ANTIPHON, the most ancient of the ten Athenian orators contained in the Alexandrine canon. He was born 480 b.c. at Rhamnus. During the Peloponnesian war he was several times entrusted with the command of detachments of the Athenian forces, and took an active part in the political affairs of Athens. He had a hand in the overthrow of the democracy, and the establishment of the oligarchy of the Four Hundred, 411 B.c.; but as the new government was soon after changed, Antiphon was accused of high treason, and put to death. He must be regarded as the founder of political oratory at Athens, for he was the first that reduced the art of the orator to definite rules and principles. He ' wrote speeches for others, but never addressed the people himself except at his own trial. Seventeen orations bearing his name are extant, but two or three of them may be spurious. They are printed in the various collections of the Greek Orators. From this Antiphon the orator we must distinguish two others: the one a philosopher, mentioned by Xenophon (Memor. , i. 6), who is said to have written about dreams; and the other, a tragic poet, who lived at the court of the elder Dionysius.

ANTIPHONY(αντί, and φωνή, a voice), a species of psalmody in which the choir or congregation, being divided into two parts, sing alternately. The peculiar structure of the Hebrew psalms renders it probable that the antiphonal method originated in the service of the ancient Jewish Church. According to the historian Socrates, its introduction into Christian worship was due to Ignatius (died, 115 a.d.), who in a vision had seen the angels singing in alternate choirs. In the Latin Church it was not practised until more than two centuries later, when it was introduced by Ambrose, bishop of Milan, who compiled an antiplιonary, or collection of words suitable for antiphonal singing. The antiphonary still in use in the Roman Catholic Church was compiled by Gregory the Great (590 a.d.)