The orator Anaximenes of Lampsacus claimed that the funeral oration had been originated in the 6th-century BC in Athens by Solon, but this is widely doubted by historians. More plausible, but not beyond doubt, is the statement by Dionysius of Halicarnassus that the Athenians instituted the funeral oration "in honour or those who fought at Artemisium, Salamis, and Plataea, and died for their country, or to the glory of their exploits at Marathon."