Life and Times
Isocrates was an Athenian lawyer, rhetorician and a teacher of rhetoric, who lived during the last century of liberty for the Greek cities. He was born when Athenian power had peaked before the Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.), lived during the Second Athenian Confederation (377 B.C.) and the Social War (357-355 B.C.), and died the year of the battle of Chaeronea (338 B.C.), a turning point in history after the defeat of the Athenians, the Thebans and their allies by Philip II, king of Macedonia.
Born into a well-to-do family, Isocrates benefited from the education delivered by the sophists, those itinerant professional teachers and orators who moved to Athens and to other Greek …
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Citation: Psilakis, Catherine. "Isocrates". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 October 2017 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5833, accessed 24 November 2024.]
