The Biographic Tradition

Abstract

Chapter 23 examines the biographic tradition on Demosthenes, focusing on the content of the surviving Lives of Demosthenes. It also cites examples to characterize the perspectives and distinctive features of these biographic texts from the fragments of Demosthenes’ day to the time of Photius and the Suda. The writing of Demosthenes’ Life begins with Demosthenes and his contemporaries. To find the earliest surviving biography of Demosthenes, allowing for a flexible definition of biography, a good start is to consider the summary justification of Ctesiphon’s proposed decree to crown Demosthenes in 336. The article discusses a number of works dealing with Demosthenes’ Life, including Plutarch’s Demosthenes, Lucian’s Encomium of Demosthenes, the pseudo-Plutarchan Demosthenes, Libanius’ Life of Demosthenes, Zosimus’ Life of Demosthenes, and the anonymous Life of Demosthenes.