User:Waters003/Theopompus

Lead
Theopompus was born 377-378 on Chios of the Aegean Islands. In his early youth, he spent a considerable amount of time in Athens. His father, Damasistratus, had been exiled due to his strong Laconian sympathies. In Athens, Theopompus became a pupil of Isocrates, and rapidly made great progress in rhetoric ; we are told that Isocrates used to say that Ephorus required the spur but Theopompus the bit.

At first he appears to have composed epideictic speeches, in which he attained to such proficiency that in 352–351 BC he gained the prize of oratory given by Artemisia II of Caria in honour of her husband, although Isocrates was himself among the competitors. It is said to have been the advice of his teacher that finally determined his career as an historian—a career for which he was peculiarly qualified owing to his abundant patrimony and his wide knowledge of men and places. Through the influence of Alexander III, he was permitted to return to Chios around 333 BC, and figured for some time as one of the leaders of the aristocratic party in his native town. After Alexander's death, he was again expelled, and took refuge with Ptolemy in Egypt, where he appears to have met with a somewhat cold reception. While his exact date of death isn't known, historians have placed it shortly after 320 BC.