A L K I B I a D E S by MICHAEL BURKE WALBANK B.A . J University
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ALKIBIADES by MICHAEL BURKE WALBANK B.A.j University of Bristol,, 1954 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of CLASSICS We accept this thesis as conforming to the-required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA April 1965. In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that per• mission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by his representatives. It is understood that;copying or publi• cation of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission.-. Department of Classics The University of British Columbia, Vancouver 8, Canada Date April 30th,1965. ABSTRACT Principal events in the life of Alkibiades son of Kleinias, of the deme Skarabonidai 451/0 B.C. Winter Birth of Alkibiades.. 446 Spring Death of his father, Kleinias, at Koroneia. 433/2 Comes of age. 432/1 Takes part in campaign at Poteidaia. 424 Marriage. Olympic victory. Takes part in campaign at Delion.. 420 Spring First election to strategi'a» Summer Promotes Quadruple Alliance. 419 Summer Strategos in northern Peloponnese. Strategos, but sent to Mantineia as Presbeutes. 418 Summer Allies defeated at Mantineia. Argos joins Spartan bloc. Alkibiades not elected to strategia. Helps democrats in 417 Spring Argos. Birth of the younger Alkibiades ii 416 Spring Elected to fourth strategia. Ostracism of Hyperbolos. New Argive alliance signed . Summer Olympic victory of Alkibiades. Winter Fall of Melos. Sicilian Expedition proposed. 415 Spring Debate over Sicilian Expedition, Summer Alkibiades, Nikias and Lamachos appointed as joint commanders of Expedition . June Mutilation of the Hermai; Alkibiades accused. Mid-summer Fleet sails to Sicily., Late summerAlkibiades recalled to stand trial. Flees to Thourioi and thence to Argos. Autumn Forced to leave Argos; goes to Sparta. Winter Debate in Sparta. Alkibiades acts as adviser to the Spartans. Zi-14 Spring Spartans take his advice and send Gylippos to Sparta. iii 413 Spring Spartans under Agis invade Attica and fortify Dekeleia. Summer Destruction of Athenian Expedition to Sicily. 412 Spring Alkibiades sent to Ionia with Spartan force to promote revolt of the Athenian allies and Spartan alliance with Persia. Winter Flees to- court of Tissaphernes and becomes adviser to the Persians. 411 , Spring Plots with Athenian oligarchs for his recall, but breaks with them and plots with the democrats instead. Summer The Fair Hundred establish them• selves at Athens. Democratic coup in Samos. Alkibiades recalled by democrats in Samos. The Five Thousand succeed the Four Hundred at Athens and vote recall of Alkibiades. Autumn Defeat of Peloponnesian: fleet near Kyzikos.. 411 Winter Alkibiades temporarily imprisoned by Tissaphernes. Escapes and takes part in second Athenian victory at Kyzikos. 410 Siammer Restoration of democracy at Athens and reunion of the two governments.. Alkibiades occupied in fund-raising. 409 Winter Peloponnesians defeated at Abydo s. 408 Agreement with Pharnabazos. Capture of Chalkedon and Byzantion. 407 Spring Alkibiades elected strat-egos at Athens. Returns to city with the fleet. Summer Appointed commander-in-chief. Autumn Procession of the Mysteries to Eleusis. Alkibiades leaves Athens. Winter Failure of expedition to Andros. V 406 Spring Alkibiades' subordinate Antiochos defeated and killed at battle of Notion. Alkibiades goes into exile in Thrace. Summer Athenian victory at Arginousai. Trial of the generals. Alkibiades in Thrace. 405 Summer Athenians utterly defeated at Aigospotamoi. Autumn Collapse of Athenian empire. Winter Siege of Athens. 4O4 Spring Fall of Athens and establishment of the Thirty Tyrants. Alkibiades flees to court of Pharnabazos. Summer Flight of Alkibiades to Phrygia. Autumn (?) Murdered at Melissa by Pharnabazos' agents at request of Spartans.. vi INTRODUCTION AUTHORITIES 1. Primary. Thucydides is my major historical source; often he is the only source available, but I have supplemented him wherever possible by reference to epigraphy and to his literary contemporaries and near-contemporaries. Of the latter, I have placed most reliance upon the speeches of Andokides, Lysias and Isokrates/ although each should be treated as a partisan of one side or the other. The same caution applies to the comic playwrights, with the proviso that the identification of historical personages in their work is highly speculative; the tragedians I have hardly touched upon. The dialogues of Plato, Xenophon and Aischines I view as works of literary rather than historical value; historical data should never be accepted from them without confirmation or extreme scepticism. It should further be borne in mind that it was their Intention to play down the influence of Sokrates upon Alkibiades. Hardly any reliance at all should be placed upon the works falsely attributed