name has been used to imply a
particularly venomous rejoinder.

In 346 BC Demosthenes was one of many envoys sent
to Philip II of Macedon to create a peace treaty.
Upon their return, Demosthenes led the potentially
fatal prosecution of his fellow envoys based on
the ill reception of the treaty's terms and Philip
II's actions immediately prior to its agreement.
The prosecution was discredited when politician
and envoy Aiskhines disenfranchised Demosthenes'
fellow, possibly lead, prosecutor, Timarkhos, by
convincing the jury he had prostituted himself to
another male while young. Demosthenes was also
accused of sexual and gender impropriety.
Aiskhines attributed Demosthenes' nickname,
Batalos ("arse"), to his "unmanliness and
kinaidiā" and frequently commented on his
"unmanly and womanish temper", even criticising
his clothing: "If anyone took those dainty little
coats and soft shirts off you ... and took them
round for the jurors to handle, I think they'd be
quite unable to say, if they hadn't been told in
advance, whether they had hold of a man's clothing
or a woman's." (Dover, 1989)

Demosthenes, like many prominent Greeks of his
era, is said to have engaged in sex with men, and
it was suggested that he may have engaged in the
prostitution of youth (Aiskhines iii 162): "There
is a certain Aristion, a Plataean..., who as a
youth was oustandingly good-looking and lived for
a long time in Demosthenes' house. Allegations
about the part he was playing lit., 'undergoing or
doing what' there vary, and it would be most
unseemly for me to talk about it." (Dover, 1989)

Demosthenes was exiled after a convoluted affair
involving money taken by one of the lieutenants of
Alexander the Great. He was recalled to the Greek
states after Alexander died, where he attempted
once again to rally the Athenian people against
Macedonia, but he was unsuccessful and took poison
rather than face capture and punishment.

The historian Plutarch drew attention in his Life
of Demosthenes to the strong similarities between
the personalities and careers of Demosthenes and
Marcus Tullius Cicero:

:The divine power seems originally to have
designed Demosthenes and Cicero upon the same
plan, giving them many similarities in their
natural characters, as their passion for
distinction and their love of liberty in civil
life, and their want of courage in dangers and
war, and at the same time also to have added many
accidental resemblances. I think there can hardly
be found two other orators, who, from small and
obscure beginnings, became so great and mighty;
who both contested with kings and tyrants; both
lost their daughters, were driven out of their
country, and returned with honour; who, flying
from thence again, were both seized upon by their
enemies, and at last ended their lives with the
liberty of their countrymen.

==References==

*http://www.bartleby.com/65/de/Demosthe.html
*http://members.tripod.com/~michaelroth/bio054.htm
*The text quoted from Plutarch is taken from John
Dryden's translation, found
http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/P/
Plutarch/prose/plutachslives/demosthenes.html
here.
*K.J. Dover, (1989). Greek Homosexuality.
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. ISBN
0674362705.

==Demosthenes as a fictional character==

In the historical novel Fire from Heaven by Mary
Renault, Demosthenes is depicted as the chief
villain – arrogant, deceitful and lustful,
who attempts to sexually molest the young
Alexander but gets a humiliating come-uppance. At
the battle of Chaeronea (338 BC)|battle of
Chaeronea, he acts with cowardice, throwing down
his shield and weapons to run for his life. Later
he conspires to assassinate King Phillip. These
depictions are mostly speculative on Renault's
part, except for his behaviour at Chaeronea, which
is borne out by the historical record.

----
Demosthenes (a conscious nod to Demosthenes) was
used as an online pseudonym by Peter Wiggin and
Valentine Wiggin in the Ender's Game series of
books by Orson Scott Card. This, supposedly, was
used as a reference because Valentine Wiggin, or
Demosthenes, was trying to halt the encroaching
Warsaw Pact invasion, which was parallel to
Demosthenes actual attempt to stop Philip II of
Macedon.

Demosthenes is the namesake of the Demosthenian
Literary Society at the University of Georgia in
Athens, Georgia, United States.  The Demosthenian
Literary Society was founded in 1803, making it
the oldest literary society in that country.