The Herodotus Encyclopedia. Группа авторов

The Herodotus Encyclopedia

ALSO: Dialects, Greek

ALCENOR AND CHROMIUS (Ἀλκήνωρ, Χρομίος)

NATASHA BERSHADSKY

Center for Hellenic Studies

The two Argive survivors of the Battle of Champions (1.82), in which 300 Argives fought 300 Spartans for the plain of THYREAE. After only one Spartan, OTHRYADES, remained alive, Alcenor and Chromius considered themselves victorious and departed to ARGOS, while Othryades stripped the slain Argives of their armor and stayed in the Spartan camp. Both the Spartans and the Argives maintained that they were victorious, and the dispute led to a larger battle, as the result of which SPARTA seized Thyreae. Other ancient sources do not feature the second battle (Chrysermus of Corinth BNJ 287 F2a, with “Agenor” for Alcenor; Theseus BNJ 453 F2). A different version existed in Argos, where the Roman‐era author Pausanias saw a statue of the Argive Perilaus, son of Alcenor, killing the Spartan Othryades (Paus. 2.20.7).

ALCETAS (Ἀλκέτης, ὁ)

CHRISTOPHER BARON

University of Notre Dame

Alcetas appears as the father of Amyntas (the first historically attested Macedonian king) in the list of Macedonian rulers given by Herodotus (8.139), descendants of PERDICCAS, the legendary founder of the kingship. The list presents the “pedigree” of ALEXANDER SON OF AMYNTAS; Herodotus tends to introduce such lists at key moments in the narrative (Bowie 2007, 219). Here, Alexander is about to address the Athenians as an envoy of the Persian general MARDONIUS in the winter of 480/79 BCE. The name Alcetas is well‐attested in MACEDONIA beginning in the fourth century (LGPN IV, 18 s.v. Ἀλκέτας).

SEE ALSO: Aëropus; Amyntas son of Alcetas; Genealogies

REFERENCE

1 Bowie, A. M., ed. 2007. Herodotus: Histories Book VIII. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

ALCIBIADES (Ἀλκιβιάδης, ὁ)

CHRISTOPHER BARON

University of Notre Dame

Patronymic, father of the Athenian CLEINIAS who stood out for his performance at the Battle of ARTEMISIUM in 480 BCE (8.17). This Alcibiades (I), of the Attic DEME Scambonidae, is the first securely attested member of this important Athenian FAMILY. The fourth‐century orator Isocrates (16.25) claims that he assisted CLEISTHENES SON OF MEGACLES in expelling the PEISISTRATIDAE (and thus ushering in the DEMOCRACY at ATHENS).

ALCIMACHUS (Ἀλκίμαχος, ὁ)

CHRISTOPHER BARON

University of Notre Dame

Patronymic, father of EUPHORBUS (of ERETRIA). Herodotus names Euphorbus and PHILAGRUS as the two Eretrians who betrayed the city to the Persians after a six‐day SIEGE in 490 BCE (6.101.2). Alcimachus was a common name in the AEGEAN region (LGPN I, 29 s.v. Ἀλκίμαχος), but nothing more is known of this man.

ALCMAEON (Ἀλκμέων, ὁ)

BRIAN M. LAVELLE

Loyola University Chicago

Alcmaeon, son of MEGACLES (I), lived around 600 BCE and was eponymous for the Athenian clan of the ALCMAEONIDAE. Herodotus (6.125) tells how Alcmaeon assisted Lydian envoys at DELPHI while in EXILE from ATHENS for his clan’s part in the Cylonian affair. CROESUS king of LYDIA rewarded him at SARDIS with as much GOLD dust as he could carry from the treasury. Alcmaeon filled his clothes, boots, HAIR, and mouth; when Croesus amusedly observed him staggering from the treasury, he allowed him to take again as much. The story is folktale—Croesus ruled in the mid‐sixth century—but accounts for the wealth that permitted Alcmaeon to field a victorious CHARIOT‐team at OLYMPIA in 592 and that likely purchased his return to Athens. If Alcmaeon served as Athenian general during the First Sacred War (Plut. Sol. 11.2), reinstatement likely occurred before 590; the prestige of his Olympic victory may have helped to pave his way back to Athens. Alcmaeon’s son MEGACLES (II) was an important political figure in mid‐sixth‐century Athens (1.59.3).

SEE ALSO: Athletes and Athletic Games; Chronology; Cylon; Laughter; Wealth and Poverty

ALCMAEONIDAE (Ἀλκμεωνίδαι, οἱ)

BRIAN M. LAVELLE

Loyola University Chicago

Athenian clan descended from ALCMAEON, many of whose members were prominent Athenian politicians from the seventh to fifth centuries BCE. The Alcmaeonidae were perpetually accursed and banished from ATHENS for slaughtering the followers of CYLON (c. 636) after his abortive coup failed (5.70.2–71; cf. Thuc. 1.126.2–127.1). Yet they managed to return: MEGACLES (II), son of Alcmaeon, wielded king‐making political power at Athens from c. 570 until PEISISTRATUS’ final establishment of his tyranny in 546 (Hdt. 1.59–61). Herodotus claims that the Alcmaeonidae were inveterate enemies to tyranny and were exiled after Peisistratus’ victory at PALLENE (1.64.3; 6.123.1), but CLEISTHENES SON OF MEGACLES was archon for 525/4 during the tyranny. Cleisthenes’ brother HIPPOCRATES (3) bore the name of Peisistratus’ father (6.131.2), and Alcibiades the Younger proudly proclaimed his Peisistratid affinity in the fourth century BCE (Isoc. 16.25). Expelled again after the MURDER of HIPPARCHUS, then defeated at LEIPSYDRIUM attempting to return, the Alcmaeonidae subsequently enlisted Spartan aid with BRIBERY and help from DELPHI (Hdt. 5.62.2–63.1, 90.1). With Spartan help, they ousted the PEISISTRATIDAE from Athens in 511/10. Cleisthenes subsequently “took the demos into partnership” in 508/7, trumping his opponent ISAGORAS (5.66, 69–70.2; cf. [Arist.] Ath. pol. 19.3–22.2). His invention of DEMOCRACY notwithstanding, Cleisthenes drops suddenly from sight: the implication that the Alcmaeonidae invited PERSIA into Athens’ affairs—very unwelcome to the Athenians—is enhanced by treason charges leveled at them at or after MARATHON. Alcmaeonids were ostracized in the early 480s, but the clan recovered such that PERICLES became Athens’ undisputed leader by the mid‐fifth century. Herodotus vigorously defends the Alcmaeonidae from treason charges, notably the accusation of “shield‐signaling” to

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The Herodotus Encyclopedia. Группа авторов