Panegyricus
Panegyrikos
The fractious Greek city-states should set aside their endless wars against each other and unite instead under joint Athenian and Spartan leadership for a common war against Persia, since only such unity can restore Greek prosperity and end the cycle of ruinous internal conflict.
- Panhellenic unity against a common Persian enemy
- the pamphlet as Isocrates's preferred rhetorical form
- Greek identity redefined as shared culture (paideia)
- cultural rather than military basis for Athenian leadership
- anticipation of Philip and Alexander's Persian campaign
The Panegyricus, published in 380 BC after roughly a decade of composition and circulated as a written pamphlet rather than delivered as a spoken oration, argues for Panhellenic unity under joint Athenian and Spartan leadership directed toward a common war against Persia. Isocrates grounds Athens's claim to leadership not chiefly in military power but in cultural achievement, arguing that being Greek is now a matter of shared culture and education (paideia) rather than blood. Although unrealized in his lifetime, the program anticipated the campaign Philip II and Alexander the Great would mount against Persia within a generation.
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