How did demosthenes change the world
- •
Browse History
Demosthenes was a Greek orator, speech-writer, and politician. He was known as a great champion of democracy and an advocate of the right of Greece to exist as a separate nation from Macedonia.
One of Demosthenes’ claims to modern-day fame, especially among speech-language pathologists, was that he was said to stutter (some say his problem was with articulation) as a young boy, and to have overcome it. However, this notion is not easy to substantiate, since there was no separate term for stuttering in his day and his speech may have been merely indistinct as a child. Aeschines, Demosthenes’ political enemy. referred to Demosthenes in his speeches by the nickname "Batalus", a term apparently invented by Demosthenes' teachers in his early schooling or by his childhood playmates. The term can be taken to mean “stutterer.”
According to Plutarch, Demosthenes as a youth spoke with "a perplexed and indistinct utterance and a shortness of breath, which, by breaking and disjointing his sentences much obscured the sense and meaning o
- •
Profile of Demosthenes, the Greek Orator
Demosthenes, renowned as a great Greek orator and statesman, was born in 384 (or 383) B.C. He died in 322.
Demosthenes' father, also Demosthenes, was an Athenian citizen from the deme of Paeania who died when Demosthenes was seven. His mother was named Cleobule.
Demosthenes Learns to Speak Publicly
The first time Demosthenes made a speech in the public assembly was a disaster. Discouraged, he was fortunate to run into an actor who helped show him what he needed to do to make his speeches compelling. To perfect the technique, he set up a routine, which he followed for months until he had mastered oratory.
Plutarch on the Self-Training of Demosthenes
Hereupon he built himself a place to study in underground (which was still remaining in our time), and hither he would come constantly every day to form his action and to exercise his voice, and here he would continue, oftentimes without intermission, two or three months together, shaving one half of his head, that so for shame he might not go abroad, though he desired it eve Demosthenes is one of the most famous orators of ancient times, and many of his speeches were preserved and studied by students of rhetoric for hundreds of years. He lived some years after the Golden age of Athens in a period of decline, and constantly exhorted his fellow-citizens to return to their former habits of courage and self-reliance, but to little avail. His great nemesis was Philip II of Macedonia, who during the lifetime of Demosthenes was slowly becoming an over-lord of all of Greece using both military and diplomatic methods. Demosthenes warned against acquiescing to Philip, but failed to inspire his townsmen to act until it was too late. •
Demosthenes
The story of Demosthenes evolution as an orator is especially notable because he was not a naturally talented or confident speaker as a youth, but rather, a relatively poor one. He gained his reputation mainly through hard work, and improved his speaking abilities by various methods such as shouting to be heard above the crashing of the ocean waves, and
Copyright ©tiedame.pages.dev 2025