Editing Alcibiades (section)

===Defection to Sparta===
After his disappearance at Thurii, Alcibiades quickly contacted the Spartans, "promising to render them aid and service greater than all the harm he had previously done them as an enemy" if they would offer him sanctuary.<ref name="Plut23">{{cite Plutarch|Alcibiades|23}}</ref> The Spartans granted this request and received him among them. Because of this defection, the Athenians condemned him to death ''in absentia'' and confiscated his property.<ref>{{Cite book|title=A history of Greece to the death of Alexander the Great|last1=Bury|first1=J. B. |last2=Meiggs |first2=Russell|publisher=Macmillan|year=1956|edition=3|location=London|pages=469}}</ref><ref>W. Smith, ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology'', 100</ref> In the debate at Sparta over whether to send a force to relieve Syracuse, Alcibiades spoke and instilled fear of Athenian ambition into the Spartan [[ephor]]s by informing them that the Athenians hoped to conquer Sicily, Italy, and even [[Carthage]].<ref name="Th6.89">Thucydides, [[s:History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 6#6:89|6.89–90]].</ref> [[Yale University|Yale]] historian [[Donald Kagan]] believes that Alcibiades knowingly exaggerated the plans of the Athenians to convince the Spartans of the benefit they stood to gain from his help. Kagan asserts that Alcibiades had not yet acquired his "legendary" reputation, and the Spartans saw him as "a defeated and hunted man" whose policies "produced strategic failures" and brought "no decisive result". If accurate, this assessment underscores one of Alcibiades's greatest talents, his highly persuasive oratory.<ref name = "Kagan282-283">D. Kagan, ''The Peloponnesian War'', 282–83.</ref> After making the threat seem imminent, Alcibiades advised the Spartans to send troops and most importantly, a Spartan commander to discipline and aid the Syracusans.<ref name="Th6.89" />

{| class="toccolours" style="float: right; margin-left: 2em; margin-right: 2em; font-size: 85%; background:#c6dbf7; color:black; width:30em; max-width: 40%;" cellspacing="5"
| style="text-align: left;" | "Our party was that of the whole people, our creed being to do our part in preserving the form of government under which the city enjoyed the utmost greatness and freedom, and which we had found existing. As for [[Athenian democracy|democracy]], the men of sense among us knew what it was, and I perhaps as well as any, as I have the more cause to complain of it; but there is nothing new to be said of a patent absurdity—meanwhile we did not think it safe to alter it under the pressure of your hostility."
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| style="text-align: left;" | ''Alcibiades' Speech to the Spartans'', as recorded by Thucydides (VI, 89); Thucydides [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Thuc.+1.22&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0105 disclaims verbal accuracy]
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Alcibiades served as a military adviser to Sparta and helped the Spartans secure several crucial successes. He advised them to build a permanent fort at [[Decelea]], just over {{convert|10|mi|km|spell=in}} from Athens and within sight of the city.<ref name="Th7.18">Thucydides, [[s:History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 7#7:18|7.18]].</ref> By doing this, the Spartans cut the Athenians off entirely from their homes and crops and the silver mines of [[Sunium]].<ref name="Kagan282-283" /> This was part of Alcibiades's plan to renew the war with Athens in [[Attica]]. The move was devastating to Athens and forced the citizens to live within the [[Long Walls|long walls]] of the city year round, making them entirely dependent on their seaborne trade for food. Seeing Athens thus beleaguered on a second front, members of the [[Delian League]] began to contemplate revolt. In the wake of Athens's disastrous defeat in Sicily, Alcibiades sailed to [[Ionia]] with a Spartan fleet and succeeded in persuading several critical cities to revolt.<ref name="Plut24">{{cite Plutarch|Alcibiades|24}}</ref><ref name = "Th8.26">Thucydides, [[s:History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 8#8:26|8.26]].</ref>

In spite of these valuable contributions to the Spartan cause, around this time Alcibiades fell out of favor with the government of king [[Agis II]].<ref name="Britannica">{{cite encyclopedia|title= Alcibiades|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|year=2002}}</ref> [[Leotychides, son of Agis|Leotychides]], the son born by Agis's wife [[Timaea, Queen of Sparta]] (or Queen Timonassa), shortly after this, was believed by many to be Alcibiades's son.<ref name="Lysander22">{{cite Plutarch|Lysander|22}}</ref><ref name = "AgesilausIII">{{cite Plutarch|Agesilaus|3}}</ref> An alternate account asserts that Alcibiades took advantage of King Agis' absence with the Spartan army in [[Attica]] and seduced his wife.<ref name = Hale2009/>{{rp|207}}

Alcibiades's influence was further reduced after the retirement of [[Endius]], the [[ephor]] who was on good terms with him.<ref name="Rhodes144">P.J. Rhodes, ''A History of the Classical Greek World'', 144.</ref> It is alleged that [[Astyochus]], a Spartan admiral, was sent orders to kill him, but Alcibiades received warning of this order and defected to the Persian [[satrap]] [[Tissaphernes]], who had been supporting the Peloponnesian forces financially in 412 BC.<ref name="Th8.45">Thucydides, [[s:History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 8#8:45|8.45]]</ref>