Critias of Athens

Statesman, military leader, and writer

Born: c. 460 b. c.e.; Athens, Greece

Died: 403 b. c.e.; Athens, Greece

Category: Military; government and politics; literature

Life Critias (KRIHSH-ee-uhs) of Athens was from an aristocratic family that traced itself to Solon. The uncle of Plato, he associated with Socrates as well as the Sophists and wrote a variety of works in prose and poetry, including a treatise in praise of the Spartan constitution.

In 415 b. c.e., he was implicated in the mutilation of the herms (statues of Hermes) but was released because of information provided by Ando-cides. His involvement in the Four Hundred remains uncertain. While in exile for proposing a motion to recall Alcibiades of Athens, he lived in Thessaly and allegedly participated in a democratic revolution.

In 404 b. c.e., Critias returned to Athens and became the leader of the Thirty Tyrants, the pro-Spartan oligarchy. He was responsible for their reign of terror, during which fifteen hundred people were killed. According to Xenophon, he had his colleague Theramenes executed for attempting to broaden the oligarchy. In 403 b. c.e., Critias fell in battle against the democratic exiles. After his death, a monument is said to have been erected in his honor, showing a personified Oligarchy setting a torch to Democracy.

Influence Critias appears in Plato’s dialogues, one of which is named after him. He was known throughout antiquity primarily for his brutality and ruthlessness.

Further Reading

Curd, Patricia, and Richard D. McKirahan. A Presocratic Reader. Indianapolis, Ind.: Hackett, 1996.

Guthrie, W. K. C. A History of Greek Philosophy. 6 vols. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1978-1990.

Krentz, Peter. The Thirty at Athens. Ithaca, NY.: Cornell University Press,

1982.

Wolpert, Andrew. Remembering Defeat: Civil War and Civic Memory in Ancient Athens. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002.

Andrew Wolpert

See also: Alcibiades of Athens; Andocides; Four Hundred, The; Plato; Socrates; Solon; Sophists; Spartan Constitution; Thirty Tyrants; Xenophon.