to Plato and Andokides, whose date and authorship are alike uncertain. Where the narrative of Thucydides breaks off I have subjected Xenophon's Hellenika to similar treatment, but he is a far less reliable historian than Thucydides. In addition, there are the fragmentary remains of the other Greek historians as they appear in Plutarch and other secondary sources; where they are identifiable I have so stated, but it should be recalled that most of these are themselves of comparatively late date. ^* Secondary. These are mainly of value where they supplement the primary sources. Plutarch, of course, is full of personal anecdote found nowhere else, often of great value because of the light he sheds upon the narrative of the primary sources. He is, however, only as reliable as his sources, and these, regrettably, are often late and romantically-Inclined. DIodoros seems careless and inaccurate, but the access his sources evidently had to Spartan and Sicilian records is of some value as a check upon the work, of Thucydides and Xenophon; his major source appears to have been Ephoros, but we cannot be sure how accurately Diodoros has abstracted his work, in the same category as Diodoros I place the commentaries of the scholiasts; like the curate's egg they are good in parts. They are generally our only means of identifying historical events and personages in the plays of the comic dramatists and are the source of many fragments of otherwise unknown works, hut some were less sceptical than they should have been. Little reliance can be placed upon Athenaios and Nepos as independent sources. 3. Modern. The most recent, accurate and compendious study of the life and times of Alkibiades is that of Hatzfeld; I have nothing but praise for his work, which supersedes all earlier studies. If he has a fault it is that he sometimes permits the historical background to obscure the character and activities of Alkibiades, and it is this imbalance that the present study is intended to correct. I have consulted the work of many' other modern scholars, but have only quoted their articles and books when they have examined some problem not dealt with by Hatzfeld, or have differed significiantly from him. A full bibliography, both ancient and modern, is appended, listing all works that I have consulted. SPELLING I have adopted the Greek spelling of names rather than the Latin with a few exceptions; these are names whose Latin form is used almost universally. They are: Aegean, Attica, Cyprus, Macedonian, Phoenician, Rhodes, Sicily, Socratic, Syracuse, Thrace and Thucydides (to distinguish the historian from the son of Melesias I have used' Greek spelling for the latter). TRANSLATIONS All translations are my own, with the exception of translations of the fragments of Attic Comedy, which are those of J.M.Edmonds. TABLE OP CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE THE EARLY YEARS. 1. CHAPTER TWO THE INFLUENCE OF SOKRATES. 24. CHAPTER THREE YOUNG MANHOOD. 45. CHAPTER FOUR MANTINEIA TO SICILY. 90. CHAPTER.FIVE THE SICILIAN EXPEDITION AND THE DISGRACE OF ALKIBIADES. 124. CHAPTER SIX THE FIRST EXILE. 155. CHAPTER SEVEN THE RETURN. 193. CHAPTER EIGHT THE LAST YEARS. 245. BIBLIOGRAPHY 295. INDEX 318. 1. CHAPTER ONE THE EARLY YEARS Alkibiades son of Kleinias claimed descent on his father's side from Eurysakes son of Aias and thus belonged to the family of Eupatridaij1 through his mother, Deinomache daughter of Megakles, he could claim 2 the Alkmeonidai as collaterals but was not technically 1. Thucydides, V,43,2; Isokrates, 16,25; fcPlatoj, Alkibiades, 1,121A; Plutarch, Alkibiades, 1,1. Wade-Gery (Class.Quart., xXVfl931J, PP-1> 4-5) has shown that Eupatrid meant both a family and a "nobility of birth", and Hammond (j.H.S., LXXXI \196l], pp. 77-78) has demonstrated that it had a third, specialised meaning: the "priestly families who provided officials not only for phratries and tribes but also for^state ritual." The most exclusive sense seems to apply here, that of a single genos. Wade- Gery (op.cit., pp. 82-86) points out that Alkibiades belonged to the oiKi'n of the Alkmeonidai within the genos Salaminioi; the term genos covering a "religious corporation" in which "kinship was, in historic times, fictional". 2. Isokrates, l6,25; (-Plato], Alkibiades, 1, 105D, 123C; Plutarch, Alkibiades, 1,1. 2. a member of that family since descent in a genos was valid only in the male line. His father, Kleinias., son of Alkibiades, the 3 proposer of an important financial decree in 447 B.C., was killed at the battle of Koroneia in the spring of 446 B.C. Herodotos tells of a Kleinias son of Alkibiades who won the award for valour as commander of a trireme at the battle of Artemision in 480 B.C., and Plutarch thinks .that this man and the father of 6 Alkibiades were one and the same. His paternal grandfather, Alkibiades II, is 7 alleged to have suffered ostracism twice; some doubt 3.