Alcibiades

Alcibiades Cleiniou Scambonides wan an Athenian who lived from circa 450-404 B.C. He was an arrogant leader, general, and statesman. He was involved in governmental affairs pretty much wherever he went.

Alcibiades was born circa 450 B.C. in Athens. His parents were Cleinas and Deinomache. Alcibiades' family was Athenian and was very wealthy and noble.

Alcibiades' mother Deinomache was an aristocrat. His father Cleinas died in the Battle of Coronea. After his father's death, Alcibiades' relative, Pericles, became his guardian.

Alcibiades was quite arrogant. He had reason to be. He was smart, handsome, and was from a good family. Along with being arrogant, he was also vain, selfish, and extravagant. His lifestyle was very different from his mentor, Socrates, whom he admired.

He fought at the Battle of Potidaea and at the Battle of Delium. At the Battle of Potidaea, Socrates saved Alcibiades' life. At the Battle of Delium Socrates' life was saved by Alcibiades. So without each other, they both probably would have died, which they eventually did, but at a later date.

At the age of 30, he entered politics. He actually started his own political program. He was a very combative politician. His plans were usually, at least partly, for his own selfish purposes. He was an incredibly self centered.

Alcibiades was a leader in the Peloponnesian War. He convinced the Athenians to join an anti-Spartan alliance. He co-led an Athenian force to assist the Argives against the Spartans, but the Spartans defeated the alliance at Mantinea.

Another one of the expeditions that we was a leader of was the Sicilian campaign. They were going to attack the city of Syracuse in Sicily. He was appointed to share command with Nicias and Lamachus. But before the expedition took off, the hermai were mutilated. Alcibiades was accused of committing this crime. He demanded to have the an investigation before he left on the expedition, but that did not happen. He actually left and reached Sicily before he was summoned back to Athens to stand trial, although there was almost no chance of the crime to have been committed by him. This left Nicias, an almost completely incapable leader, in charge. This led to disaster.

Meanwhile, Alcibiades escaped to Sparta instead of going to Athens for trial. He advised Sparta to assist Syracuse in fighting. Sparta ended up listening to Alcibiades and defeated