During the fifth century BC, Athens was a city-state to be reckoned with.
Together with Sparta, it was one of the two great powers of Classical Greece.
When in 431 BC the Peloponnesian War broke out, it was a showdown between the democratic naval power
Athens and oligarchic militaristic Sparta. On the Athenian side was a rather colourful
strategos, or general. This relatively young man's name was Alcibiades, and his life story reads like
a novel about an anti-hero. Works about his life have lauded him as a fortunate and brilliant young
man possessing unheard-of beauty and charm. But regardless of his charm, he did not
necessarily have a moral compass. It resulted in him doing everything he could to satisfy his
hunger for power and honour. He played a vital, yet incredibly controversial role during the
Peloponnesian war. Initially serving as general on the Athenian side, after a drunken mishap,
he deserted to the Spartans mid-war. But following a romantic escapade with the Spartan king's wife,
he deserted to the Persians, the mutual enemy of Athens and Sparta. He finally returned to Athens,
attempting to instigate an oligarchic coup to become a fleet commander... and surprisingly
enough, successfully so. This the story of an arguably brilliant loose cannon.
Early Life (450-415 BC)
Alcibiades was born in 450 BC in the democratic city-state Athens. His father,
Cleinias, was a well-known politician, and his mother, Deinomache, belonged to the Alcmaeonids,
a powerful Athenian noble family. In his early childhood, his father was killed in the Battle
of Coronea during the First Peloponnesian War. Subsequently, his uncle Pericles raised him.
You may know Pericles as the prominent Athenian politician, general and one of the most
influential statesmen being responsible for the flourishing of the city-state. Alcibiades became
an intimate friend of the philosopher Socrates. Socrates saw Alcibiades' unconstrained behaviour
and tried to restrain and curb it, to no avail. The boy was intelligent, supposedly had great
looks and had a natural charm, disregarding some sources indicating he had a lisp.
Some sources describe young Alcibiades as spoiled and rich, rebelling and opposing the
established order. His eloquence blossomed from a young age, and throughout his life,
he would become known as a gifted orator. In 434 BC, the Peloponnesian war between Athens,
Sparta and their respective allies broke out. Pericles commanded Athenian military operations,
and Alcibiades too served in the military. Athens retreated behind their long city walls to keep
the Spartans out, who didn't besiege the city and instead raided the surrounding agricultural land.
Still, staying inside a city had its effects on the population. In 429 BC,
a plague epidemic razed through Athens. Pericles too was infected and passed away that same year.
During this war, the bond between Socrates and Alcibiades strengthened.
Both men saved each other's life. At the Battle of Potidaea, young Alcibiades was supposedly injured,
upon which Socrates came forward to protect him and carry him away from combat.
Eight years later, at the Battle of Delium, the roles were reversed. The battle took place after
an Athenian fleet under the command of Hippocrates sailed to Boeotia, a region in Greece with Thebe
as its largest city. When the Boeotians attack was more swift than anticipated, the Athenians
were put on the defensive. Alcibiades served in the cavalry, while Socrates served as a hoplite.
Although the cavalry was quicker in retreating, Alcibiades refused to leave Socrates behind
at the mercy of the army chasing them. Alcibiades himself commanded forces too during
the war. In 418 BC, he commanded an Athenian army unit sent to crush multiple Spartan allies,
leading to the Battle of Mantinea. However, the Athenians were crushed by the powerful
Spartan forces, and the cavalry had to be sent in to save the struggling infantry.
At any rate, all these events certainly made an impact on Alcibiades life. He lost his uncle,
who raised him, nearly lost his mentor and came close to losing his own life as well.
It wasn't all war, though, at least, not when considering the strict definition of war.
Because in the same year of the Battle of Delium, Alcibiades married Hipparete, a wealthy Athenian.
Rumours state Alcibiades once hit Hipparete's father, after being challenged by his friends.
Because Athenians considered it a disgraceful act, he came to the man to apologise. Surprised
at the apology, Hipparete's father supposedly offered Alcibiades the hand of his daughter.
