Axiochus of Scambonidae, son of Alcibiades (II) (

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: Ἀξίοχος Ἀλκιβιάδου Σκαμβωνίδης, ''Axíochos Alkibiádou Skambōnídēs''; mid-5th century – late 5th century BCE), was an ancient Athenian political figure and aristocrat of the

Alcmaeonidae The Alcmaeonidae (; , ; Attic: , ) or Alcmaeonids () were a wealthy and powerful noble family of ancient Athens, a branch of the Neleides who claimed descent from the mythological Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narrati ...

family. He was the uncle and cohort of the famous general and statesman

Alcibiades Alcibiades (; 450–404 BC) was an Athenian statesman and general. The last of the Alcmaeonidae, he played a major role in the second half of the Peloponnesian War as a strategic advisor, military commander, and politician, but subsequently ...

(III), whom he accompanied in domestic and foreign affairs.

Debra Nails Debra Nails (born November 15, 1950) is an American philosophy professor who taught at Michigan State University. Nails earned her M.A. in philosophy and classical Greek from Louisiana State University before going on to earn a Ph.D. in philosophy ...

, ''The People of Plato'', Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2002; pp. 63–64 This association led to his recurrence within ancient literature, including works attributed to

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

and

Lysias Lysias (; ; c. 445 – c. 380 BC) was a Logographer (legal), logographer (speech writer) in ancient Greece. He was one of the ten Attic orators included in the "Alexandrian Canon" compiled by Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of Samothrac ...

Life

The son of the famous Alcibiades' grandfather, brother of Cleinias, and perhaps the nephew of

Aspasia Aspasia (; ; after 428 BC) was a ''metic'' woman in Classical Athens. Born in Miletus, she moved to Athens and began a relationship with the statesman Pericles, with whom she had a son named Pericles the Younger. According to the traditional h ...

, Axiochus' lineage placed him within the elite and controversial Athenian family known as the Alcmaeonidae. Both the historical record and Lysias' apocryphal "Funeral Oration" speech imply Axiochus' close association with Alcibiades. Axiochus had a son, Cleinias (III). As reported by Andocides and attested to within the archaeological record, Axiochus was indicted in 415 BCE along with Alcibiades in the profanation of the

Eleusinian Mysteries The Eleusinian Mysteries () were initiations held every year for the Cult (religious practice), cult of Demeter and Persephone based at the Panhellenic Sanctuary of Eleusis in ancient Greece. They are considered the "most famous of the secret rel ...

, a point of major domestic turmoil within the

Peloponnesian War The Second Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), often called simply the Peloponnesian War (), was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek war fought between Classical Athens, Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Ancien ...

that preceded the calamitous

Sicilian Expedition The Sicilian Expedition was an Classical Athens, Athenian military expedition to Sicily, which took place from 415–413 BC during the Peloponnesian War between Classical Athens, Athens on one side and Sparta, Syracuse, Sicily, Syracuse and Co ...

. This led Axiochus to flee Athens, causing him to lose his property and wealth in the process. Like Alcibiades, he seems to have returned to Athens sometime between 411 and 407. He participated in the defense of the generals from the Battle of Arginusae in 406, which marks his final attribution in the historical record.

In literature

Several ancient authors included Axiochus in their work, and his character is represented as scandalous and excessive. In his eponymous dialogue, Aeschines of Sphettus lambastes Axiochus' carousal with Alcibiades; the speech attributed to Lysias (the contents of which are presumed by scholars to be fictional) describes a case of incestuous debauchery with his famous nephew through their co-marriages with both Medontis of Abydus and the daughter that resulted.Lysias, ''Funeral Oration'', 46Steven D. Smith, ''Greek Identity and the Athenian Past in Chariton: The Romance of Empire'', 2007. p. 226 The apocryphal Platonic dialogue that bears his name depicts his loss of self-confidence while grappling with mortality on his deathbed. Plato's '' Euthydemus'' presents prominently Axiochus' son Cleinias as a budding student of

Socrates Socrates (; ; – 399 BC) was a Ancient Greek philosophy, Greek philosopher from Classical Athens, Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and as among the first moral philosophers of the Ethics, ethical tradition ...

, engaging dialectic against the

sophists A sophist () was a teacher in ancient Greece in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE. Sophists specialized in one or more subject areas, such as philosophy, rhetoric, music, athletics and mathematics. They taught ''arete'', "virtue" or "excellen ...

Euthydemus and Dionysodorus.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Axiochus 5th-century BC Athenians Alcmaeonidae Ancient Athenian generals Ancient Greeks accused of sacrilege Athenians of the Peloponnesian War

Life

In literature

See also

References