Harpocration

Valerius Harpocration was a Greek grammarian and lexicographer from Alexandria, probably active in the first or second century AD, though dates as late as the fourth century have been proposed. Nothing is known of his life beyond his work.

His Lexicon of the Ten Orators (Lexicon in decem oratores Atticos) is a glossary of words and phrases used by the ten canonical Attic orators — Antiphon, Andocides, Lysias, Isocrates, Isaeus, Aeschines, Lycurgus, Demosthenes, Hyperides, and Dinarchus. For each entry, Harpocration explains the meaning, identifies the orator and speech where it appears, and often provides historical, legal, or institutional context.

The lexicon is a scholar's tool, not literature, but it is enormously valuable for understanding Athenian law, politics, and daily life. Many of its entries preserve information from lost historical and antiquarian works. It was widely used in Byzantine education and remains an essential reference for anyone reading the Attic orators.