Editing Alcibiades (section)

==Early years==
<div style="float: right; clear:right; margin: 0 0 1.5em 2em"></div>
[[File:Socrates-Alcibiades.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|[[Jean-Baptiste Regnault]]: ''Socrates dragging Alcibiades from the Embrace of Sensual Pleasure'' (1791) ([[Louvre]])]]

Alcibiades was born in [[Classical Athens|Athens]]. The family of his father, [[Cleinias]],<ref name="Plato103a">Plato, ''Alcibiades 1'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?layout=&doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0176&query=section%3D%2388&loc=Alc.%201.120e 103a].</ref> had old connections with the Spartan aristocracy through a relationship of ''[[Xenia (Greek)|xenia]]'', and the name "Alcibiades" was of Spartan origin.<ref name=":0" /><ref>Herodotus 8.17, Thucydides 8.6.</ref> Alcibiades' mother was [[Deinomache]], the daughter of [[Megacles]], head of the powerful [[Alcmaeonidae|Alcmaeonid]] family, and could trace her family back to [[Eurysaces]] and the [[Ajax the Great|Telamonian Ajax]].<ref name="Plato121">Plato, ''Alcibiades 1'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0176%3Atext%3DAlc.%201%3Apage%3D121 121a].</ref> Alcibiades thereby, through his mother, belonged to the powerful and controversial family of the [[Alcmaeonidae]]; the renowned [[Pericles]] and his brother Ariphron were Deinomache's cousins, as her father and their mother were siblings.<ref name="Cox144">C.A. Cox, ''Household Interests'', 144.</ref> His paternal grandfather, also named Alcibiades, was a friend of [[Cleisthenes]], the famous constitutional reformer of the late sixth century BC.<ref name="the Helios">{{cite encyclopedia|title= Alcibiades|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedic Dictionary The Helios|year=1952}}</ref> After the death of Cleinias at the [[Battle of Coronea (447 BC)]], Pericles and Ariphron became his guardians.<ref name="Denyer88-89">N. Denyer, ''Commentary of Plato's Alcibiades'', 88–89.</ref>

According to [[Plutarch]], Alcibiades had several famous teachers, including [[Socrates]], and was well trained in the art of [[rhetoric]].{{efn|Isocrates asserts that Alcibiades was never a pupil of Socrates.<ref name="Isocrates5">Isocrates, ''Busiris'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0144&layout=&loc=11.5 5].</ref> Thus he does not agree with Plutarch's narration.<ref name="Plut7">{{cite Plutarch|Alcibiades|7}}</ref>  According to Isocrates, the purpose of this tradition was to accuse Socrates. The rhetorician makes Alcibiades wholly the pupil of Pericles.<ref>Y. Lee Too, ''The Rhetoric of Identity in Isocrates'', 216.</ref>}} He was noted, however, for his unruly behavior, which was mentioned by ancient Greek and Latin writers on several occasions.{{efn|According to Plutarch, who is however criticized for using "implausible or unreliable stories" in order to construct Alcibiades's portrait,<ref name="Gribble30">D. Gribble, ''Alcibiades and Athens'', 30.</ref> Alcibiades once wished to see Pericles, but he was told that Pericles could not see him, because he was studying how to render his accounts to the Athenians. "Were it not better for him," said Alcibiades, "to study how not to render his accounts to the Athenians?".<ref name="Plut7" /> Plutarch describes how Alcibiades "gave a box on the ear to Hipponicus, whose birth and wealth made him a person of great influence." This action received much disapproval, since it was "unprovoked by any passion of quarrel between them". To smooth the incident over, Alcibiades went to Hipponicus's house and, after stripping naked, "desired him to scourge and chastise him as he pleased". Hipponicus not only pardoned him but also bestowed upon him the hand of his daughter.<ref name="Plut8"/> Another example of his flamboyant nature occurred during the Olympic games of 416 where "he entered seven teams in the chariot race, more than any private citizen had ever put forward, and three of them came in first, second, and fourth".<ref name="Plut12">{{cite Plutarch|Alcibiades|12}}</ref> According to Andocides, once Alcibiades competed against a man named Taureas as [[Choregos (ancient Greece)|choregos]] of a [[Greek Chorus|chorus]] of boys and "Alcibiades drove off Taureas with his fists. The spectators showed their sympathy with Taureas and their hatred of Alcibiades by applauding the one chorus and refusing to listen to the other at all."<ref name="Andocides20">Andocides, ''Against Alcibiades'', [http://perseus.uchicago.edu/perseus-cgi/citequery3.pl?dbname=GreekFeb2011&getid=1&query=Andoc.%204.20 20] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180403051658/http://perseus.uchicago.edu/perseus-cgi/citequery3.pl?dbname=GreekFeb2011&getid=1&query=Andoc.%204.20 |date=3 April 2018 }}.</ref>}} It was believed that Socrates took Alcibiades as a student because he believed he could change Alcibiades from his vain ways. [[Xenophon]] attempted to clear Socrates's name at trial by relaying information that Alcibiades was always corrupt and that Socrates merely failed in attempting to teach him morality.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://praxeology.net/sqalcibiades.htm|title=Ethics Study Guide: Socrates in the Alcibiades and Symposium|first=Roderick T.|last=long|access-date=11 July 2021|website=praxeology.com}}</ref>

