Demosthenes: On the Crown

by Demosthenes, Harvey Yunis (Editor)

This volume presents a newly edited Greek text of one of the masterpieces of ancient Greek prose, a speech delivered by the orator Demosthenes before a court in Athens in 330 BCE. The book contains an introductory essay outlining the historical situation that gave rise to the speech, the nature of Demosthenes' rhetorical art, and the history of the text. The greater part of the book consists of a commentary that elucidates the text and makes clear how Demosthenes achieved his objectives.

Genres: Classics, Nonfiction

332 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 331

About the author

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 studying the speeches of previous great orators. He delivered his first judicial speeches at the age of 20, in which he argued effectively to gain from his guardians what was left of his inheritance. For a time, Demosthenes made his living as a professional speech-writer (logographer) and a lawyer, writing speeches for use in private legal suits.

Reviews

[gio · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eschine: "Demosthenes lied to all of you and he's corrupted and his actions were illegal."
And Demosthenes is all like: "Eschine is shit and when he was an actor he fell from the stage and people threw figs at him"

[S. Alberto ⁻⁷ (yearning) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Demosthenes has long been recognized as one of the greatest orators in history—and this text proves exactly why. For centuries, his speeches were required reading, not just in translation but in the original Greek. From Cicero to modern statesmen, countless figures have learned from his style. On the Crown isn’t just a powerful political speech—it also offers one of the clearest windows we have into Athenian democracy. This edition does a solid job of making the text readable and providing historical context, though it might be a bit dense for beginners. Still, it’s worth pushing through. There’s something deeply compelling about how Demosthenes weaves personal defense, civic ideals, and sharp political critique all in one. For anyone interested in classical rhetoric, democratic history, or political strategy, this is a valuable read—and a reminder of how powerful well-crafted words can be!

[James Foster · Rating 5 out of 5]

Demosthenes’ speeches used to be required reading, both in translation and in the original. By “used to be” I mean “for the last two thousand years”. They were considered models of the very best possible oratory. The best English and American orators studied Demosthenes. Even Cicero cribbed from him. Historically, much of what we know about the Athenian political system we know from Demosthenes. So, it’s no brainer to recommend that more people today should read him.

“On the Crown,” is a single persuasive speech. In a nutshell, Demosthenes was a Greek politician, Aeschines was another politician and his bitter enemy. Aeschines accused another person of harming Athens by having nominated Demosthenes for a public prize as a benefactor of the city (the crown). This speech is Demosthenes defending that guy by saying how much he really did deserve the prize, and by saying what an ass Aeschines was. His win was so dramatic that the Athenians fined Aeschines for bring the suit in the first place, and later drove him from the city. I found myself swept up in his argument, intellectually an emotionally, even though some of the arguments were specious (as Yunis points out in the commentary). The history and the details are important and interesting, but not in this review.

This book is an authoritative text of the original Greek (73 pages) and an introduction (33 pages) with extensive commentary (214 pages) by Harvey Yunis. The Greek is intermediate difficulty. Some some passages are so long and intricate that even a strong classicist is likely to get lost before reaching the end. Yunis’ commentary helps here. The commentary is excellent at describing the political and historical background of the speech. The introduction situates the speech in the political context of Greece’s war with Phillip of Macedonia. My only quibble with the commentary is that there were a few non-standard words and word forms it would have been nice to explain.

I read this to practice my Greek. I highly recommend it if you’re an intermediate to advanced Attic Greek reader and you want to either practice, or read source material about the world that gave birth to Alexander. If you’re not a Greek reader, but are interested in ancient history, it would be worthwhile to read the introduction.

[Joel Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some old texts are very difficult to rate. There are certain texts that I do not feel warranted to give a star review. This can be because: (1)I might not have a good understanding of the historical context; (2) Despite it's faults, it positively sets the precedent for many texts that affect me today; and (3) they might on the one hand, reflect things in the time they were made that we reject out of hand for obvious reasons, while, on the other hand, hold certain truths that we have lost or carelessly dispensed with. It seems to me that Demosthenes' On the Crown falls into all three categories. I have done my best (and continue to do my best) to remedy the first problem. As for the second problem, the wheat and the chaff are about as obvious as they come with the passage of history. His oratory is excellent but his ad hominem attacks are pure reputation destruction. Finally, for the third one, On the Crown focusses much more on collective responsibility that Western audiences are used too. That we might be guilty for the little omissions to our city/nation/people etc. is something that doesn't occur to us strongly.

I read Demosthenes' On the Crown in my first year of university for a logic class. It was a thrill to see myself apply the principles I had learned in class to the text in front of me and I enjoyed categorizing the different arguments Demosthenes employed against his opponent, Aeschines. Since then, I have taken courses in classical history and mythology and have studied a lot of classical philosophy. Demosthenes' speeches take place in the uncertain times in between the carnage of the Peloponnesian War and the looming threat of Philip of Macedon. Before I understood this history, I was less generous to Demosthenes' ad hominem attacks. While ad hominem attacks were a common aspect of speeches in classical Athens, Demosthenes' attacks seem more understandable (albeit, not right) in the uncertain context he lived in. On the Crown is an excellent study in rhetoric. I would give it five stars for Demosthenes' influence on Western oratory, but I want to give it three for it's unfortunate focus on ad hominem attacks. I'll compromise and give it four stars.

[Pippo Trenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eccezionale esempio di ars oratoria

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very difficult Greek, but a great commentary. Good way to learn about the lead up and aftermath of Philip's conquest of Athens (if a bit biased). Highly recommend the commentary.