Callistratus [key], d. c.360 b.c., Athenian statesman and orator. Believing Thebes to be more dangerous to Athens than Sparta, he favored a peace with Sparta. He and Callias in 371 b.c. were the delegates to negotiations on an ineffective peace treaty. His failure to check Thebes led to his impeachment in 366 b.c., but he saved himself with his brilliant defense—an oration that is supposed to have inspired Demosthenes to study rhetoric. After new failure he fled Athens and was condemned in absentia for having urged Athens to allow Thebes to occupy Oropus in Boetia. When he returned he was put to death.
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