Antiphon of Rhamnus (/ˈæntɪfɒn, -ən/; Ancient Greek: Ἀντιφῶν ὁ Ῥαμνούσιος; 480–411 BC) was the earliest of the ten Attic orators, and an important figure in fifth-century Athenian political and intellectual life.

Many people named Antiphon in ancient Greece, and many scholars have confused them due to a lack of resources.There is longstanding uncertainty and scholarly controversy over whether the Sophistic works of Antiphon and a treatise on the Interpretation of Dreams were also written by Antiphon the Orator, or whether they were written by a separate man known as Antiphon the Sophist. This article only discusses Antiphon the Orator's biography and oratorical works.

Antiphon was a statesman who took up rhetoric as a profession.He first started as a teacher teaching rhetoric and began his forensic career later. He wrote his early famous works of Tetralogies with his interest in the philosophy of justice and the Athenian legal system. He continued his teaching career afterward.

Antiphon became the first to write forensic speeches for publication. He was well-known for his love of money, as declared by Plato in his Peisandros.^[1] And the Archidamian War had left his family in poverty, so he looked for an additional occupation of composing speeches.^[1] As suggested by Thucydides, Antiphon ‘was not willingly to come forward before the assembly or any other public arena, but was the object of the people’s suspicion on account of a reputation for cleverness,’ but ‘he was the one who could help the most if somebody asked for advice.’^[2] Antiphon acquired enough reputation to start his logographic business, fragments of his lost speeches revealed that Antiphon traveled far and had a wide range of acquaintances, including the general Demosthenes and Alcibiades as clients.^[3]There were arguments about whether he was the first logographer in Greece, there is no doubt that he was the first to write speeches for money.^[1]

He continued to educate, participate in complicated conversations and arguments, and converse with his friends about Athens' political issues in the final 20 years of his life. And more crucially, he stayed behind the scenes to counsel litigants. His chief business was that of a logographer (λογογράφος), that is a professional speech-writer. He wrote for those who felt incompetent to conduct their own cases—all disputants were obliged to do so—without expert assistance. Fifteen of Antiphon's speeches are extant: twelve are mere school exercises on fictitious cases, divided into tetralogies, each comprising two speeches for prosecution and defence—accusation, defence, reply, counter-reply; three refer to actual legal processes. All deal with cases of homicide (φονικαὶ δίκαι). Antiphon is also said to have composed a Τέχνη or art of Rhetoric.^[4]

Antiphon was active in political affairs in Athens, and, as a zealous supporter of the oligarchical party, was largely responsible for the establishment of the Four Hundred in 411 (see Theramenes).

Thucydides famously characterized Antiphon's skills, influence, and reputation:

...He who concerted the whole affair [of the 411 coup], and prepared the way for the catastrophe, and who had given the greatest thought to the matter, was Antiphon, one of the best men of his day in Athens; who, with a head to contrive measures and a tongue to recommend them, did not willingly come forward in the assembly or upon any public scene, being ill-looked upon by the multitude owing to his reputation for cleverness; and who yet was the one man best able to aid in the courts, or before the assembly, the suitors who required his opinion. Indeed, when he was afterwards himself tried for his life on the charge of having been concerned in setting up this very government, when the Four Hundred were overthrown and hardly dealt with by the commons, he made what would seem to be the best defence of any known up to my time.

— Thucydides, Histories 8.68^[5]

Antiphon was accused of treason and condemned to death.^[4] Even though the indictment involved the ambassador to Sparta, he denied potential motivations for the alleged crime of taking part in an oligarchic coup. He also addressed the more general accusation of taking part in the Four Hundred Coup and created a convincing case based on the likelihood that his line of work would flourish in a democracy.^[6] Given his inability to deny his obvious involvement in the coup, he might have continued by claiming that he wanted an enhanced democracy rather than an oligarchy.^[7]

Antiphon may be regarded as the founder of political oratory, but he never addressed the people himself except on the occasion of his trial. Fragments of his speech then, delivered in defense of his policy (called Περὶ μεταστάσεως) have been edited by J. Nicole (1907) from an Egyptian papyrus.^[4]

This is a list of extant speeches by Antiphon:

1. Against the Stepmother for Poisoning (Φαρμακείας κατὰ τῆς μητρυιᾶς)
2. The First Tetralogy: Anonymous Prosecution For Murder (Κατηγορία φόνου ἀπαράσημος)
3. The Second Tetralogy: Prosecution for Accidental Homicide (Κατηγορία φόνου ἀκουσίου)
4. The Third Tetralogy: Prosecution for Murder Of One Who Pleads Self-Defense (Κατηγορία φόνου κατὰ τοῦ λέγοντος ἀμύνασθαι)
5. On the Murder of Herodes (Περὶ τοῦ Ἡρῷδου φόνου)
6. On the Choreutes (Περὶ τοῦ χορευτοῦ)

• Edition, with commentary, by Eduard Maetzner (1838)
• Text by Friedrich Blass (1881)
• R. C. Jebb, Attic Orators
• Ps.-Plutarch, Vitae X. Oratorum or Lives of the Ten Orators
• Philostratus, Vit. Sophistarum, i. 15
• Frank Louis Van Cleef, Index Antiphonteus, Ithaca, N.Y. (1895)
• "Antiphon" at Swansea University's website.
• Michael Gagarin, Antiphon the Athenian, 2002, U. of Texas Press. Argues for the identification of Antiphon the Sophist and Antiphon of Rhamnus.
• Gerard Pendrick, Antiphon the Sophist: The Fragments, 2002, Cambridge U. Press. Argues that Antiphon the Sophist and Antiphon of Rhamnus are two, and provides a new edition of and commentary on the fragments attributed to the Sophist.
• David Hoffman, "Antiphon the Athenian: Oratory, Law and Justice in the Age of the Sophists/Antiphon the Sophist: The Fragments", Rhetoric Society Quarterly, summer 2006. A review of Gagarin 2002 and Pendrick 2002.
• Jordi Redondo, 'Antifont. Discursos I-II', Barcelona, Fundació Bernat Metge, 2003-2004 (ISBN 84-7225-822-X et 84-7225-840-8). Argues for the identification of both authors.

• Kerferd, G.B. (1970). "Antiphon". Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 170–172. ISBN 0-684-10114-9.

• Antiphon's Apology, the Papyrus Fragments, French 1907 edition from the Internet Archive
• Xenophon's Memorabilia 1.6.1-.15 presents a dialogue between Antiphon the Sophist and Socrates.
• Speeches by Antiphon of Rhamnus on Perseus
• A biography on Antiphon of Rhamnus by Richard C. Jebb, The Attic Orators from Antiphon to Isaeos, 1876 on Perseus
• O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Antiphon (orator)", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews
• The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy article "Callicles and Thrasymachus" discusses the views of Antiphon the Sophist.