Circa 450-404 B.C.E.
Athenian Statesman And General

Controversy. An aristocratic protege of Pericles and devotee of the philosopher Socrates, Alcibiades was the most flamboyant and controversial man of his times. A man of great charm and ability, he was also self-centered and unscrupulous. He came of age just as Athens appeared to have ended the Second Peloponnesian War with Sparta in 421 B.C.E. Appointed a general the next year, he renounced the Peace of Nicias and encouraged an anti-Spartan alliance between Athens, Argos, Elis, and Mantinea. When the Spartans defeated this alliance at the Battle of Mantinea in 418, Alicibiades avoided ostracism by joining with his political rival Nicias to denounce Hyperbolus, leader of the democratic faction.

Champion and Villain. Alcibiades regained popular support after he won a chariot race at Olympia in 416. The next year he persuaded Athenian leaders to authorize an expedition to...