From the book
Alcibiades I
Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordThe ancestor from whom Socrates says the Persian kings descend, parallel to Heracles for the Spartans.
- In Alcibiades IThe paired genealogies invite Alcibiades to compare his own family with dynasties said to be continuously royal.
- In this editionThe apparatus records omission of part of the paired clause by B’s first hand and its presence in T and a later hand of B. Burnet prints the full comparison.
- A place to readThe Persian ancestor is named in the paired dynastic genealogy.
Meaning
The ancestor from whom Socrates says the Persian kings descend, parallel to Heracles for the Spartans.
Use in the book
The paired genealogies invite Alcibiades to compare his own family with dynasties said to be continuously royal. Socrates traces the family of Achaemenes, like that of Heracles, to Perseus son of Zeus. Alcibiades responds by asserting his own descent from Eurysaces and Zeus, which occasions Socrates’ comic claim to Daedalus. Achaemenes thus belongs to an escalating comparison of pedigree rather than a detached genealogical notice. The dialogue neither explains the intervening generations nor provides an account of Persian origins independent of this rhetorical use.
Places to read
- 120eThe Persian ancestor is named in the paired dynastic genealogy.
Translation in this edition
The apparatus records omission of part of the paired clause by B’s first hand and its presence in T and a later hand of B. Burnet prints the full comparison.
Ἀχαιμένης
Attested: Ἀχαιμένους (achaimenous; 120e). Achaemenes, ancestor of the Persian royal line in Socrates’ comparison. Lexical identification: lemma: Ἀχαιμένης. See Achaemenes.