This is a collection of all 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.

Hyperides' Funeral Oration is arguably the most important surviving example of the genre from classical Greece. The speech stands apart from other funeral orations (epitaphioi) in a few key respects. First, we have the actual text as it was delivered in Athens (the other speeches, with the possible expection of Demosthenes 60, are literary compositions). Next, in contrast to other orations that look to the past and make only the vaguest mention of recent events, Hyperides' speech is a valuable source for the military history of the Lamian War as it captures the optimistic...

This edition of five of Demosthenes' Assembly speeches arguing for a military response to Philip II of Macedon is aimed at students. The extensive introduction and grammatical notes fully explicate the Greek text and provide abundant detail and up-to-date references to help readers understand the historical and literary context.