It wasn't a happy marriage, though, because Alcibiades kept visiting other women,
and Hipparete even tried to divorce him, albeit in vain. She passed away soon after.
Peace of Nicias (421 BC)
During these years of the Peloponnesian War, Alcibiades managed to take the limelight
several times. Democratic Athens tended to elect ten generals (so-called strategoi)
annually. These strategoi were responsible for Athens defences and military, and in 420 BC, the
Athenians elected Alcibiades to be one of the ten. But he couldn't attain honour and prestige through
the war as he hoped. Because a year before, the warring parties negotiated the so-called Peace
of Nicias. It was named after one of Athen's proponents for peace, Nicias, a fellow general.
He would go on to become Alcibiades arch-nemesis. Likely seeing a window of opportunity to attain
power, Alcibiades rejected the peace negotiations, the eventual settlement and became a proponent of
a hardline anti-Spartan and imperialist sentiment. He used lies and deceits to discredit Nicias,
already during earlier stages when he attempted to gather support for his proposed peace. Despite
Alcebiades' efforts, the parties established peace, or rather a truce, eventually. Alcibiades
did not refrain from his anti-Spartan rhetoric. Six years later, in 415 BC, Alcibiades managed
to convince and persuade the people of Athens to support a military expedition to Sicily.
It would be the greatest imperial adventure the city-state had ever undertaken. The goal was to
capture Syracuse, a rich and independent town on the island. Alcibiades was the commander of the
expedition but shared his position with two other men. One of them was general Lamachus, and the
other was Nicias. The exact same one who brokered for peace earlier and perhaps unsurprisingly
vehemently opposed the campaign. Fortunately for Nicias, things didn't
exactly go according to plan for the war-mongers. The night before the planned expedition,
the Athenians held a feast and Alcibiades got drunk together with friends. In their drunkenness,
they went on an adventure through Athens. Now, essential to know is that hermai were
traditional sculptures with a head and male… private parts at the appropriate height. Well,
Alcibiades and friends knocked off certain extensions of the statues. It is disputed whether
this was not just a conspiracy by people opposed to him. Regardless, even if it was a conspiracy,
it certainly was a successful one. By morning all of Athens knew what Alcibiades had done.
Leaving the next day, Alcibiades realised Athen's court would bring charges against him. He would
have to return in the middle of the military campaign, certainly raising suspicion among
troops regarding his absence. Basically, many troops would probably already consider him guilty
before he was convicted or acquitted. So he took quite an ultimate gamble, and began preparing his
defection. And not in a very subtle way either. He made sure information about the planned attack
on Syracuse reached... The Syracusians. Having received the information on Athenian tactics,
Syracuse managed to defend themselves, and the entire expedition was in complete shambles.
And where did Alcibiades defect to? To the arch-enemy of Athens that Alcibiades had
been preaching against for the past years. Sparta. The Athenians sentenced him to death
in absentia and appropriated all his properties. For the next three years, Alcibiades provided the
Spartan king, Agis II, with crucial information regarding the Athenian military and tactics. On
one such occasion, he convinced the Spartans to capture the fortress of Decelea, which they
captured in 413. Thanks to this, the Spartans became a consistent threat to the Athenians,
controlling their rural territories and cutting off food imports from the fortified city.
Sparta fortified and controlled Decelea, increasing expenditure of maintaining an
Athen army and making it more challenging to have a consistent stream of food flowing into the city.
Eventually, this became one of the critical factors for Athens losing the Peloponnesian war.
Persia and the oligarchic coup
But Alcibiades wouldn't stay in Sparta forever. Within a few years there too he managed to
get himself into trouble. Three years after he deserted, a romantic mishap involving Alcibiades,
the wife of King Agis, Timea, and her child, meant Alcibiades was in trouble again.
According to Plutarch, Timaea bore not Agis’s son, but the son of Alcibiades.
Suspicion arose because of the similarities between the kid and the Athenian general.
