The Glorious and Ruinous Life of Alcibiades | Hacker News Reader

The Glorious and Ruinous Life of Alcibiades

lawliberty.org

All I know about Alcibiades comes from Assassin's Creed Odyssey. That should be reliable history, right? The game presents him as a beautiful, oversexed, Machiavelli/Loki character. He practices upon our country bumpkin hero's credulousness relentlessly.

I had one quote from Patton[0] the film:

I think it was Alcibiades in the Peloponnesian War... ...415 B.C. He said, "If Syracuse falls, all Sicily falls, and then Italy." He knew that Syracuse was the jugular of the island. Old Alcibiades always went for the throat.

Good movie.

[0]https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066206/?ref_=nv_sr_5?ref_=nv_s...

From what I've read, that was an fairly accurate (but dramatized) portrayal of him. He had a crazy life.

I read the book reviewed in the link because Alcibiades was such an interesting character in Assassin's Creed :-).

The book is very enjoyable - it's a non-fiction book, but aimed to be readable in the style of a historical fiction novel. The events are all true, but the author takes considerable (and fun) license on the details of the narrative to flesh out the events. Highly recommended, and yes - what an amazing life.

Do note that Assassin's Creed Odyssey plays in 431 BCE that would be before Alcibiades gained any political power when he was about 20 years old.

Given how sexually open the Greeks were, the stories about his sex life probably weren't exaggerated.

It's worth noting that Odyssey takes more creative liberties with historical data than the other AC games since there's less information on Ancient Greece (notably this is explicitly pointed out in-game).

On the other hand it is also worth noting that the game gets a lot of the non-game details surprisingly right. The ancient Greek environment are great - e.g. the architecture, sculptures, decorations, historical locations, etc. They even have a touring mode where you can learn the history of the locations (though I have not tried it yet) Its a great game to wander around in and sightsee. If it gets you to look up the actual history of the fun characters you meet that’s just a bonus.

Perhaps that’s another good thread for HN - games as a repository of history. Or maybe the gamification of history education.

I’ll stop hijacking Alcibiades‘ thread now...

Here's a nice video by OSP on him - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRLkjBUgB2o

The portrayal there was biased towards the portrayal we see in Aristophanes, so it probably caricatures somewhat... but it's not made up out of thin air.

"He lived the life of a sexual libertine, yet also that of an austere Spartan. He was an Athenian aristocrat, scornful of the Athenian people, but also a champion of Athenian democracy. Whether delivering speeches in Athens, commanding an army on land or a navy at sea, riding horses in Thrace, navigating the intrigues of the Persian court, or (evidently) seducing the wife of one of the Spartan kings, he seems to have excelled at all, only to be assassinated in a village in central Phrygia. Speculation as to who wanted him dead confirms his chameleon-like existence, for Athenians, Spartans, and Persians had their reasons. He was both praised for being a heroic general and defender of Athens, and vilified for being a traitor, betraying Athens to both Sparta and Persia. It was a life stranger than fiction."

Anyone interested in a life of such contrasts might enjoy reading of the life of Casanova:

"Casanova excelled in mathematics no less than in philosophy. He was a competent theologian, preaching his first sermon in a Venetian church when he was not yet 16 years old. As a violinist, he earned his daily bread for a whole year in the San Samuele theatre. When he was 18 he became doctor of laws at the University of Padua -- though down to the present day the Casanovists are still disputing whether the degree was genuine or spurious... He was well informed in chemistry, medicine, history, philosophy, literature, and, above all, in the more lucrative (because perplexing) sciences of astrology and alchemy... As universal dilettante, indeed, he was perfect, knowing an incredible amount of all the arts and all the sciences; but he lacked one thing, and this lack made it impossible for him to become truly productive. He lacked will, resolution, patience."

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