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Hypereides orHyperides (Ancient Greek:Ὑπερείδης,Hypereidēs; c. 390 – 322 BC; English pronunciation with the stress variably on the penultimate or antepenultimate syllable[1]) was anAthenianlogographer (speech writer). He was one of the tenAttic orators included in the "Alexandrian canon" compiled byAristophanes of Byzantium andAristarchus of Samothrace in the third century BC.
He was a leader of the Athenian resistance to King Philip II of Macedon andAlexander the Great. He was associated with Lycurgus andDemosthenes in exposing pro-Macedonian sympathizers. He is known for prosecutingPhilippides of Paiania for his pro-Macedonian measures and his decree in honoring Alexander the Great.[2]
Little is known about his early life except that he was the son of Glaucippus of thedeme ofCollytus and that he studiedlogography underIsocrates. In 360 BC, he prosecutedAutocles for treason.[3] During theSocial War (358–355 BC) he accusedAristophon, then one of the most influential men atAthens, of malpractices,[4] and impeachedPhilocrates (343 BC) for high treason. Although Hypereides supportedDemosthenes in the struggle againstPhilip II of Macedon; that support was withdrawn after theHarpalus affair. After Demosthenes' exile Hypereides became the head of the patriotic party (324 BC).[5]
After the death ofAlexander the Great, Hypereides was one of the chief promoters of war against Macedonian rule. His speeches are believed to have led to the outbreak of theLamian War (323–322 BC) in which Athens,Aetolia, andThessaly revolted against Macedonian rule. After the decisivedefeat at Crannon (322 BC) in which Athens and her allies lost their independence, Hypereides and the other orators were captured byArchias of Thurii and condemned to death by the Athenian supporters ofMacedon.[5]
Hypereides fled toAegina only to be captured at the temple ofPoseidon. After being put to death, his body (according to others) was taken toCleonae and shown to the Macedonian generalAntipater before being returned to Athens for burial.[5]
Hypereides was an ardent pursuer of "the beautiful," which in his time generally meant pleasure and luxury.[5] He was a flamboyant figure, unwavering in public in his hostility to Macedon. He was a well-known epicure given to fine food and women. He engaged in countless affairs with prostitutes, some of whom he defended in court.[6] His temper was easy-going and humorous. Though in his development of theperiodic sentence he followedIsocrates, the essential tendencies of his style are those ofLysias. His diction was plain, though he occasionally indulged in long compound words probably borrowed fromMiddle Comedy. His composition was simple. He was especially distinguished for subtlety of expression, grace and wit.[5][7] Hypereides is known to have owned at least two or three pieces of property: an estate inEleusis, a house in Athens, and a house inPiraeus, where he kept one of his many women. In around 340 B.C. he is known to have performed only two public services, as trierarch and Chorus producer. It is said he had received money from the Persian King who was alarmed at Macedon's expansion.[2]
Hypereides's speech in trial againstPhilippides lasted over thirty minutes. In the first speech against Philippides he attackedKing Philip II of Macedon andAlexander the Great. In the second part of thepapyrus, he attacks Philippides and his associates and states: Each one of them was a traitor, one inThebes, another inTangara, another inEleutherae, doing everything in the service of theMacedonians. He pleaded Philip's cause and campaigned with him against our country which is his most serious offense. Hypereides detested Philippides pro-Macedonian sympathies. Hypereides exposed Philippides who was known as saying in the Assembly: We must honor Alexander for all those that died at his hand.[8] Seventy-seven speeches have been attributed to Hypereides, of which twenty-five were regarded as spurious by his contemporaries. It is said that a manuscript of most of the speeches survived as late as the 15th century in theBibliotheca Corviniana, library ofMatthias Corvinus, king ofHungary, but was laterdestroyed after the capture ofBuda by the Turks in the 16th century. Only a few fragments were known until relatively recent times. In 1847, large fragments of his speeches,Against Demosthenes andFor Lycophron (incidentally interesting for clarifying the order of marriage processions and other details of Athenian life, and the Athenian government ofLemnos) and the whole ofFor Euxenippus (c. 330 BC, alocus classicus on εἰσαγγελίαιeisangeliai or state prosecutions), were found in a tomb atThebes in Egypt. In 1856 a considerable portion of alogos epitaphios, aFuneral Oration overLeosthenes and his comrades who had fallen in the Lamian war was discovered.[5]
Towards the end of the nineteenth century further discoveries were made including the conclusion of the speechAgainst Philippides (dealing with an indictment for the proposal of unconstitutional measure, arising out of the disputes of the Macedonian and anti-Macedonian parties at Athens), and of the whole ofAgainst Athenogenes (a perfumer accused of fraud in the sale of his business).[5]
In 2002 Natalie Tchernetska ofTrinity College, Cambridge discovered fragments of two speeches of Hypereides, which had been considered lost, in theArchimedes Palimpsest. These were from two new speeches, theAgainst Timander andAgainst Diondas, increasing the quantity of material known by this author by 20 percent.[9] Tchernetska's discovery led to a publication on the subject in theZeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik.[10] This prompted the establishment of a working group under the auspices of theBritish Academy, which includes scholars from the UK, Hungary and the US.[11]
In 2006, theArchimedes Palimpsest project together with imagers atStanford University used powerful X-ray fluorescence imaging to read the final pages of thePalimpsest, which contained the material by Hypereides. These were interpreted, transcribed and translated by the working group.
In 2018 a passage of another speech of Hypereides (Against the envoys of Antipater) was discovered in a papyrus fromHerculaneum.[12]
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Among the speeches not yet recovered is theDeliacus[13] in which the presidency of theTemple of the Delians claimed by both Athens and Cos, which was adjudged by theAmphictyonic League to Athens.[5] Also missing is the speech in which he defended the illustriouscourtesanPhryne (said to have been his mistress) on a capital charge: according toPlutarch andAthenaeus the speech climaxed with Hypereides stripping off her clothing to reveal her naked breasts; in the face of which the judges found it impossible to condemn her.[14]
Portraits of Hypereides are known to have existed in antiquity: a papyrus fragment from Egypt records that the Athenians honored him with statues after their liberation fromDemetrius of Phalerum in 307 BCE, and an inscribed base, once in theVilla Mattei in Rome but now lost, bore a statue of Hyperides signed by the artist Zeuxiades.[15] No inscribed portrait of Hypereides survives, however, and no existing ancient portrait type can be securely identified with him.[15] In 1913, Frederik Poulsen suggested that a double herm of the Roman period in theMusée Vivenel inCompiègne, which bears a portrait of a bearded man on one side and a portrait of a woman on the other, represented Hypereides and Phryne;[16] as a result, the male portrait type, which exists in at least half a dozen Roman versions, is now commonly referred to as Hypereides.[15] The style of the portrait that lies behind these copies seems to fit the late 4th or early 3rd century BCE.[17] Poulsen's argument has not been universally accepted, however, and critics have described it as "dubious"[18] and "speculative".[19]
William Noel, the curator of manuscripts and rare books at theWalters Art Museum inBaltimore, Maryland and the director of theArchimedes Palimpsest project, called Hypereides "one of the great foundational figures of Greek democracy and the golden age of Athenian democracy, the foundational democracy of all democracy."[9]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Hypereides".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 14 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 200.
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