Episode 28 - Demosthenes vs. Aeschines: The Trial on the Crown

In 330 BCE, the greatest courtroom battle in Athenian history took place, pitting the two most famous orators of the age against each other. The case, On the Crown, was ostensibly about a minor procedural issue: whether the statesman Demosthenes had been illegally awarded a golden crown for his service to the city. In reality, it was a dramatic trial over the entire political soul of Athens.

This episode reconstructs this epic legal showdown. Demosthenes, the fiery patriot, used his defense to justify his entire career of resisting the Macedonian king, Philip II. His rival, Aeschines, argued that Demosthenes's policies had been a catastrophic failure that led directly to Athens's subjugation. We dissect the brilliant legal arguments, soaring rhetoric, and venomous personal attacks that both men deployed in a high-stakes fight for their political lives and legacies.

The speeches from this trial are considered the masterpieces of Greek oratory. Demosthenes's defense was so powerful that Aeschines not only lost the case but failed to win even a fifth of the jury's votes, forcing him into permanent exile. The trial serves as the final, dramatic act in the history of Athenian democracy and its vibrant legal culture.