Hipponicus III (; ; 485 BC – 422/1 BC) was an

Athenian Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

military commander. He was the son of Callias II of the deme Alopece and Elpinice of Laciadae (sister of

Cimon Cimon or Kimon (; – 450BC) was an Athenian '' strategos'' (general and admiral) and politician. He was the son of Miltiades, also an Athenian ''strategos''. Cimon rose to prominence for his bravery fighting in the naval Battle of Salamis ...

). He was known as the "richest man in Greece". Shortly after 455 BC, Hipponicus married the former wife of

Pericles Pericles (; ; –429 BC) was a Greek statesman and general during the Golden Age of Athens. He was prominent and influential in Ancient Athenian politics, particularly between the Greco-Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War, and was acclaimed ...

, whose name is unknown. By her, he had two children: Callias III and a daughter, Hipparete who later married

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 ...

. A second son, Hermogenes was probably illegitimate since he received none of his father's estate. Hipponicus' wealth came from, among other things, his owning six hundred slaves working at the silver mines at

Laurion Lavrio, Lavrion or Laurium (; (later ); from Middle Ages until 1908: Εργαστήρια ''Ergastiria'') is a town in southeastern part of Attica Region, Attica, Greece. It is part of Athens metropolitan area and the seat of the municipalit ...

in southern Attica. In 445/4 BC he was secretary of the Athenian Council (''boule'') and was still active as late as 426 BC when he, Nicias and Eurymedon commanded Athenian regiments in an incursion into

Boeotia Boeotia ( ), sometimes Latinisation of names, Latinized as Boiotia or Beotia (; modern Greek, modern: ; ancient Greek, ancient: ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the modern regions of Greece, region of Central Greece (adm ...

n territory where they successfully engaged Tanagran and Theban forces at Tanagra. Hipponicus was reported by Andocides to have been slain at the Battle of Delium in 424 BC, but this appears to have been an error, either on Andocides' part or a later transcriber, for Thucydides reported that the general at Delium was Hippocrates. According to

Athenaeus Athenaeus of Naucratis (, or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; ) was an ancient Greek rhetorician and Grammarian (Greco-Roman), grammarian, flourishing about the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd century ...

, Hipponicus died shortly before Eupolis exhibited his comedy ''Flatterers'' during the archonship of Alcaeus ( 422/1). Aelian, in his Varieties of History, reports this anecdote about Hipponicus:

''Hipponicus'' son of ''Callias'' would erect a Statue as a Gift to his Country. One advised him that the Statue should be made by '' Polycletus''. He answered, "I will not have such a Statue, the glory whereof will redound not to the Giver, but to the Carver. For it is certain that all who see the Art, will admire '' Polycletus'' and not me."

References

Sources

* Aelian. ''Varieties of History.'' http://penelope.uchicago.edu/aelian/index.xhtml * Athenaeus. ''The Deipnosophists''. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a2013.01.0003 http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/collection?collection=Perseus:collection:Greco-Roman *Davies, J. K. ''Athenian Propertied Families''. Oxford: OUP, 1971. * Nails, Debra. ''The People of Plato: A Prosopography of Plato and Other Socratics''. Indianapolis, Hackett Publishing, 2002. * Thucydides. ''History of the Peloponnesian War''. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.01.0200 * Xenophon. ''Ways and Means''. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.01.0210%3atext%3dWays {{DEFAULTSORT:Hipponicus 3 5th-century BC Athenians Ancient Athenian generals 480s BC births 420s BC deaths