The history of the Athenian empire as a rhetorical argument in Isocrates
Abstract
The issues that interest Isocrates in the three speeches analysed (Panegyricus, On Peace and Panathenaicus) are: 1. which Greek city deserves hegemony, 2. why naval empire is pernicious for the city that has it, and 3. which political system and type of hegemony is appropriate for the Athens of his time. The biased reconstruction of Athens' past history leads Isocrates to downplay the criticism towards his city for its past imperialist policy, but this does not prevent him from also advising abandoning the arché to take the lead in the campaign against Persia. Isocrates does not seem to have understood what a danger Philip was to Greece.
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