[[File:Battle of Potidaea Socrates saving Alcibiades (detail).jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|[[Battle of Potidaea]] (432 BC): Athenians against Corinthians (detail). Scene of [[Socrates]] saving Alcibiades. 18th-century engraving.]]
Alcibiades took part in the [[Battle of Potidaea]] in 432 BC, where Socrates was said to have saved his life.<ref name="Symposium220e">Plato, ''Symposium'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0174%3Atext%3DSym.%3Asection%3D220e 220e].</ref>  Alcibiades later returned the favour by rescuing Socrates at the [[Battle of Delium]] in 424 BC.{{efn|Plutarch and Plato agree that Alcibiades "served as a soldier in the campaign of Potidaea and had Socrates for his tentmate and comrade in action" and "when Alcibiades fell wounded, it was Socrates who stood over him and defended him".<ref name="Plut7"/><ref name="Symposium221a">Plato, ''Symposium'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0174&query=section%3D%23727&layout=&loc=Sym.%20220e 221a].</ref> Nonetheless, [[Antisthenes]] insists that Socrates saved Alcibiades at the Battle of Delium.<ref name="Sykoutris2">I. Sykoutris, ''Symposium of Plato (Comments)'', 225.</ref>}} Alcibiades had a particularly close relationship with Socrates, whom he admired and respected.<ref name="Sykoutris">I. Sykoutris, ''Introduction to Symposium'', 159–10.</ref><ref name="Symposium215b">Plato, ''Symposium'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0174;layout=;query=section%3D%23697;loc=Sym.%20215b 215a–22b].</ref> Plutarch and [[Plato]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=Alcibiades I, by Plato (see Appendix I)|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1676/1676-h/1676-h.htm|access-date=18 September 2020|website=www.gutenberg.org}}</ref> describe Alcibiades as Socrates's beloved, the former stating that Alcibiades "feared and reverenced Socrates alone, and despised the rest of his lovers".<ref name="Plut6">{{cite Plutarch|Alcibiades|6}}</ref>

[[File:AspasiaAlcibiades.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|[[Jean-Léon Gérôme]]: ''Socrates seeking Alcibiades in the House of Aspasia'' (1861)]]
Alcibiades was married to [[Hipparete]], the daughter of [[Hipponicus]], a wealthy Athenian. His bride brought with her a large dowry, which significantly increased Alcibiades' already substantial family fortune.<ref name=":0">W. Smith, ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology'', 99</ref> According to Plutarch, Hipparete loved her husband but attempted to divorce him because he consorted with [[courtesan]]s, but he prevented her from appearing at court. He seized her in court and carried her home again through the crowded [[Agora]].<ref name = Hale2009>{{cite book|last1=Hale|first1=John R.|title=Lords of the Sea: The Epic Story of the Athenian Navy and the Birth of Democracy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dmb4KI5CwJYC&pg=PA207 |year=2010|publisher=Penguin Books|location=New York|isbn=9780143117681|edition=2nd}}</ref>{{rp|185}} She lived with him until her death, which came soon after, and gave birth to two children, a son named Alcibiades the Younger and a daughter.<ref name="Plut8">{{cite Plutarch|Alcibiades|8}}</ref> Alcibiades was famed throughout his life for his physical attractiveness, of which he was inordinately vain.<ref name=":0" />