Plato: Gorgias, Menexenus, Protagoras

Dramatis personae

Dates of birth and death given below are conjectural, except for Socrates and for the deaths of Alcibiades and Critias.

ALCIBIADES (451–404) Flamboyant Athenian aristocratic politician, brought up in Pericles' household as his ward. An associate of Socrates from an early age: Socrates' erotic interest in him is explored in the Symposium, and alluded to in both the Gorgias and the Protagoras. He was the main advocate and initially commander of the Sicilian expedition (415–413), but was indicted in connection with religious scandals and recalled from his command. After intriguing first with the Spartans and then the Persians, he subsequently led the Athenian fleet to victory over the Spartans at Cyzicus in the Bosphorus (410). After further personal vicissitudes, he was murdered by Persian agents in Phrygia (modern Asiatic Turkey).

CALIAS (450–365) His father Hipponicus was an Athenian aristocrat reputed to be the richest man in Greece and still active in the 420s (he served as general in 426/5). The family were connected to Pericles' family by marriage. Following the precedent of Eupolis's comedy Sycophants (421), Plato here imagines Callias as a mature man who has recently inherited the principal family house (315d) and is lavishing his wealth on sophists (see further Apology 20d). We hear of Callias as a public figure in his later years (general, 391; diplomatic envoy, 371).