The authenticity of the Demosthenic funeral oration

Herrman, Judson (2008) The authenticity of the Demosthenic funeral oration. Acta Antiqua, 48 (1-2). pp. 171-178. ISSN 0044-5975

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Abstract

The sixtieth speech in the Demosthenic corpus should be regarded as an authentic text of the funeral oration for the Athenian dead from the battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC. Its authenticity was denied by Dionysius of Halicarnassus and other ancient critics on stylistic grounds, but the stylistic differences between the Funeral Oration and other Demosthenic speeches can be explained by the difference in genre. The funeral orations of Lysias and Hyperides are similarly different from other material by those authors, and the content of the Demosthenic speech well suits its historical and literary context.

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