Lysias, << LIHS ee uhs >> (459?-380? B.C.), was a great orator of ancient Greece. He wrote more than 200 speeches and helped establish the study of oratory.
Lysias was born in the Greek colony of Syracuse in Sicily. His father was a wealthy shield manufacturer. Lysias moved to Athens in Greece and became a strong supporter of that city’s democratic government.
Nearby Sparta conquered Athens in the Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.). The Spartans installed a powerful group of men, known as the Thirty Tyrants, to govern Athens. Lysias was arrested by the government because of his wealth and democratic beliefs, but he escaped into exile.
Lysias returned to Athens when democracy was restored in 403 B.C. In that same year, Lysias attacked the cruelty and corruption of the Thirty Tyrants in one of his most famous speeches, “Against Eratosthenes.”
