Lysias (c. 445 BC – c. 380 BC) was a writer of speeches to be delivered in the law courts of Ancient Athens, one of the most famous Greek orators. His family was rich but they were metics (resident aliens) in Athens with special privileges.

Thirty-four speeches of Lysias have survived, only a small portion of the speeches he actually wrote. In 403 BC he came forward as the accuser of Eratosthenes (not our Eratosthenes), one of the Thirty Tyrants, defending his dead brother, who was a victim of the Thirty Tyrants regime. This was his only direct contact with Athenian politics.