Hypereides
Encyclopedia
Hypereides or Hyperides was a logographer
(speech writer) in Ancient Greece. He was one of the ten Attic orators
included in the "Alexandrian Canon" compiled by Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of Samothrace in the third century BCE.
of Collytus and that he studied logography under Isocrates
. In 360 BCE he prosecuted Autocles
for treason. During the Social War (358–355 BCE) he accused Aristophon
, then one of the most influential men at Athens
, of malpractices, and impeached Philocrates
(343 BCE) for high treason. Although Hypereides supported Demosthenes
in the struggle against Phillip II of Macedon; that support was withdrawn after the Harpalus
affair. After Demosthenes' exile Hypereides became the head of the patriotic party (324 BCE).
(323–322 BCE) in which Athens, Aetolia
, and Thessaly
revolted against Macedon rule. After the decisive defeat at Crannon
(322 BCE) in which Athens and her allies lost their independence, Hypereides and the other orators, were condemned to death by the Athenian supporters of Macedon
ia.
Hypereides fled to Aegina
only to be captured at the temple of Poseidon
. After being put to death his body (according to others) was taken to Cleonae
and shown to the Macedonian general Antipater
before being returned to Athens for burial.
he followed Isocrates
, the essential tendencies of his style are those of Lysias
. His diction was plain, though he occasionally indulged in long compound words probably borrowed from the Middle Comedy. His composition was simple. He was especially distinguished for subtlety of expression, grace and wit.
, but was later destroyed after the capture of Buda
by the Turks in the 16th century. Only a few fragments were known until relatively recent times. In 1847 large fragments of his speeches, Against Demosthenes and For Lycophron (incidentally interesting clarifying the order of marriage processions and other details of Athenian life, and the Athenian government of Lemnos
) and the whole of the For Euxenippus (c. 330, a locus classicus on eisangeliai or state prosecutions), were found in a tomb at Thebes in Egypt
. In 1856 a considerable portion of a logos epitaphios, a Funeral Oration over Leosthenes
and his comrades who had fallen in the Lamian war. Currently this is the best surviving example of epideictic
oratory.
Towards the end of the nineteenth century further discoveries were made including the conclusion of the speech Against Philippides (dealing with an indictment for the proposal of unconstitutional measure, arising out of the disputes of the Macedonian and anti-Macedonian parties at Athens), and of the whole the Against Athenogenes (a perfumer accused of fraud in the sale his business).
discovered fragments of two speeches of Hypereides, which had been considered lost, in the Archimedes Palimpsest
. These were from the Against Timandros and Against Diondas. Tchernetska's discovery led to a publication on the subject in the Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik
. This prompted the establishment of a working group under the auspices of the British Academy, which includes scholars from the UK, Hungary and the US.
In 2006, the Archimedes Palimpsest
project together with imagers at Stanford University
used powerful X-ray fluorescence imaging to read the final pages of the Palimpsest, which contained the material by Hypereides. These were interpreted, transcribed and translated by the working group.
The new Hypereides revelations include two previously unknown speeches, effectively increasing the quantity of material known by this author by 20 percent. Previously, most scholars believed only fragments of Hypereides had survived beyond the Classical period.
to Athens. Also missing is the speech in which he defended the illustrious courtesan
Phryne
(said to have been his mistress) on a capital charge: according to Plutarch
and Athenaeus
the speech climaxed with Hypereides stripping off her clothing to reveal her naked breasts; in the face of which the judges found it impossible to condemn her.
in Baltimore, Maryland and the director of the Archimedes Palimpsest
project, called Hypereides "one of the great foundational figures of Greek democracy and the golden age of Athenian democracy, the foundational democracy of all democracy.”
Logographer (legal)
The title of logographer was applied to professional authors of judicial discourse in Ancient Greece...
(speech writer) in Ancient Greece. He was one of the ten Attic orators
Attic orators
The ten Attic orators were considered the greatest orators and logographers of the classical era . They are included in the "Alexandrian Canon" compiled by Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of Samothrace.-The Alexandrian "Canon of Ten":* Aeschines* Andocides* Antiphon* Demosthenes*...
included in the "Alexandrian Canon" compiled by Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of Samothrace in the third century BCE.
