EGY GYILKOSSÁG TÖRTÉNETE
THE STORY OF A MURDER

ANTIPHON'S 5TH SPEECH ─ THE MURDER OF HERODES

Author(s): Tamás Mészáros
Subject(s): Rhetoric
Published by: Scientia Kiadó
Keywords: Antiphon; Herodes; Mytilenean revolt; Euxitheos;
Summary/Abstract: According to general consensus, the fifth oration of Antiphon is one of the most famous speeches in antiquity. As we learn, Herodes, an Athenian cleruch?, was travelling to Ainos together with Euxitheos, a young, wealthy Mytilenean. Their boat was forced by a storm to put in a small harbour close to Methymna. They spent some hours drinking in another boat, then in the middle of the night Herodes left this boat, disappeared and was not seen again. The paper discusses the facts and the structure of the defendant's argumentation concerning to the mysterious death of Herodes and tries to give with as much certainty as possible a brief description of the events. According to the procedural questions we assume that Herodes' relatives have used an illegitimate procedure, an endeixis kakourgon against Euxitheos. Their motive was personal enrichment by an out-of-court settlement. We point out that after the first Mytilenean revolt (B. C. 428/27) the simple fact, that Euxitheos was a Mytilenean, is a very important element in the case.

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