Alcibiades (; ; 450 – 404 BC) was an Athenian statesman and general. The last of the Alcmaeonidae, he played a major role in the second half of the Peloponnesian War as a strategic advisor, military commander, and politician, but subsequently fell from prominence.
During the course of the Peloponnesian War, Alcibiades changed his political allegiance several times. In his native Athens in the early 410s BC, he advocated an aggressive foreign policy and was a prominent proponent of the Sicilian Expedition. After his political enemies brought charges of sacrilege against him, he fled to Sparta, where he served as a strategic advisor, proposing or supervising several major campaigns against Athens. However, Alcibiades made powerful enemies in Sparta too, and defected to Persia. There he served as an adviser to the satrap Tissaphernes until Athenian political allies brought about his recall. He served as an Athenian general (strategos) for several years, but enemies eventually succeeded in exiling him a second time. He took refuge in Persian territory and was eventually assassinated, reportedly at the instigation of Lysander of Sparta.
Scholars have argued that had the Sicilian expedition been under Alcibiades's command instead of that of Nicias, the expedition might not have met its eventual disastrous fate.A. Vlachos, Thucydides' Bias, 59 etc. In the years when he served Sparta, Alcibiades played a significant role in Athens's undoing; the capture of Decelea and the revolts of several critical Athenian subjects occurred either at his suggestion or under his supervision. Once restored to his native city, however, he played a crucial role in a string of Athenian victories that eventually brought Sparta to seek a peace with Athens. He favored unconventional tactics, frequently winning cities over by treachery or negotiation rather than by siege.P. B. Kern, Ancient Siege Warfare, 151.
Alcibiades's military and political talents frequently proved valuable to whichever state currently held his allegiance, but his propensity for making powerful enemies ensured that he never remained in one place for long; by the end of the war that he had helped to rekindle in the early 410s, his days of political relevance were a bygone memory. He is also remembered in art and literature as a student of Socrates.
Early years
Alcibiades was born in Athens. The family of his father, Cleinias,Plato, Alcibiades 1, 103a. had old connections with the Spartan aristocracy through a relationship of xenia, and the name "Alcibiades" was of Spartan origin.Herodotus 8.17, Thucydides 8.6. Alcibiades's mother was Deinomache, the daughter of Megacles, head of the powerful Alcmaeonid family, and could trace her family back to Eurysaces and the Telamonian Ajax.Plato, Alcibiades 1, 121a. Alcibiades thereby, through his mother, belonged to the powerful and controversial family of the Alcmaeonidae; the renowned Pericles and his brother Ariphron were Deinomache's cousins, as her father and their mother were siblings.C.A. Cox, Household Interests, 144. His paternal grandfather, also named Alcibiades, was a friend of Cleisthenes, the famous constitutional reformer of the late sixth century BC. After the death of Cleinias at the Battle of Coronea (447 BC), Pericles and Ariphron became his guardians.N. Denyer, Commentary of Plato's Alcibiades, 88–89.
According to Plutarch, Alcibiades had several famous teachers, including Socrates, and was well trained in the art of rhetoric. He was noted, however, for his unruly behavior, which was mentioned by ancient Greek and Latin writers on several occasions. It was believed that Socrates took Alcibiades as a student because he believed he could change Alcibiades from his vain ways. Xenophon attempted to clear Socrates's name at trial by relaying information that Alcibiades was always corrupt and that Socrates merely failed in attempting to teach him morality.
Alcibiades took part in the Battle of Potidaea in 432 BC, where Socrates was said to have saved his life.Plato, Symposium, 220e. Alcibiades later returned the favour by rescuing Socrates at the Battle of Delium in 424 BC. Alcibiades had a particularly close relationship with Socrates, whom he admired and respected.I. Sykoutris, Introduction to Symposium, 159–10.Plato, Symposium, 215a–22b. Plutarch and Plato describe Alcibiades as Socrates's beloved, the former stating that Alcibiades "feared and reverenced Socrates alone, and despised the rest of his lovers".
Alcibiades was married to Hipparete, the daughter of Hipponicus, a wealthy Athenian. His bride brought with her a large dowry, which significantly increased Alcibiades's already substantial family fortune.W. Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 99 According to Plutarch, Hipparete loved her husband but attempted to divorce him because he consorted with courtesans, but he prevented her from appearing at court. He seized her in court and carried her home again through the crowded Agora. She lived with him until her death, which came soon after, and gave birth to two children, a son named Alcibiades the Younger and a daughter. Alcibiades was famed throughout his life for his physical attractiveness, of which he was inordinately vain.
Political career in Athens until the Sicilian expedition Rise to prominence Alcibiades first rose to prominence when he began advocating aggressive Athenian action after the signing of the Peace of Nicias. That treaty, an uneasy truce between Sparta and Athens signed midway through the Peloponnesian War, came at the end of seven years of fighting during which neither side had gained a decisive advantage. Historians Arnold W. Gomme and Raphael Sealey believe, and Thucydides reports,Thucydides, "The History of the Peloponnesian Wars", 5.43. that Alcibiades was offended that the Spartans had negotiated that treaty through Nicias and Laches, overlooking him on account of his youth.A.W. Gomme, A Historical Commentary on Thucydides, 339.R. Sealey, A History of the Greek City States, 353.