Rise to power
Little is known about his early life except that he was the son of Glaucippus, of the demeDeme
In Ancient Greece, a deme or demos was a subdivision of Attica, the region of Greece surrounding Athens. Demes as simple subdivisions of land in the countryside seem to have existed in the 6th century BC and earlier, but did not acquire particular significance until the reforms of Cleisthenes in...
of Collytus and that he studied logography under Isocrates
Isocrates
Isocrates , an ancient Greek rhetorician, was one of the ten Attic orators. In his time, he was probably the most influential rhetorician in Greece and made many contributions to rhetoric and education through his teaching and written works....
. In 360 BCE he prosecuted Autocles
Autocles
Autocles , son of Strombichides, was one of the Athenian envoys empowered to negotiate peace with Sparta in 371 BC. Xenophon reports a somewhat injudicious speech of his, which was delivered on this occasion before the congress at Sparta, and which by no means confirms the character, ascribed to...
for treason. During the Social War (358–355 BCE) he accused Aristophon
Aristophon
Aristophon, the son and pupil of the elder Aglaophon, and brother of Polygnotus, was a native of Thasos. Pliny, who places him among the painters of the second rank, mentions two works by him- — 'Ancaeus wounded by the boar and mourned over by his mother Astypalaea;' and a picture containing...
, then one of the most influential men at Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, of malpractices, and impeached Philocrates
Peace of Philocrates
Peace of Philocrates is the name given to the peace treaty concluded in 346 BC between Athens and Macedon under Philip II. Philocrates was the name of the main Athenian negotiator of the Treaty.-Background:...
(343 BCE) for high treason. Although Hypereides supported Demosthenes
Demosthenes
Demosthenes was a prominent Greek statesman and orator of ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual prowess and provide an insight into the politics and culture of ancient Greece during the 4th century BC. Demosthenes learned rhetoric by...
in the struggle against Phillip II of Macedon; that support was withdrawn after the Harpalus
Harpalus
For other uses, see Harpalus Harpalus son of Machatas was an aristocrat of Macedon and boyhood friend of Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC. Being lame in a leg, and therefore exempt from military service, Harpalus did not follow Alexander in his advance within the Persian Empire but...
affair. After Demosthenes' exile Hypereides became the head of the patriotic party (324 BCE).
Downfall
After the death of Alexander the Great, Hypereides was one of the chief promoters of war against Macedonian rule. His speeches are believed to have led to the outbreak of the Lamian warLamian War
The “Lamian War”, also referred to as the “Hellenic War” and the “War against Antipater”, was fought by the Athenians and their Aetolian, Locrian, and Phocian allies against the Macedonians in Thessaly during the winter of 323–322 BC...
(323–322 BCE) in which Athens, Aetolia
Aetolia
Aetolia is a mountainous region of Greece on the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth, forming the eastern part of the modern prefecture of Aetolia-Acarnania.-Geography:...
, and Thessaly
Thessaly
Thessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....
revolted against Macedon rule. After the decisive defeat at Crannon
Battle of Crannon
The Battle of Crannon , fought between the Macedonian forces of Antipater and Craterus and rebellious Greek forces led by the Athenians, was the decisive battle of the Lamian War. Macedonian victory, though militarily unspectacular, convinced the Greeks to sue for peace...
(322 BCE) in which Athens and her allies lost their independence, Hypereides and the other orators, were condemned to death by the Athenian supporters of Macedon
Macedon
Macedonia or Macedon was an ancient kingdom, centered in the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula, bordered by Epirus to the west, Paeonia to the north, the region of Thrace to the east and Thessaly to the south....
ia.
Hypereides fled to Aegina
Aegina
Aegina is one of the Saronic Islands of Greece in the Saronic Gulf, from Athens. Tradition derives the name from Aegina, the mother of Aeacus, who was born in and ruled the island. During ancient times, Aegina was a rival to Athens, the great sea power of the era.-Municipality:The municipality...
only to be captured at the temple of Poseidon
Poseidon
Poseidon was the god of the sea, and, as "Earth-Shaker," of the earthquakes in Greek mythology. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon...
