Commentary on Demosthenes Against Leptines With Introduction, Text, and Translation

Against Leptinesis one of the most important speeches delivered by the famous Athenian orator Demosthenes, in which he argues against the abolishment of all honorific exemptions (ateleiai) from festival liturgies in the city of Athens. A source of information for Athenian history in the mid-fourth century BC, the speech broaches a number of issues vital to our understanding of classical Athenian society, politics, and legislation. The questions of public honours, civic ideology, and the themes of justice and injustice are central to the speech and have led to its popularity with audiences ever since the classical period. Kremmydas' volume is the first detailed commentary on the speech in any language since the 19th century. With an extensive introduction which lays the foundations for the key elements discussed inAgainst Leptines, the addition of the Greek text (adapted from M. R. Dilts's Oxford Classical Text ofDemosthenes 20), and a facing English translation makes the commentary even more accessible to a wider scholarly audience. While the important historical and complex legal issues are given appropriate attention in the commentary, a special emphasis is given to the elucidation of the orator's rhetorical strategy and argumentation.

Dr Christos Kremmydas is a Lecturer in Greek History and a member of the Centre for Oratory and Rhetoric at the Department of Classics and Philosophy of Royal Holloway, University of London.