Demosthenes: Democracy's Defender

The tragic story of ancient Greece's last democratic leader and his doomed fight to save Athens from Macedonian domination

In the spring of 340 BCE, news arrived that Philip of Macedon had seized a town in central Greece, a base from which he could march on Athens. In the fierce debates about how to respond to the rising threat in the north, Demosthenes, the greatest orator of his day, convinced the Athenian Assembly to confront Philip on the field of battle. Though that effort failed and At...