Editing Alcibiades (section)

==Political career until 412 BC==
===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,<ref name="Thucydides 5.43">Thucydides, "The History of the Peloponnesian Wars", 5.43.</ref> that Alcibiades was offended that the Spartans had negotiated that treaty through Nicias and [[Laches (person)|Laches]], overlooking him on account of his youth.<ref name="Gomme339">A.W. Gomme, ''A Historical Commentary on Thucydides'', 339.</ref><ref name="Sealey353">R. Sealey, ''A History of the Greek City States'', 353.</ref>

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 (ancient Athens)|ecclesia]] (the Athenian Assembly) and told them that the Assembly was haughty and had great ambitions.<ref name="Plut14">{{cite Plutarch|Alcibiades|14}}</ref> He urged them to renounce their diplomatic authority to represent Sparta, and instead allow him to assist them through his influence in Athenian politics.<ref>Thucydides, V, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Thuc.+5.45.1 45].</ref> The representatives agreed and, impressed with Alcibiades, they alienated themselves from Nicias, who genuinely wanted to reach an agreement with the Spartans.<ref name="Plut14"/> 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, Peloponnese|Argos]], [[Mantinea]], [[Ancient Elis|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".<ref name="Gomme30">A.W. Gomme, ''A Historical Commentary on Thucydides'', 70.</ref> This alliance, however, would ultimately be defeated at the [[Battle of Mantinea (418 BC)|Battle of Mantinea]].<ref name="Plut15">{{cite Plutarch|Alcibiades|15}}</ref>

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.<ref name="Plut13">{{cite Plutarch|Alcibiades|13}}</ref> This incident reveals that Nicias and Alcibiades each commanded a personal following, whose votes were determined by the wishes of the leaders.<ref name="Sealey353" />

Alcibiades was not one of the generals involved in [[Melian dialogue|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.<ref name="Plut16">{{cite Plutarch|Alcibiades|16}}</ref> An oration urging Alcibiades' 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.<ref name="Andocides22">Andocides, ''Against Alcibiades'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0018&layout=&loc=4.22 22].</ref>

===Sicilian Expedition===
{{Further|Sicilian Expedition}}
[[File:Herma IstArchMu747.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Roman copy of a late fifth-century BC Athenian [[herma]]. Vandalizing hermai was one of the crimes of which Alcibiades was accused.<ref name="Plut19"/>]]

In 415 BC, delegates from the Sicilian city of [[Segesta]] ({{langx|el|Egesta}}) 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.<ref>Thucydides 6.8–23</ref> On the other hand, 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, Sicily|Syracuse]], the most powerful city of [[Sicily]].<ref name="Platias237">Platias-Koliopoulos, ''Thucydides on Strategy'', 237–46.</ref> 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.<ref>Kagan, ''The Peloponnesian War'', 322</ref> It was at his suggestion that the size of the fleet was significantly increased from 60 ships<ref>Thucydides ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0106%3Abook%3D6%3Achapter%3D8 VII 8]</ref> to "140 galleys, 5,100 men at arms, and about 1300 archers, slingers, and light armed men".<ref name="Plut20">{{cite Plutarch|Alcibiades|20}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Strauss104">L. Strauss, ''The City and Man'', 104.</ref>  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.<ref name="Th6.26">Thucydides, [[s:History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 6#6:26|6.26]].</ref>

One night during preparations for the expedition, the [[herma]]i, 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.<ref name="Plut19">{{cite Plutarch|Alcibiades|19}}</ref> This request was denied, and the fleet set sail soon after, with the charges unresolved.<ref name="Th6.29">Thucydides, [[s:History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 6#6:29|6.29]].</ref>

{| class="toccolours" style="float: right; margin-left: 2em; margin-right: 2em; font-size: 85%; background:#c6dbf7; color:black; width:30em; max-width: 40%;" cellspacing="5"
| style="text-align: left;" | "Men do not rest content with parrying the attacks of a superior, but often strike the first blow to prevent the attack being made. And we cannot fix the exact point at which our empire shall stop; we have reached a position in which we must not be content with retaining but must scheme to extend it, for, if we cease to rule others, we are in danger of being ruled ourselves. Nor can you look at inaction from the same point of view as others, unless you are prepared to change your habits and make them like theirs."
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| style="text-align: left;" | ''Alcibiades' Oration before the Sicilian expedition'', as recorded by Thucydides (VI, 18); Thucydides [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Thuc.+1.22&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0105 disclaims verbal accuracy]{{efn|Thucydides records several speeches which he attributes to Pericles; but Thucydides acknowledges that: "it was in all cases difficult to carry them word for word in one's memory, so my habit has been to make the speakers say what was in my opinion demanded of them by the various occasions, of course adhering as closely as possible to the general sense of what they really said."<ref name="ThI22">Thucydides, [[s:History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 1#1:22|1.22]].</ref>}}
|}