. After being put to death his body (according to others) was taken to Cleonae
Cleonae
Cleonae or Cleonæ or Kleonai may refer to any of several ancient cities, including:*Archaies Kleones formerly Cleonae, in Argolis, now in Corinthia prefecture, Greece*Cleonae on Mount Athos...
and shown to the Macedonian general Antipater
Antipater
Antipater was a Macedonian general and a supporter of kings Philip II of Macedon and Alexander the Great. In 320 BC, he became Regent of all of Alexander's Empire. Antipater was one of the sons of a Macedonian nobleman called Iollas or Iolaus and his family were distant collateral relatives to the...
before being returned to Athens for burial.
Personality and oration style
Hypereides was an ardent pursuer of "the beautiful," which in his time generally meant pleasure and luxury. His temper was easy-going and humorous. Though in his development of the periodic sentencePeriodic sentence
A periodic sentence is a stylistic device employed at the sentence level, characterized as a sentence that is not grammatically complete until the final clause or phrase.-Characteristics:...
he followed Isocrates
Isocrates
Isocrates , an ancient Greek rhetorician, was one of the ten Attic orators. In his time, he was probably the most influential rhetorician in Greece and made many contributions to rhetoric and education through his teaching and written works....
, the essential tendencies of his style are those of Lysias
Lysias
Lysias was a logographer in Ancient Greece. He was one of the ten Attic orators included in the "Alexandrian Canon" compiled by Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of Samothrace in the third century BC.-Life:According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus and the author of the life ascribed to...
. His diction was plain, though he occasionally indulged in long compound words probably borrowed from the Middle Comedy. His composition was simple. He was especially distinguished for subtlety of expression, grace and wit.
Surviving speeches
Seventy-seven speeches have been attributed to Hypereides, of which seventy-five were regarded as spurious by his contemporaries. It is said that a manuscript of most of the speeches survived as late as the 15th century in the library of Matthias Corvinus, king of HungaryHungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, but was later destroyed after the capture of Buda
Buda
For detailed information see: History of Buda CastleBuda is the western part of the Hungarian capital Budapest on the west bank of the Danube. The name Buda takes its name from the name of Bleda the Hun ruler, whose name is also Buda in Hungarian.Buda comprises about one-third of Budapest's...
by the Turks in the 16th century. Only a few fragments were known until relatively recent times. In 1847 large fragments of his speeches, Against Demosthenes and For Lycophron (incidentally interesting clarifying the order of marriage processions and other details of Athenian life, and the Athenian government of Lemnos
Lemnos
Lemnos is an island of Greece in the northern part of the Aegean Sea. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within the Lemnos peripheral unit, which is part of the North Aegean Periphery. The principal town of the island and seat of the municipality is Myrina...
) and the whole of the For Euxenippus (c. 330, a locus classicus on eisangeliai or state prosecutions), were found in a tomb at Thebes in Egypt
Thebes, Egypt
Thebes is the Greek name for a city in Ancient Egypt located about 800 km south of the Mediterranean, on the east bank of the river Nile within the modern city of Luxor. The Theban Necropolis is situated nearby on the west bank of the Nile.-History:...
. In 1856 a considerable portion of a logos epitaphios, a Funeral Oration over Leosthenes
Leosthenes
Leosthenes was an Athenian, commander of the combined Greek army in the Lamian war. We know not by what means he had obtained the high reputation which we find him enjoying when he first makes his appearance in history: it has been generally inferred, from a passage in Strabo, that he had first...
and his comrades who had fallen in the Lamian war. Currently this is the best surviving example of epideictic
Epideictic
The Epideictic oratory, also called ceremonial oratory, or praise-and-blame rhetoric, is one of the three branches, or "species" , of rhetoric as outlined in Aristotle's Rhetoric, to be used to praise or blame during ceremonies....
oratory.
