Back More
Salem Press

Table of Contents

See Also

See Also in
Notorious Lives

Benedict Arnold.

Great Lives from History: Notorious Lives

Alcibiades of Athens

by J. Donald Hughes

Athenian politician and general

Cause of notoriety: Deserted and betrayed his city of Athens to the Spartans

Active: c. 432-404 b.c.e.

Locale: Athens, Greece

Early Life

In 448 b.c.e., when Alcibiades (al-sih-BI-uh-deez) was a child, his father, Cleinias, an Athenian war hero, was killed. His mother, Deinomache, was a cousin of Pericles, in whose household he was raised after his father’s death. Alcibiades grew into a young man of athletic beauty and charm, which he deliberately accentuated. He was a friend of Socrates, who recognized Alcibiades’ potential; that is, the worst man in Athens was the student and, as rumored, beloved of the best man in Athens. However, Alcibiades did not conform to Socrates’ ideals. Once he tried (unsuccessfully) to seduce Socrates, who replied that accepting the young man’s physical favors in return for knowledge of the good would be a poor trade.

Political Career

Alcibiades was cited as the bravest of soldiers in the Battle of Potidaea (432 b.c.e.), where Socrates saved his life. In the Battle of Delium (424 b.c.e.), Alcibiades returned the favor. A successful general, he inspired men with his own bravado.

Alcibiades of Athens (standing center right).

ph_0111307768-Alcibiades_Socrates.jpg

(F. R. Niglutsch)

His political rival was Nicias, a general and diplomat who arranged a truce during the Peloponnesian War with Sparta (431 b.c.e.). Six years later, Alcibiades, seeking further glory, won a bitter debate against Nicias, convincing the assembly to vote for a military expedition to Sicily. The Athenians created an armada and appointed three generals, including Alcibiades and Nicias. However, before they sailed, statues of the god Hermes were vandalized. Rumor accused Alcibiades and his friends of the deed. Alcibiades demanded a trial, but his enemies refused to act until after he and the fleet had left. They then recalled him.

Alcibiades escaped to the Spartans, whom he advised how to defeat the Athenian campaign. The Athenians condemned him to death in absentia, confiscated his property, and posted a reward for anyone who would kill him.

Adopting Spartan manners, Alcibiades made himself popular in Sparta. However, while on a mission, he found himself in trouble for seducing the wife of Agis, one of the two kings. He consequently deserted to the Persians and insinuated himself into the confidence of their governor, Tissaphernes, whom he advised to intervene. He sent word to the Athenians that if they would replace democracy with an aristocratic government, he would arrange Persian gold for them.

The Athenians put oligarchs in power, but they ignored Alcibiades and negotiated with Sparta. He again switched sides and, with the support of the Athenian navy, restored democracy in Athens. Alcibiades won battles against the enemy fleet, and his fame was never greater. The people reelected him general. Then the navy lost a crucial battle while Alcibiades was away engaging in useless diplomacy. The Athenians held him responsible and banished him.

Alcibiades retreated to a fortress above Aegospotami, where by chance the Athenian and Spartan navies had their final confrontation. The Athenians rejected his advice on how to win the battle, and their navy was destroyed. Fearing the victorious Spartans, Alcibiades sought shelter with the Persians. However, their well-founded mistrust was his undoing. One night, lying naked in the arms of a courtesan, Alcibiades discovered that Persian soldiers had surrounded the house and set it on fire. Wrapping a cloak around his arm, he grasped his sword and ran out to confront them. Fearing to get close to Alcibiades, the soldiers killed him with arrows.

Impact

More than any other individual, Alcibiades was responsible for the defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian War. He represents the breakdown of loyalty to the city-state in Greek society, and he paved the way for the eclipse of Athens under the shadow of the Macedonian empire of Philip II and Alexander the Great.

Alcibiades has therefore been remembered as an archetypal traitor. The biographer Plutarch matched him with another famous traitor, Coriolanus, the general who fought against his own motherland, Rome. American writers have compared Alcibiades with Benedict Arnold, the American commander who betrayed the Americans during the Revolutionary War.

Further Reading

1 

Ellis, Walter M. Alcibiades. London: Routledge, 1989. Scholarly and readable, this is the standard biography.

2 

Plato. The Symposium. Translated by Christopher Gill. London: Penguin Books, 1999. The final speech by the drunken Alcibiades is among the finest pieces of Greek literature.

3 

Plutarch. The Rise and Fall of Athens. Translated by Ian Scott-Kilvert. London: Penguin Books, 1960. Life of Alcibiades, the surviving ancient biography, is the eighth of nine lives covered in this collection.

4 

Strassler, Robert B., ed. The Landmark Thucydides. New York: Free Press, 1996. An excellent edition of Thucydides’ Peloponnesian War. Alcibiades’ part in the conflict is covered in books 5-8.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
Hughes, J. Donald. "Alcibiades Of Athens." Great Lives from History: Notorious Lives, edited by Carl L. Bankston III, Salem Press, 2007. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=GLN_1007.
APA 7th
Hughes, J. D. (2007). Alcibiades of Athens. In C. L. Bankston III (Ed.), Great Lives from History: Notorious Lives. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.
CMOS 17th
Hughes, J. Donald. "Alcibiades Of Athens." Edited by Carl L. Bankston III. Great Lives from History: Notorious Lives. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2007. Accessed December 14, 2025. online.salempress.com.