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Athenian Funeral Orations

Athenian Funeral Orations

Jud Herrman

Allegheny College

2004 • 1-58510-078-1 • paper • 110 pages • 6 x 9 • $10.95

This volume collects all of the surviving state funeral orations from Athens, including Thucydides, Gorgias, Lysias, Plato Menexenus, Demosthenes, and Hyperides.  To stimulate student discussion and comparison, Lincoln's address at Gettysburg is included in an appendix.  Translations are in English, including introduction and notes, as well as literary and historical commentary.

|  About the Author  |  Contents  |  Introduction  |

 Author                                                   

Judson Herrman is Professor of Classical Studies at Allegheny College.

 Table of Contents                                     

Preface
Introduction
    i.   Context and content
    ii.  Reference systems
    iii. Further reading
Thucydides, 2.34–46
Gorgias, Funeral Oration
Lysias, Oration 2
Plato, Menexenus
Demosthenes, Oration 60
Hyperides, Oration 6
Appendix: Gettysburg 1863
Glossary of Key Terms
Bibliography

 From the Introduction                               

Throughout the fifth and fourth centuries BC, at the close of each campaign season the Athenian state honored its war-dead in a public burial ceremony, choosing a prominent orator to give the keynote address. This volume collects all of the surviving state funeral orations from classical Athens.

Like tragedy, these speeches present an image of an idealized Athens. The narratives of past Athenian glories found in these speeches feature many of the same mythical tales that were also presented on stage. Like many of the plays, the funeral orations emphasize important themes such as Athenian unity, their aid to suppliants, and their willingness to drive away foreign invaders to protect the other Greeks. The selective version of more recent history found in the funeral orations also highlights these same qualities by focusing on the role of Athens during the Persian Wars (490–479), when the city helped save the other Greeks from invading foreigners, and by passing over other events, such as the Peloponnesian War (431–404), in which Athens opposed fellow Greeks. Although nearly all of the surviving Greek tragedies are set in the distant mythical past (the significant exception is Aeschylus’ Persians), the audience in the theater would recognize aspects of contemporary Athens in the depiction of ancient Athenian heroes such as Theseus. The funeral orations draw similar connections more explicitly by presenting a continuous narrative tying the present generation with the great heroes of long ago.