The story of ancient Greeks in plumed helmets and woolen tunics may seem far removed from our modern age of liars, personality cults, and political panics. But what seems new and frightening has ancient roots, and in the case of Alcibiades, the Athenian general and prototype of modern America, those roots date back to the 5th century B.C.
Alkibiades (pronounced: Al s by u dees) was a handsome, unprincipled, wealthy, arrogant, ambitious, charismatic, intelligent, licentious, brave, treacherous, short-tempered, culturally contradictory figure born in 450 BCE. An unashamed champion of self-centered individualism, Alcibiades lived for self-promotion and public attention, and, like his modern counterparts, he reveled in controversy and acclaim, thriving on both.
A close friend of Socrates and a protégé of Pericles, Alcibiades appears to have realized early on that his beauty set him apart from other women. Indeed, as the Roman historian Plutarch wrote, Alcibiades’ “great natural gifts” made him “lovable and agreeable” throughout his youth and adulthood.
To further promote his own brand and demonstrate his so-called influence, Alcibiades had an image of Eros carved onto his warriors’ shields, armed with bow and thunderbolt rather than arrows, and who reportedly walked “fully…”
