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The frequency of embassies in the Greek world, linked with the very concept of a city-state has long been emphasized by historians. But there has been less discussion of the criteria that presided over their establishment. When the epigraphic sources of the Hellenistic period disclose the identity of the ambassador, or more seldom, the ambassadors dispatched to another city or to a prominent personage, either a king or a Roman officer, they always insist on the difficulties met by the plenipotentiary and overcome thanks to his civic sense, his courage and... his money, which suggests that the ambassador concerned was one of the city’s principal notabilities. But in the classical period, and specifically regarding Athens, when the inscriptions quote the names of the ambassadors, they never put forward the reasons why such or such ambassador had been appointed; only thanks to a rich body of onomastic study can some connections be detected. On the other hand, when the “Peace of Philocrates” had to be sworn, through the cross-examination of Demosthenes’ and Aeschines’ opposed orations, delivered by the two rivals during a trial in 343, the famous Athenian embassy to Philip in 346 allows us to see that understanding the issues specific to the relationships between the two states and the reality of personal experiences were essential elements determining the choices of the assembly for the establishment of an embassy.