Filippika - this is what?

Filippika is a fiery speech, a tirade, condemning the speech. This term is historically associated with two outstanding speakers of the ancient world - Demosthenes of Greece and the Roman Cicero.

History Philip II

One of the main heroes of the 4th century BC is Alexander the Great, about whom many books have been written and a lot of films have been shot. However, his father Philip II (382-336 BC), who was also a great warrior and intriguer, was equally popular. Macedonia belonged to the north-eastern lands of the Hellenic Peninsula. In the east, there was a border with the Thracian barbarians, and a little further was the frightening belligerent Persia. And because of its geographical location, the Macedonians had a specific dialect of the Greek language, where there were many barbarous words.

Poor Macedonia was considered a conditionally civilized state, and everyone attacked it, to whom only it was not laziness. If it were not for the powerful Philip II, who comes from the eminent kind of Macedonian kings, the country would simply be torn to pieces. At the age of 23 he became a king and gained the reputation of a powerful ruler. He strengthened his position by conquering the lands seized earlier by Athens, and having gathered a powerful army, and he began to attack his neighbors.

What is the philippica?

The influential Athenian orator Demosthenes (384-322 BC) with such passion and anger exposed his statements by the Tsar of Macedonia, Philip, the enemy of the Athenian democracy, that it was his name that served as the basis for renaming the "anti-Macedonian" appearances in the "philippics". These were angry and accusatory speeches. This name attracted the famous Roman orator - Mark Tullius Cicero, who also began to call his exposing speeches against Mark Antony "philippics".

Demosthenes' wrathful speeches

The theme of the first philippic was the incendiary call of the Athenians to resist. Demosthenes urged the Athenians to be ready for war, trying to convince them that they had suffered because of the mistakes and incompetence of King Philip of Macedon. He opposed the use of mercenaries in the Athenian army and proposed the creation of a flexible military force that would remain in Macedonia and would oppose the army of Philip. Filippika - is a passionate and angry speech, which had a powerful effect on the listener. The most serious charge against the King of Macedonia was that he violated the terms of the 346 peace treaty.

The next (second) philippica was a response to the furious attack of Philip and his Athenian supporters against the cities of the Allies. In the third angry speech, Demosthenes used the full force of his eloquence, he demanded decisive action against Philip and expected a surge of energy from the Athenian people. Macedonia and Athens were already de facto belligerents. Most importantly, Philip was the first to break the peace.

The third is the best political speech of Demosthenes, who behaved like the most influential politician of Athens and was the suzerain of the Athenian political arena, the passionate leader of the anti-Macedonian faction, who called for the Athenian uprising against Philip.

The fourth Philippine, also attributed to Demosthenes, reflects the call of Athens to send the embassy to the Persians, but there are some doubts about its authorship. The modern dictionary of Ozhegov defines this concept as follows: an angry diatribe. This term was later used by such Russian writers as Chernyshevsky, Turgenev, Saltykov-Shchedrin, Chekhov and others.