Alcibiades

Brilliant yet fickle, he served Athens, Sparta and Persia in turn.

Life

Student of Socrates

Alcibiades was a ward of Pericles and a student of Socrates, of noble birth, strikingly handsome and a gifted speaker.

Changed sides three times

In 415 BCE he championed the expedition to Sicily and was named one of its commanders. Before the fleet sailed, the statues of Hermes in Athens were vandalized; he was accused of involvement and, while being recalled for trial, fled to Sparta, where he advised the Spartans on how to strike at Athens. Later he went over to a Persian satrap.

Return and assassination

In 411 BCE he was recalled by the Athenian fleet and won victory after victory, returning to Athens in triumph in 407 BCE; but soon afterward he was dismissed again after a subordinate's defeat. After Athens surrendered in 404 BCE, he was assassinated in Phrygia.

Legacy

Alcibiades was one of the most controversial figures of ancient Greece, and his fickleness and treachery profoundly affected the course of the Peloponnesian War.

Did you know? In Plato's Symposium, he is the one who bursts drunkenly into the banquet and lavishes praise on Socrates.

Key dates

• 415 BCEChampions the Sicilian expedition; defects to Sparta
• 412 BCEDefected to a Persian satrap
• 410 BCEGreat victory at the naval Battle of Cyzicus
• 407 BCEReturned to Athens
• 404 BCEAssassinated