And frankly, considering the way Alcibiades lived his life up until now,
him seducing the wife of the Spartan king certainly was something he was capable of doing.
When Agis II got wind of this, he ordered his execution.
But Alcibiades already fled. He could not return to Athens because they too sentenced him to death.
The only logical conclusion was to defect… to the mutual enemy of both Athens and Sparta: Persia.
Satrap Tissaphernes of Lydia welcomed Alcibiades. The fallen-from-grace strategoi would spend the
next few years advising the Persian statesman. In contrast to his earlier advice, this time,
he actually convinced the satrap to maintain good relations with both Athens and Sparta.
During his time in Persia, Alcibiades attempted to re-establish contact with
Athens. He wasn't eager to remain at Thissaphernes' court forever. After getting
in touch with several Athenian politicians, he promised them Persian riches and a war fleet
if they would commit an oligarchic coup against the democratic government. One of the critical
points was that they should vouch for his return. Well, the coup did take place. In 411 BC,
the oligarchs overthrew the democratic government of Athens. But that wasn't necessarily good news
for Alcibiades. He had a falling out with the oligarchs before the coup took place,
and he now wasn't allowed to return to Athens. But our general was still homesick and still
wanted to return to his native city-state. Although the coup was successful,
the island of Samos withstood the oligarchs and retained its democratic government.
Thrasybulus, an Athenian general and democratic leader, received Alcibiades, who requested that
he speak to Samos' troops. He was allowed to, and apparently gave such an incredible motivational
speech that he was elected as general of the army. After a revolt, they overthrew the oligarchic
regime in Athens, and Alcibiades was installed as a fleet commander and Athenian general.
The government reinstated his property and they dropped all charges against him.
It is worth it to ponder on these exceptional events. Alcibiades defected to Sparta mid-war,
only to have a child with the Spartan King's wife. He then fled to the mutual enemy of Athens and
Sparta, Persia. From there, he managed to push several military commanders to launch a coup
against the democratic government. But before the coup succeeded, their bond soured, and instead,
Alcibiades simply switched sides to the only democratic stronghold left standing,
offered his services, and beat the oligarchs.
Resuming War (415-404 BC)
Alcibiades returned to Athens amidst the continuation of the Peloponnesian war.
As Athen's fleet commander, he won impressive victories against the Spartans. One of the most
impressive ones surely was the Battle at Cyzicus, where he destroyed an entire Spartan fleet.
However, fate, karma, or whatever you want to call it, caught up with him. By this
time an ambitious and talented Spartan admiral, Lysander, had risen to power.
When Alcibiades triumphantly returned to Athens after his victory, Lysander made clever use of the
commander's absence. A subordinate of Alcibiades, Antiochus, was in charge of the Athenian fleet.
Alcibiades strictly ordered Antiochus not to attack a Spartan fleet,
as they were vastly outnumbered. Not entirely surprisingly, Antiochus did precisely that.
He attacked the numerically superior Spartan fleet. At Notium, Lysander completely annihilated
him, and Alcibiades was seen as the one responsible for this absolute disaster.
Realising his precarious position, Alcibiades fled to the north, to Thracia. He tried to return
from exile one more time, but the Athenians refused him. Sparta won the Peloponnesian war.
Alcibiades eventually met his end in exile. In 404 BC culprits set his house on fire,
and when he ran out with a knife to defend himself, he was shot with multiple arrows.
Sources point to different perpetrators, with some stating it was on the orders
of the Persian satrap Pharnabazus and others saying Lysander and Dertig, Spartan generals
ordered the hit. Yet another source claims he simply was killed by the brother of a Persian
woman he seduced, also not entirely unlikely. One thing is for sure: Alcibiades managed to
make many enemies along the way. He entered history as someone who
was extraordinarily opportunistic and managed to use his charm and looks to get further in life,
disregarding those around him. This makes him a fascinating character to read up on
and talk about, mainly because his life reads like a ridiculous novel. Classical writers such
as Plato and Thucydides wrote about his life, and Plutarchus dedicated an entire biography to him.
Thank you for watching this video.