Demosthenes

About Demosthenes

Demosthenes was an Athenian statesman and the greatest of the ancient Greek orators, active in the 4th century BCE. His historical importance, securing him the #958 rank from MIT's Pantheon project, stems from his fierce opposition to the growing power of Macedon, primarily challenging King Philip II in a series of powerful speeches known as the Philippics. These orations are studied as masterpieces of rhetorical skill, aiming to restore the political autonomy and spirit of the Athenian city-state against external threat.

In terms of modern internet attention, Demosthenes appears to be receiving attention proportional to his historical significance, with an Attention Gap of approximately 1x relative to his #958 HPI rank. His 196K Wikipedia views in 2025 are quite close to the expected traffic for a figure of this specific rank, especially when compared to other major political figures. For instance, his views are significantly lower than those of the nearby-ranked politician Antoninus Pius (431K views) and David Ben-Gurion (938K views).

Looking forward, Demosthenes shows a modest upward trend in recent digital engagement, with a +1.6% year-over-year increase in views and a +9% positive momentum between Q1 and Q3 of 2025, suggesting a slight resurgence of interest in his classical oratory online.