Who was Alcibiades

Alcibiades was a great commander of armies and navies in Athens, in ancient Greece, more than 2,000 years ago. He was born in 450 B.C. In the days of Alcibiades each of the big cities of Greece was a separate state or country. These city-states were often at war with one another.

The most powerful city-states were Sparta and Athens. For twenty-seven years (from 431 B.C. to 404 B.C.) they fought the Peloponnesian War for control of Greece. Alcibiades was an Athenian, but he had enemies in Athens, and they accused him of crimes of which he was not guilty. He fled to Sparta and helped Agis II, King of Sparta, to defeat the Athenian fleet. Then a new government came into power in Athens, and Alcibiades went back there. Under his command the Athenian fleet gained several victories. But when one of Alcibiades' lieutenants lost a battle, Alcibiades lost his command. He fled again, to Asia Minor, where the Persians put him to death.