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The Life of Alcibiades: The Idol of Athens
Alcibiades (ca. 450 BC-ca. 404 BC), was the charismatic and controversial bisexual Athenian general and politician who promoted the Peloponnesian war against rival Sparta, who subsequently inspired Athens's failed Sicilian Expedition, and who later allied himself with two of Athens's biggest enemies: Sparta and Persia. His actions gravely affected the future of Athens and his motives and reasons for acting as he did are indeed the stuff of fascinating biography.
Alcibiades's extraordinary beauty, great wealth, ostentatious vanity, male and female amours, debaucheries, and impious revels earned him notoriety not only in Athens but throughout the Hellenic world. In subsequent ages his name was used as a near byword for all kinds of excess. But, as Benson argues, reappraising Alcibiades's reputation, great as were his vices, his virtues were even greater ...
Although The Life of Alcibiades was originally published in 1928, and there have been other newer detailed works published on Alcibiades since then, no other work captures the passion and the excitement of the brilliant but erratic career of Alcibiades as Benson's biography does. As the reader will discover, Benson evidently has much sympathy for his subject and this brings the entire biography to life. He combines detailed research, especially his use of primary materials from Thucydides and Plutarch, with writing flare, not an easy accomplishment.
Front cover photograph: "Alcibiades", Ideal Male Portrait. Marble. Roman copy after a Greek original of the 4th century BC. Palazzo dei Conservatori, Hall of the Triumphs. Back cover photograph: E. F. Benson, aged 26.
Edward Frederic Benson (1867-1940) was a prolific and much loved English novelist, biographer and short story writer. He was educated at Marlborough College, King's College, Cambridge (where he obtained a first in classics) and the British School of Archaeology in Athens. Benson is most famous for a series of comic novels he published during the 1920's and 1930's--"Mapp and Lucia". Benson was awarded an MBE and was made an Honorary Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford.
Dr. Craig Paterson is a philosopher and author. He now lives in Los Angeles, California.
Alcibiades's extraordinary beauty, great wealth, ostentatious vanity, male and female amours, debaucheries, and impious revels earned him notoriety not only in Athens but throughout the Hellenic world. In subsequent ages his name was used as a near byword for all kinds of excess. But, as Benson argues, reappraising Alcibiades's reputation, great as were his vices, his virtues were even greater ...
Although The Life of Alcibiades was originally published in 1928, and there have been other newer detailed works published on Alcibiades since then, no other work captures the passion and the excitement of the brilliant but erratic career of Alcibiades as Benson's biography does. As the reader will discover, Benson evidently has much sympathy for his subject and this brings the entire biography to life. He combines detailed research, especially his use of primary materials from Thucydides and Plutarch, with writing flare, not an easy accomplishment.
Front cover photograph: "Alcibiades", Ideal Male Portrait. Marble. Roman copy after a Greek original of the 4th century BC. Palazzo dei Conservatori, Hall of the Triumphs. Back cover photograph: E. F. Benson, aged 26.
Edward Frederic Benson (1867-1940) was a prolific and much loved English novelist, biographer and short story writer. He was educated at Marlborough College, King's College, Cambridge (where he obtained a first in classics) and the British School of Archaeology in Athens. Benson is most famous for a series of comic novels he published during the 1920's and 1930's--"Mapp and Lucia". Benson was awarded an MBE and was made an Honorary Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford.
Dr. Craig Paterson is a philosopher and author. He now lives in Los Angeles, California.
310 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1928
About the author
E.F. Benson
1,318 books367 followersEdward Frederic "E. F." Benson was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist and short story writer.
E. F. Benson was the younger brother of A.C. Benson, who wrote the words to "Land of Hope and Glory", Robert Hugh Benson, author of several novels and Roman Catholic apologetic works, and Margaret Benson, an author and amateur Egyptologist.
Benson died during 1940 of throat cancer at the University College Hospital, London. He is buried in the cemetery at Rye, East Sussex.
Last paragraph from Wikipedia
E. F. Benson was the younger brother of A.C. Benson, who wrote the words to "Land of Hope and Glory", Robert Hugh Benson, author of several novels and Roman Catholic apologetic works, and Margaret Benson, an author and amateur Egyptologist.
Benson died during 1940 of throat cancer at the University College Hospital, London. He is buried in the cemetery at Rye, East Sussex.
Last paragraph from Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 17, 2013
This is a well researched biography that reads as well as a good novel. I enjoyed passages where Benson compares differing accounts in primary sources and tries to reconcile them or explains which account he finds more compelling. But, most of all, I enjoyed the story--this is a highly entertaining biography of a fascinating historical figure. If I was forced to identify a flaw in Benson's work, it would be that the author tends to be a little too pro Alcibiades and Athens.
August 18, 2021
Fantastic book. I highly recommend everyone reads it.
Alcibiades lived an amazing life and had a solid real-life character arc where he started as a playboy and eventually evolved into a well-respected statesman. He was betrayed by Athens twice but always tried to come back and rescue her.
The author did a great job writing an engaging biography on Alcibiades, the book is a real page-turner.
Alcibiades lived an amazing life and had a solid real-life character arc where he started as a playboy and eventually evolved into a well-respected statesman. He was betrayed by Athens twice but always tried to come back and rescue her.
The author did a great job writing an engaging biography on Alcibiades, the book is a real page-turner.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews