The years 415 to 413 B. C.E. were disastrous for Athens. At the center of the catastrophe was a young aristocratic politician, Alcibiades (450-404 B. C.E.), who at one time was a member of Pericles’ household. Alcibiades was one of the survivors of the battle at Delium. At the urging of Alcibi-ades, the Assembly agreed to send a naval force to Syracuse, one of Corinth’s colonies, an ally of Sparta, and a rich and prosperous prize. Although Syracuse was 800 miles away and well-defended, Alcibiades’s arguments were tempting-as were Syracuse’s riches.
The expedition was approved in 415 b. c.e., and Alcibiades was named to lead it. But on the day the ships set sail, dozens of statues of Hermes were mutilated. Hermes was the god with wings on his feet who protects travelers and boundaries, among other duties. The statues had been scattered throughout the city, placed at street intersections as well as on the ships ready to set sail, and all had been damaged. The very religious Greeks would not commit such a sacrilegious act without much anger behind it. It was considered an extremely bad omen.
Alcibiades ordered the expedition to set sail anyway. His enemies accused him of the serious crime of desecrating the statues, and a ship was sent after him to bring him home to stand trial. Alcibiades defected to Sparta. The remaining ships pushed on but suffered total defeat at Syracuse, which, in addition to its own navy, had help from the new Pelopon-nese fleet funded by the Persian Empire. The famous Athenian fleet was destroyed and 40,000 Athenian men were killed or enslaved.
Athens was at its weakest point now since the war began, and the Spartans stationed a number of troops year-round near the city-state’s walls. With Athens’s defenses spread so thin, 20,000 Athenian slaves, many of them working in the Laurium silver mines on the southern tip of Attica, seized a golden opportunity and fled to the Spartans, which deprived Athens of much-needed income. Working for the Spartans now, Alcibiades went to Ionia and stirred up rebellion against Athens among her allies.
World History
