WHO WAS ALCIBIADES?

Alcibiades  was a blessed and flamboyant Athenian statesman and general whose shifting of sides during the war fare with in 5th century BCE earned him a reputation for cunning and treachery. Good-looking and rich, he was also notorious for his extravagant lifestyle and loose morals. Never short of enemies or admirers - amongst whom was socrates he was one of the most colourful leaders in the history of Classical Athens.

Alcibiades  was pupils of  socrates . On that occasion, however, Socrates shows him clearly just how wanting virtue he's, in response to which Alcibiades weeps and begs his mentor to assist him live a virtuous life.

Early Life

420 BCE Alcibiades was made a general or strategos (at the minimum age of 30) and thus became a member of the strategoi, the influential military council in Athens which could propose items for the agenda of the assembly. Alcibiades wasted no time in his new role and promptly negotiated an alliance between Athens, Argos , Ellis, and Mantineia, which might last 100 years. Alcibiades would go on to hold the position of strategos for 15 consecutive years.

The Peloponnesian War

Certainly, Alcibiades and Socrates have considerable history together. Plato reveals that, in 432 BC, when the remarkably handsome Alcibiades must are have been young (probably around 20 years of age), they fought together at the Battle of Potidaea, and Socrates actually saved his life. Potidaea was founded by Corinth on the Chalcidice peninsula, in the north of the Aegean.

Originally, the Delian League had been founded by Athens as a defensive alliance following the Persian Wars of the earlier fifth century BC. Over time, the League had grown to become what was essentially an Athenian Empire, with its members obliged to pay tribute. When Potidaea revolted in 432 BC, the Athenians sent troops to pacify the unruly city, and both Socrates and Alcibiades had been a part of the expedition

This effectively set the stage for full-scale war across the Aegean, in which the Delian League (led by Athens) would face off against the Peloponnesian League (led by Sparta), of which Corinth was also a member. This large-scale conflict is referred to as the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC).

The first a part of the Warfare is usually mention because the Archidamian War (431-421 BC), named after Archidamus II, one among Sparta’s kings. One of the various battles fought during this war occured at Delium (remote village in Boeotia), where again Socrates and Alcibiades fought side by side. The Archidamian War was a extended and bloody conflict, that ultimately left Athens during a slightly stronger position. In any event, by 421 BC, both sides were weary of the fighting, and a peace was brokered: the Peace of Nicias, named after an important Athenian general.

Death

Eventually the Spartans bored with Alcibiades, and he sought to form a replacement career for himself by courting the Persians, who saw the turmoil on the Greek mainland as a possible opportunity to expand their influence. Brilliance of expression and savoir-faire were combined with total lack of scruples as he looked for simple advantage for himself. Finally Spartan naval victories secured a decisive advantage, and that they took chance to cause the governor of Phrygia, where Alcibiades had been taking shelter, to possess him killed. Thus ended the lifetime of one among the foremost vivid personalities of ancient Athens, who could surely have achieved genuine greatness if he could have married his gifts with some sense of personal integrity.