Demosthenes Facts For Kids

Bust of Demosthenes (British Museum, London), Roman copy of a Greek original sculpted by Polyeuktos.

Demosthenes Practising Oratory by Jean-Jules-Antoine Lecomte du Nouy (1842–1923). Demosthenes used to study in an underground room he constructed himself. He also used to talk with pebbles in his mouth and recited verses while running.[32] To strengthen his voice, he spoke on the seashore over the roar of the waves.

Illustration by Walter Crane of Demosthenes leaving the Assembly in shame after his first failure at public speaking, as described by Plutarch in his Life of Demosthenes

Philip II of Macedon: victory medal (nikétérion) struck in Tarsus, c. 2nd century BC (Cabinet des Médailles, Paris).

Satellite image of the Thracian Chersonese and the surrounding area. The Chersonese became the focus of a bitter territorial dispute between Athens and Macedon. It was eventually ceded to Philip in 338 BC.

The battle of Chaeronea took place in the autumn of 338 BC and resulted in a significant victory for Philip, who established Macedon's supremacy over the Greek cities.

Alexander Mosaic from Pompeii, from a 3rd-century BC original Greek painting, now lost. In 336–335 BC, the king of Macedon killed any attempt of the Greek cities at resistance and shattered Demosthenes's hopes for Athenian independence.

Image by Robin Iversen Rönnlund, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0

The site of the temple of Poseidon, Kalaureia, where Demosthenes died by suicide.

Herma of Demosthenes: the head is a copy of the bronze posthumous commemorative statue in the Ancient Agora of Athens by Polyeuctus (c. 280 BC); this herm was found in the Circus of Maxentius in 1825 (Glyptothek, Munich).