L' Archidamos d'Isocrate : une politique de l'espace et du temps

Isokrates' Archidamos is an energetic appeal to oppose Messenia's secession from Sparta following the defeat at Leuktra in 371 BC. The speech has generally been interpreted either as growing out of the immediate political context, or as a gratuitous rhetorical exercise. By contrast, I suggest that the Archidamos stages a concrete problem in order to raise a fundamental issue of Greek political theory, that of a city's relation to its territory. Isokrates relies on a number of past examples to illustrate his argument. My study proposes that two frames of reference should be added, Xenophon's Anabasis, and a political and religious institution, the Spartan Krypteia. These links allow us to understand better why Isokrates picks the young prince Archidamos as his mouthpiece.Isokrates' Archidamos is an energetic appeal to oppose Messenia's secession from Sparta following the defeat at Leuktra in 371 BC. The speech has generally been interpreted either as growing out of the immediate political context, or as a gratuitous rhetorical exercise. By contrast, I suggest that the Archidamos stages a concrete problem in order to raise a fundamental issue of Greek political theory, that of a city's relation to its territory. Isokrates relies on a number of past examples to illustrate his argument. My study proposes that two frames of reference should be added, Xenophon's Anabasis, and a political and religious institution, the Spartan Krypteia. These links allow us to understand better why Isokrates picks the young prince Archidamos as his mouthpiece.Azoulay Vincent. L' Archidamos d'Isocrate : une politique de l'espace et du temps. In: Revue des Études Grecques, tome 119, Juillet-décembre 2006. pp. 504-531