Wow! eBook
A Commentary on Selected Speeches of Isaios: 364 Bilingual Edition
Author(s): Brenda Griffith-Williams (Author)
- Publisher: Brill
- Publication Date: 29 Aug. 2013
- Edition: Bilingual
- Language: English
- Print length: 292 pages
- ISBN-10: 9004258574
- ISBN-13: 9789004258570
Book Description
In A Commentary on Selected Speeches of Isaios, Brenda Griffith-Williams offers a fresh insight, accessible to non-Greek readers, into four disputed inheritance cases from the Athenian courts in the 4th century B.C. The only comprehensive English language commentary on Isaios (Wyse, 1904) reflects a negative view of the Athenian legal system as one in which the judges, who had no legal training, could be easily outwitted by an unscrupulous speechwriter with no regard for the truth. By addressing the complex interplay of factual, legal, and rhetorical issues in the selected speeches, Brenda Griffith-Williams identifies the strengths and weaknesses of each speaker’s case and presents a more balanced assessment of Isaios’s work.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“This is an illuminating and comprehensive commentary on four speeches of Isaios, the first to offer a modern and balanced assessment of the orator’s work. Through this work Griffith-Williams sets high standards for commentaries on oratory. The book is essential reading for everyone interested in Attic oratory, rhetoric and Athenian law. Rosalia Hatzilambrou, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2014.09.39.
“
Insgesamt hat G.-W. einen herausragenden Kommentar vorgelegt, der allen an der attischen Beredsamkeit Interessiert als Pflichtlektüre zu empfehlen ist; bleibt nur zu wünschen, daß auch die anderen Reden des Isaios bald auf diesem außerordentlichen qualitativen Niveau (und vielleicht von derselben Verf.?) kommentiert werden.” Michael Weißenberger, Gnomon vol 88, issue 4, 2016.About the Author
Brenda Griffith-Williams, Ph.D. (2009), University College London, is an Honorary Research Associate in the Department of Greek and Latin at UCL. She has published several articles, mainly on the law and legal system of Classical Athens.