Towards the end of the nineteenth century further discoveries were made including the conclusion of the speech Against Philippides (dealing with an indictment for the proposal of unconstitutional measure, arising out of the disputes of the Macedonian and anti-Macedonian parties at Athens), and of the whole the Against Athenogenes (a perfumer accused of fraud in the sale his business).
New discoveries
In 2002 Natalie Tchernetska of Trinity College, CambridgeTrinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
discovered fragments of two speeches of Hypereides, which had been considered lost, in the Archimedes Palimpsest
Archimedes Palimpsest
The Archimedes Palimpsest is a palimpsest on parchment in the form of a codex. It originally was a copy of an otherwise unknown work of the ancient mathematician, physicist, and engineer Archimedes of Syracuse and other authors, which was overwritten with a religious text.Archimedes lived in the...
. These were from the Against Timandros and Against Diondas. Tchernetska's discovery led to a publication on the subject in the Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik
Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik
The Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik or ZPE is a peer-reviewed German journal which contains articles that pertain to papyrology and epigraphy. It is published four to five times annually, from 1967 to the current day, by the Verlag Rudolf Habelt....
. This prompted the establishment of a working group under the auspices of the British Academy, which includes scholars from the UK, Hungary and the US.
In 2006, the Archimedes Palimpsest
Archimedes Palimpsest
The Archimedes Palimpsest is a palimpsest on parchment in the form of a codex. It originally was a copy of an otherwise unknown work of the ancient mathematician, physicist, and engineer Archimedes of Syracuse and other authors, which was overwritten with a religious text.Archimedes lived in the...
project together with imagers at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
used powerful X-ray fluorescence imaging to read the final pages of the Palimpsest, which contained the material by Hypereides. These were interpreted, transcribed and translated by the working group.
The new Hypereides revelations include two previously unknown speeches, effectively increasing the quantity of material known by this author by 20 percent. Previously, most scholars believed only fragments of Hypereides had survived beyond the Classical period.
Lost speeches
Among the speeches not yet recovered is the Deliacus in which the presidency of the Delian temple claimed by both Athens and Cos, which was adjudged by the Amphictyonic LeagueAmphictyonic League
In the Archaic period of ancient Greece, an amphictyony , a "league of neighbors", or Amphictyonic League was an ancient association of Greek tribes formed in the dim past, before the rise of the Greek polis...
to Athens. Also missing is the speech in which he defended the illustrious courtesan
Courtesan
A courtesan was originally a female courtier, which means a person who attends the court of a monarch or other powerful person.In feudal society, the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, and social and political life were often completely mixed together...
Phryne
Phryne
Phryne was a famous hetaera of Ancient Greece .- Early life :Her real name was Mnesarete , but owing to her yellowish complexion she was called Phryne "Toad", a name given to other courtesans. She was born at Thespiae in Boeotia, but seems to have lived at Athens...
(said to have been his mistress) on a capital charge: according to Plutarch
Plutarch
Plutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...
and Athenaeus
Athenaeus
Athenaeus , of Naucratis in Egypt, Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourished about the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd century AD...
the speech climaxed with Hypereides stripping off her clothing to reveal her naked breasts; in the face of which the judges found it impossible to condemn her.
Assessment
William Noel, the curator of manuscripts and rare books at the Walters Art MuseumWalters Art Museum
The Walters Art Museum, located in Baltimore, Maryland's Mount Vernon neighborhood, is a public art museum founded in 1934. The museum's collection was amassed substantially by two men, William Thompson Walters , who began serious collecting when he moved to Paris at the outbreak of the American...
in Baltimore, Maryland and the director of the Archimedes Palimpsest
Archimedes Palimpsest
The Archimedes Palimpsest is a palimpsest on parchment in the form of a codex. It originally was a copy of an otherwise unknown work of the ancient mathematician, physicist, and engineer Archimedes of Syracuse and other authors, which was overwritten with a religious text.Archimedes lived in the...
project, called Hypereides "one of the great foundational figures of Greek democracy and the golden age of Athenian democracy, the foundational democracy of all democracy.”