Alcibiades

Alcibiades

Alcibiades Cleiniou Scambonides (also Alkibiades) (ancient Greek: Αλκιβιαδες Κλεινιου Σκαμβωνιδες)¹ (c. 450 BC–404 BC) was an Athenian general and politician.

Life

Alcibiades was born in Athens, the son of Cleinias and Deinomache, who belonged to the family of the Alcmaeonidae. He was a near relative of Pericles, who, after the death of Cleinias at the Battle of Coronea (447 BC), became his guardian. Thus early deprived of his father's control, possessed of remarkable beauty and the heir to great wealth, which was increased by his marriage, he showed himself self-willed, capricious and passionate, and indulged in the most insolent behaviour. Nor did the instructors of his early manhood supply the corrective which his boyhood lacked. From Protagoras, Prodicus, and others he learnt to laugh at the common ideas of justice, temperance, holiness and patriotism. The laborious thought, the ascetic life of his master Socrates, he was able to admire, but not to imitate or practice. On the contrary, his ostentatious vanity, his amours, his debaucheries and his impious revels became notorious. But great as were his vices, his abilities were even greater.

He took part in the Battle of Potidaea (432 BC), where his life was saved by Socrates, a service which he repaid at the Battle of Delium (424 BC). Alcibiades had great admiration of Socrates; he once said of him: “His nature is so beautiful, golden, divine, and wonderful within that everything he commands surely must be obeyed, even like the voice of a god.”[1] As the reward for his bravery, the wealthy Hipponicus bestowed upon him the hand of his daughter.

From this time he took a prominent part in Athenian politics during the Peloponnesian War. Originally friendly to Sparta, he subsequently became the leader of the war party in opposition to Nicias, and after the peace of 421 BC he succeeded by an unscrupulous trick in duping the Spartan ambassadors, and persuading the Athenians to conclude an alliance (420 BC) with Argos, Elis, and Mantineia. On the failure of Nicias in Thrace (418 BC–417 BC) he became the chief advocate of the Sicilian expedition, seeing an opportunity for the realization of his ambitious projects, which included the conquest of Sicily, to be followed by that of Peloponnesus and possibly of Carthage (though this seems to have been an afterthought). The expedition was decided upon with great enthusiasm, and Alcibiades, Nicias, and Lamachus were appointed joint commanders. But, on the day before the expedition sailed, there occurred the mysterious mutilation of the hermai, and Alcibiades was accused not only of being the originator of the crime, but also of having profaned the Eleusinian Mysteries. His request for an immediate investigation being refused, he was obliged to set sail with the charge still hanging over him.

Almost as soon as he reached Sicily he was recalled to stand his trial, but he escaped on the journey home and made his way to Sparta. Learning that he had been condemned to death in his absence and his property confiscated, he openly joined the Spartans, and persuaded them to send Gylippus to assist the Syracusans and to fortify Decelea in Attica. He then passed over to Asia Minor, prevailed upon many of the Ionic allies of Athens to revolt, and concluded an alliance with the Persian satrap Tissaphernes. But in a few months he had lost the confidence of the Spartans; it was rumored that he had impregnated the wife of the Spartan king Agis II, and at Agis' instigation an order was sent for his execution.

Receiving timely information of this order he crossed over to Tissaphernes (412 BC), and persuaded him to adopt the negative policy of leaving Athens and Sparta to wear themselves out by their mutual struggles. Alcibiades was now bent on returning to Athens; he used his supposed influence with Tissaphernes to effect his purpose. He entered into negotiations with the oligarch Peisander, which led to no result. He then attached himself to the fleet at Samos which remained loyal to the democracy, and was subsequently recalled by Thrasybulus, although he did not at once return to Athens. Being appointed commander in the neighbourhood of the Hellespont, he defeated the Spartan fleet at Abydos (411 BC) and Cyzicus (410 BC), and recovered Chalcedon and Byzantium.

On his return to Athens after his success, he was welcomed with unexpected enthusiasm (407 BC); all the proceedings against him were cancelled, and he was appointed general with full powers. His lack of success, however, at Andros, and the defeat at Notium (407 BC) of his lieutenant Antiochus, led the Athenians to dismiss him from his command. He thereupon retired to the Thracian Chersonesus.

After the Battle of Aegospotami, and the final defeat of Athens, he crossed the Hellespont and took refuge with Pharnabazus in Phrygia, with the object of securing the aid of Artaxerxes against Sparta. But the Spartans induced Pharnabazus to put him out of the way; as he was about to set out for the Persian court, his residence was set on fire, and upon rushing out on his assassins, dagger in hand, was killed by a shower of arrows (404 BC).

Sources about the life of Alcibiades

• Aristophanes mentions Alcibiades several times in his satirical plays, for instance making fun of his manner of speech.
• Alcibiades figures in several Socratic dialogues:
  • Plato's Symposium where he appears to be in love with Socrates.
  • There are two dialogues from antiquity titled "Alcibiades", ascribed to Plato, both of them however probably spurious, that feature Socrates in conversation with Alcibiades: First Alcibiades (or Alcibiades I) and Second Alcibiades (or Alcibiades II): see Alcibiades (dialogues)
• Plutarch gives a biography of Alcibiades, and compares his life with that of Coriolanus, see Parallel Lives.
• Thucydides mentions Alcibiades several times in his History of the Peloponnesian War.

See also

• Trial of Socrates
• Erik Satie used some words of Plato's Symposium, purportedly spoken by Alcibiades, in the first part of his Socrate

External links

• Project Gutenberg:
  • 11 comedies by Aristophanes et al.: Part I and Part II
  • Socratic dialogues, translated by Benjamin Jowett: Alcibiades I and Alcibiades II
  • Plutarch's Parallel Lives (Aubrey Stewart and George Long translation): Alcibiades' life and Comparison to life of Coriolanus
• MIT classics:
  • Plutarch's Parallel Lives (John Dryden translation): Alcibiades' life and Comparison to life of Coriolanus

References

• Hughes-Hallett, Lucy. Heroes: A History of Hero Worship. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, New York, 2004. ISBN 1-4000-4399-9.
• Pressfield, Steven. Tides of War: A Novel of Alcibiades and the Peloponnesian War. Doubleday, New York, New York, 2000. ISBN 0-3854-9252-9.

Notes

1 - Official full name of Alcibiades. The meaning in English is "Alcibiades son of Cleinias, of the deme Scambonidai". This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, a publication in the public domain.