As Alcibiades had suspected, his absence emboldened his enemies, and they began to accuse him of other sacrilegious actions and comments and even alleged that these actions were connected with a plot against the democracy.<ref name="Th6.61">Thucydides, [[s:History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 6#6:61|6.61]].</ref> According to [[Thucydides]], the Athenians were always in fear and took everything suspiciously.<ref name="Th6.53">Thucydides, [[s:History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 6#6:53|6.53]].</ref> When the fleet arrived in [[Catania]], it found the state [[trireme]] ''Salaminia'' waiting to bring Alcibiades and the others indicted for mutilating the hermai or profaning the Eleusinian Mysteries back to Athens to stand trial.<ref name="Th6.53" /> Alcibiades told the heralds that he would follow them back to Athens in his ship, but in [[Thurii]] he escaped with his crew; in Athens he was [[trial in absentia|convicted ''in absentia'']] and condemned to death. His property was confiscated and a reward of one [[talent (weight)|talent]] was promised to whoever succeeded in killing any who had fled.<ref>D. Kagan, ''The Peloponnesian War'', 273</ref> Meanwhile, the Athenian force in Sicily, after a few early victories, moved against [[Messina]], where the generals expected their secret allies within the city to betray it to them. Alcibiades, however, foreseeing that he would be outlawed, gave information to the friends of the Syracusans in Messina, who succeeded in preventing the admission of the Athenians.<ref name="Th6.74">Thucydides, [[s:History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 6#6:74|6.74]]</ref> With the death of Lamachus in battle some time later, command of the Sicilian Expedition fell into the hands of Nicias, admired by Thucydides (however a modern scholar has judged him to be an inadequate military leader<ref name="Vlachos59" />).

===Defection to Sparta===
After his disappearance at Thurii, Alcibiades quickly contacted the Spartans, "promising to render them aid and service greater than all the harm he had previously done them as an enemy" if they would offer him sanctuary.<ref name="Plut23">{{cite Plutarch|Alcibiades|23}}</ref> The Spartans granted this request and received him among them. Because of this defection, the Athenians condemned him to death ''in absentia'' and confiscated his property.<ref>{{Cite book|title=A history of Greece to the death of Alexander the Great|last1=Bury|first1=J. B. |last2=Meiggs |first2=Russell|publisher=Macmillan|year=1956|edition=3|location=London|pages=469}}</ref><ref>W. Smith, ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology'', 100</ref> In the debate at Sparta over whether to send a force to relieve Syracuse, Alcibiades spoke and instilled fear of Athenian ambition into the Spartan [[ephor]]s by informing them that the Athenians hoped to conquer Sicily, Italy, and even [[Carthage]].<ref name="Th6.89">Thucydides, [[s:History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 6#6:89|6.89–90]].</ref> [[Yale University|Yale]] historian [[Donald Kagan]] believes that Alcibiades knowingly exaggerated the plans of the Athenians to convince the Spartans of the benefit they stood to gain from his help. Kagan asserts that Alcibiades had not yet acquired his "legendary" reputation, and the Spartans saw him as "a defeated and hunted man" whose policies "produced strategic failures" and brought "no decisive result". If accurate, this assessment underscores one of Alcibiades's greatest talents, his highly persuasive oratory.<ref name = "Kagan282-283">D. Kagan, ''The Peloponnesian War'', 282–83.</ref> After making the threat seem imminent, Alcibiades advised the Spartans to send troops and most importantly, a Spartan commander to discipline and aid the Syracusans.<ref name="Th6.89" />

{| class="toccolours" style="float: right; margin-left: 2em; margin-right: 2em; font-size: 85%; background:#c6dbf7; color:black; width:30em; max-width: 40%;" cellspacing="5"
| style="text-align: left;" | "Our party was that of the whole people, our creed being to do our part in preserving the form of government under which the city enjoyed the utmost greatness and freedom, and which we had found existing. As for [[Athenian democracy|democracy]], the men of sense among us knew what it was, and I perhaps as well as any, as I have the more cause to complain of it; but there is nothing new to be said of a patent absurdity—meanwhile we did not think it safe to alter it under the pressure of your hostility."
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| style="text-align: left;" | ''Alcibiades' Speech to the Spartans'', as recorded by Thucydides (VI, 89); Thucydides [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Thuc.+1.22&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0105 disclaims verbal accuracy]
|}

