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Alcibiades

(Encyclopedia)Alcibiades ălsĭbīˈədēz [key], c.450–404 b.c., Athenian statesman and general. Of the family of Alcmaeonidae, he was a ward of Pericles and was for many years a devoted attendant of Socrates. H...

Nicias

(Encyclopedia)Nicias nīˈsēəs, nĭshˈēəs [key], d. 413 b.c., Athenian political leader and general. After Pericles' death he emerged as the primary rival of Cleon and his war party. He was a moderate democrat...

Peloponnesian War

(Encyclopedia)Peloponnesian War pĕlˈəpənēˈzhən [key], 431–404 b.c., decisive struggle in ancient Greece between Athens and Sparta. It ruined Athens, at least for a time. The rivalry between Athens' maritim...

Eupolis

(Encyclopedia)Eupolis yo͞oˈpəlĭs [key], fl. 430–411 b.c., Athenian comic poet. He seems to have collaborated with Aristophanes, whom he also attacked; another of his victims was Alcibiades. His plays, satiric...

Duris of Samos

(Encyclopedia)Duris of Samos do͞oˈrĭs [key], fl. 3d cent. b.c., Greek historian. A descendent of Alcibiades, Duris was tyrant of Samos for a time. He wrote Samian Chronicle—a history of Samos—and a rambling ...

Andocides

(Encyclopedia)Andocides ăndŏsˈĭdēz [key], c.440–390 b.c., one of the Ten Attic Orators (see oratory). In 415 b.c. he was accused of mutilating the hermae (sacred pillars topped by busts of the gods) and, in ...

Otway, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Otway, Thomas, 1652–85, English dramatist, educated at Winchester and at Oxford. After failing as an actor, Otway wrote his first play, Alcibiades, produced in 1675. Later plays include the rhymed h...

Cyzicus

(Encyclopedia)Cyzicus sĭzˈĭkəs [key], ancient city, NW Turkey, at the neck of the Cyzicus Peninsula. Strategically located, it rivaled Byzantium in commercial importance. Founded (756 b.c.) by Greek colonists f...

Aegospotamos

(Encyclopedia)Aegospotamos ēˌgəspŏˈtəməs [key], river of ancient Thrace flowing into the Hellespont. At its mouth in 405 b.c. occurred the culminating battle of the Peloponnesian War. Lysander and his Sparta...

Pharnabazus

(Encyclopedia)Pharnabazus färnəbāˈzəs [key], d. after 374 b.c., Persian governor. He had an important satrapy in Asia Minor under Darius II and Artaxerxes II. He was responsible for the assassination (404 b.c....

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