Alcibiades switched sides from Athens to Sparta to Persia and back
Few politicians have changed teams as often as Alcibiades. During the Peloponnesian War the dazzling Athenian general fled to Athens's enemy Sparta, then to Persia, then returned home to lead Athens to a run of victories, before being exiled again. Wherever he went, his talent helped his hosts and his arrogance made enemies.
Born in Athens around 450 BC, Alcibiades belonged through his mother to the powerful Alcmaeonid family, and after his father died in battle in 447 BC he was raised by his mother's cousin Pericles. His father's family had old ties of guest-friendship with Spartan nobles, and the name Alcibiades itself was Spartan. Famously handsome and vain, he studied with Socrates. At Potidaea in 432 BC Socrates reportedly saved his life, and at Delium in 424 BC Alcibiades returned the favour.
He rose by pushing an aggressive policy after the uneasy Peace of Nicias, reportedly stung that Sparta had negotiated it without him because he was young. When Spartan envoys arrived, he privately coaxed them into denying their full powers before the Assembly, then publicly denounced them as untrustworthy, humiliating Nicias and winning a generalship. He built an alliance of Peloponnesian states against Sparta, but it was beaten at Mantinea.
In 415 BC he championed an expedition to conquer Sicily, predicting allies and riches; Nicias, hoping to scare voters off, inflated the force from 60 ships to 140 and instead made them keener. Just before sailing, statues of Hermes across Athens were vandalised, and opponents accused Alcibiades of sacrilege and of mocking sacred rites. He demanded an immediate trial and was refused, so the fleet left with the charges hanging over him.
Rather than face trial he fled to Sparta and advised it against Athens, suggesting moves such as the seizure of Decelea. Making enemies there, he moved to the Persian satrap Tissaphernes, until allies secured his recall to Athens, where his victories pushed Sparta toward peace. Exiled once more, he took refuge in Persian territory and was killed in 404 BC, reportedly at the urging of the Spartan commander Lysander.
Source: Alcibiades
