Alcibiades (fictional character)

The prominent Athenian statesman Alcibiades has been criticized by ancient comic writers and appears in several Socratic dialogues. He enjoys an important afterlife, in literature and art, having acquired symbolic status as the personification of ambition and sexual profligacy. He continues to fascinate the world and appears in several significant works of modern literature.

Ancient Comedy

The prominent Athenian statesman Alcibiades excited in his contemporaries a fear for the safety of the political order.D. Gribble, "Alcibiades and Athens", 41] Thereby, he has not been spared by Ancient Greek comedy and stories attest to an epic confrontation between Alcibiades and Eupolis resembling that between Aristophanes and Cleon.D. Gribble, "Alcibiades and Athens", 32-33]

Aristophanes mentions Alcibiades several times in his satirical plays, for instance making fun of his manner of speech. According to Aristophanes the Athenian people "yearns for him, and hates him too, but wants him back".Aristophanes, "Frogs", [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0032&query=sp%3D%23724 1425] ] Aeschylus in Aristophanes' Frogs illustrates Alcibiades' ambivalent personality saying:Aristophanes, "Frogs", [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0032&query=sp%3D%23724 1432-1433] ]

cquote|You should not rear a lion cub in the city, [best not to rear a lion in the city,]
but if one is brought up, accommodate its ways.

Aeschylus sees Alcibiades as a powerful creation arousing admiration, but also as a "savage figure" unacceptable and dangerous when released in the city.D. Gribble, "Alcibiades and Athens", 1]

ocratic Dialogues

Alcibiades also appears in several Socratic dialogues:
* Plato's "Symposium" where he appears to be in love with Socrates.
* There are two dialogues from antiquity titled "Alcibiades", ascribed to Plato, that feature Socrates in conversation with Alcibiades: "First Alcibiades" (or "Alcibiades I") and "Second Alcibiades" (or "Alcibiades II"). Some scholars, however, consider them spurious.

For Plato, Alcibiades is an extraordinary soul. What is extraordinary for the philosopher, however, is not the deeds that result but the soul itself, especially that passion for what is best for himself, best for himself beyond the conventional offices and honors. For Plato, Alcibiades embodies the culmination of politics, but that culmination that seeks a grand and almost god-like superiority that transcends politics. Plato presents Alcibiades as a youthful student of Socrates who would, in time to come, be the ruin of Athens. [E. Corrigan, "Plato's Dialectic at Play", 169] According to Habinek, his appearance in Plato's Symposium conforms to the pattern of Alcibiades literature: Alcibiades is always just what is wanted.T. Habinek, "Ancient Rhetoric and Oratory", 23-24]

In his trial, Socrates must rebut the attempt to hold him guilty for the crimes of his former students, including Alcibiades, Critias and Charmides. [G.A. Scott, "Plato's Socrates as Educator", 19] Hence, he declares in "Apology": "I have never been anyone's teacher", responding to quite concrete circumstances and recent events (mutilation of the hermai, betrayal of Athens by Alcibiades in the middle of the Peloponnesian War, regime of the Thirty Tyrants).Plato, "Apology", [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0170&layout=&loc=Apol.+33a 33a] ]

Literature

In medieval and Renaissance works such as the Canterbury Tales, Erasmus's adage "The Sileni of Alcibiades", Castiglione's "Book of the Courtier", Rabelais's "Gargantua and Pantagruel", Montaigne's Essays, Shakespeare's "Timon of Athens", and Thomas Otway's tragedy "Alcibiades", Alcibiades is presented as a military commander and student of Socratic teaching. [N. Endres, [http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/alcibiades,3.html Alcibiades] ]

Alcibiades constituted also a source of inspiration for certain modern novelists, especially those writing historical novels. In "On the Knees of the Gods" (1908), Anna Bowman Dodd covers Alcibiades' expedition against Sicily. [J. Nield, "A Guide to the Best Historical Novels and Tales", 4] "The Jealous Gods" (1928) of Gertrude Atherton is another novel about Alcibiades and ancient Athens. In Steven Pressfield's "Tides of War", it was the character of Alcibiades who loomed most large over the narrative, just as he had the greatest impact on the Peloponnesian War. Undefeated during his career as a general and admiral, Alcibiades’ life played itself out like an epic tragedy with the tensions between his genius and the hubris that was his ultimate downfall. In Daniel Chavarria's novel, "The Eye Of Cybele", a novel that fictionally recreates the behind-the-scenes scandals and political intrigues that occupied the Athenian home front at the height of the Peloponessian War, Alcibiades is the central character and he is depicted as one of the Athens' most powerful generals and as a leading competitor for the favor of both Pericles and the masses. Alcibiades also appears in the satirical novel "Picture This" by Joseph Heller.

Other modern works featuring Alcibiades as a main character include:

* Peter Green's "Achilles His Armour" (1955), [T.T.B. Ryder, "Alcibiades", 32]
*Rosemary Sutcliff's "Flowers of Adonis" (1969)
*Joel Richards' Nebula award-nominated short story "The Gods Abandon Alcibiades" ("Asimov's Science Fiction", February 2001) [http://www.asimovs.com/Nebulas03/gods.shtml full text]
*Paul Levinson's time travel novel, "The Plot To Save Socrates" (2006)
*Erik Satie's Socrate, a work for voice and small orchestra (or piano) (The text is composed of excerpts of Victor Cousin's translation of works by Plato, all of the chosen texts referring to Socrates).
*Machado de Assis' short story "Uma Visita de Alcebíades" (1875) is about Alcibiades showing up to a police officer in 19th century Brazil.

External links

* Project Gutenberg:
** 11 comedies by Aristophanes et al.: [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/8688 Part I] and [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/8689 Part II]
** Socratic dialogues, translated by Benjamin Jowett: [http://www.gutenberg.net/etext/1676 Alcibiades I] and [http://www.gutenberg.net/etext/1677 Alcibiades II]
* cite web
title = Alcibiades
work = Endres, Nikolai
url = http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/alcibiades.html
accessdate = September 22
accessyear = 2006
* cite web
title = Alcibiades in the Socratic Tradition and in Plato
work = Michelini, Ann
url = http://www.apaclassics.org/AnnualMeeting/05mtg/abstracts/MICHELINI.html
accessdate = August 5
accessyear = 2006

Notes