Disputes over the interpretation of the treaty led the Spartans to dispatch ambassadors to Athens with full powers to arrange all unsettled matters. The Athenians initially received these ambassadors well, but Alcibiades met with them in secret before they were to speak to the ecclesia (the Athenian Assembly) and told them that the Assembly was haughty and had great ambitions. He urged them to renounce their diplomatic authority to represent Sparta, and instead allow him to assist them through his influence in Athenian politics.Thucydides, V, 45. The representatives agreed and, impressed with Alcibiades, they alienated themselves from Nicias, who genuinely wanted to reach an agreement with the Spartans. The next day, during the Assembly, Alcibiades asked them what powers Sparta had granted them to negotiate and they replied, as agreed, that they had not come with full and independent powers. This was in direct contradiction to what they had said the day before, and Alcibiades seized on this opportunity to denounce their character, cast suspicion on their aims, and destroy their credibility. This ploy increased Alcibiades's standing while embarrassing Nicias, and Alcibiades was subsequently appointed general. He took advantage of his increasing power to orchestrate the creation of an alliance between Argos, Mantinea, Elis, and other states in the Peloponnese, threatening Sparta's dominance in the region. According to Gomme, "it was a grandiose scheme for an Athenian general at the head of a mainly Peloponnesian army to march through the Peloponnese cocking a snook at Sparta when her reputation was at its lowest".A.W. Gomme, A Historical Commentary on Thucydides, 70. This alliance, however, would ultimately be defeated at the Battle of Mantinea.
Somewhere in the years 416–415 BC, a complex struggle took place between Hyperbolos on one side and Nicias and Alcibiades on the other. Hyperbolos tried to bring about the ostracism of one of this pair, but Nicias and Alcibiades combined their influence to induce the people to expel Hyperbolos instead. This incident reveals that Nicias and Alcibiades each commanded a personal following, whose votes were determined by the wishes of the leaders.
Alcibiades was not one of the generals involved in the capture of Melos in 416–415 BC, but Plutarch describes him as a supporter of the decree by which the grown men of Melos were killed and the women and children enslaved. An oration urging Alcibiades's ostracism, "Against Alcibiades" (historically attributed to the orator Andocides but not in fact by him), alleges that Alcibiades had a child by one of these enslaved women.Andocides, Against Alcibiades, 22.
Sicilian Expedition
In 415 BC, delegates from the Sicilian city of Segesta () arrived at Athens to plead for the support of the Athenians in their war against Selinus. During the debates on the undertaking, Nicias was vehemently opposed to Athenian intervention, explaining that the campaign would be very costly and attacking the character and motives of Alcibiades, who had emerged as a major supporter of the expedition.Thucydides 6.8–23 In contrast, Alcibiades argued that a campaign in this new theatre would bring riches to the city and expand the empire, just as the Persian Wars had. In his speech Alcibiades predicted (over-optimistically, in the opinion of most historians) that the Athenians would be able to recruit allies in the region and impose their rule on Syracuse, the most powerful city of Sicily.Platias-Koliopoulos, Thucydides on Strategy, 237–46. In spite of Alcibiades's enthusiastic advocacy for the plan, it was Nicias, not he, who turned a modest undertaking into a massive campaign and made the conquest of Sicily seem possible and safe.Kagan, The Peloponnesian War, 322 It was at his suggestion that the size of the fleet was significantly increased from 60 shipsThucydides History of the Peloponnesian War VII 8 to "140 galleys, 5,100 men at arms, and about 1300 archers, slingers, and light armed men". Philosopher Leo Strauss underscores that the Sicilian expedition surpassed everything undertaken by Pericles. Almost certainly Nicias's intention was to shock the assembly with his high estimate of the forces required, but, instead of dissuading his fellow citizens, his analysis made them all the more eager.L. Strauss, The City and Man, 104. Against his wishes Nicias was appointed general along with Alcibiades and Lamachus, all three of whom were given full powers to do whatever was in the best interests of Athens while in Sicily.Thucydides, 6.26.
One night during preparations for the expedition, the hermai, heads of the god Hermes on a plinth with a phallus, were mutilated throughout Athens. This was a religious scandal, resulted in a charge of asebeia (impiety) against Alcibiades, and was seen as a bad omen for the mission. Plutarch explains that Androcles, a political leader, used false witnesses who accused Alcibiades and his friends of mutilating the statues, and of profaning the Eleusinian Mysteries. Later his opponents, chief among them being Androcles and Thessalus, Cimon's son, enlisted orators to argue that Alcibiades should set sail as planned and stand trial on his return from the campaign. Alcibiades was suspicious of their intentions, and asked to be allowed to stand trial immediately, under penalty of death, in order to clear his name. This request was denied, and the fleet set sail soon after, with the charges unresolved.Thucydides, 6.29.