Alcibiades served as a military adviser to Sparta and helped the Spartans secure several crucial successes. He advised them to build a permanent fort at [[Decelea]], just over {{convert|10|mi|km|spell=in}} from Athens and within sight of the city.<ref name="Th7.18">Thucydides, [[s:History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 7#7:18|7.18]].</ref> By doing this, the Spartans cut the Athenians off entirely from their homes and crops and the silver mines of [[Sunium]].<ref name="Kagan282-283" /> This was part of Alcibiades's plan to renew the war with Athens in [[Attica]]. The move was devastating to Athens and forced the citizens to live within the [[Long Walls|long walls]] of the city year round, making them entirely dependent on their seaborne trade for food. Seeing Athens thus beleaguered on a second front, members of the [[Delian League]] began to contemplate revolt. In the wake of Athens's disastrous defeat in Sicily, Alcibiades sailed to [[Ionia]] with a Spartan fleet and succeeded in persuading several critical cities to revolt.<ref name="Plut24">{{cite Plutarch|Alcibiades|24}}</ref><ref name = "Th8.26">Thucydides, [[s:History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 8#8:26|8.26]].</ref>

In spite of these valuable contributions to the Spartan cause, around this time Alcibiades fell out of favor with the government of king [[Agis II]].<ref name="Britannica">{{cite encyclopedia|title= Alcibiades|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|year=2002}}</ref> [[Leotychides, son of Agis|Leotychides]], the son born by Agis's wife [[Timaea, Queen of Sparta]] (or Queen Timonassa), shortly after this, was believed by many to be Alcibiades's son.<ref name="Lysander22">{{cite Plutarch|Lysander|22}}</ref><ref name = "AgesilausIII">{{cite Plutarch|Agesilaus|3}}</ref> An alternate account asserts that Alcibiades took advantage of King Agis' absence with the Spartan army in [[Attica]] and seduced his wife.<ref name = Hale2009/>{{rp|207}}

Alcibiades's influence was further reduced after the retirement of [[Endius]], the [[ephor]] who was on good terms with him.<ref name="Rhodes144">P.J. Rhodes, ''A History of the Classical Greek World'', 144.</ref> It is alleged that [[Astyochus]], a Spartan admiral, was sent orders to kill him, but Alcibiades received warning of this order and defected to the Persian [[satrap]] [[Tissaphernes]], who had been supporting the Peloponnesian forces financially in 412 BC.<ref name="Th8.45">Thucydides, [[s:History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 8#8:45|8.45]]</ref>

===Defection to Achaemenid Empire in Asia Minor===
[[File:MYSIA, Astyra. Tissaphernes. Circa 400-395 BC.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Coinage of Achaemenid Satrap [[Tissaphernes]], who received Alcibiades as an advisor. Astyra, [[Mysia]]. Circa 400–395 BC]]

On his arrival in the local Persian court, Alcibiades won the trust of the powerful [[satrap]] and made several policy suggestions which were well received. According to [[Thucydides]], Alcibiades immediately began to do all he could with Tissaphernes to injure the Peloponnesian cause. At his urging, the satrap reduced the payments he was making to the Peloponnesian fleet and began delivering them irregularly.<ref name="Th8.45" /> Alcibiades next advised Tissaphernes to bribe the generals of the cities to gain valuable intelligence on their activities. Lastly, and most importantly, he told the satrap to be in no hurry to bring the Persian fleet into the conflict, as the longer the war dragged out the more exhausted the combatants would become. This would allow the Persians to more easily conquer the region in the aftermath of the fighting. Alcibiades tried to convince the satrap that it was in Persia's interest to wear both Athens and Sparta out at first, "and after docking the Athenian power as much as he could, forthwith to rid the country of the Peloponnesians".<ref name="Th8.46">Thucydides, [[s:History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 8#8:46|8.46]]</ref>

Although Alcibiades's advice benefited the Persians, it was merely a means to an end; Thucydides tells us that his real motive was to use his alleged influence with the Persians to effect his restoration to Athens.<ref name="Th8.47">Thucydides, [[s:History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 8#8:47|8.47]]</ref> Alcibiades was one of several Greek aristocrats who took refuge in the [[Achaemenid Empire]] following reversals at home, other famous ones being [[Themistocles]], [[Demaratos]] or [[Gongylos]].<ref name="MM">{{cite book |last1=Miller |first1=Margaret C. |title=Athens and Persia in the Fifth Century BC: A Study in Cultural Receptivity |date=2004 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521607582 |page=98 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oGXMMD5rXBQC&pg=PA98 |language=en}}</ref> According to [[Thucydides]] (Thuc.8.47), Alcibiades also advised the Achaemenid king ([[Darius II]]), and therefore he may have traveled to [[Susa]] or [[Babylonia]] to encounter him.<ref name="MM"/><ref name="Th8.47"/>