From the book
Alcibiades II
Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordAmmon is the god consulted by the Athenians in Socrates’ reported story; the prophētēs is his answering representative.
- In Alcibiades IIThe Athenians consult because repeated defeats by Sparta seem incompatible with their lavish religious provision.
- In this editionNote 34 states that no other ancient author reports this consultation.
- A place to readSocrates introduces a story heard from certain people and the Athenians’ decision to consult.
Meaning
Ammon is the god consulted by the Athenians in Socrates’ reported story; the prophētēs is his answering representative. The edition identifies him as Zeus Ammon at Siwa. Oracle is the contextual designation of the consultation, not a separate technical lemma required by the quoted Greek.
Use in the book
The Athenians consult because repeated defeats by Sparta seem incompatible with their lavish religious provision. Their question embeds a case for their own superiority: more and finer sacrifices, richly adorned sanctuaries, solemn processions and unmatched spending. The prophet’s answer rejects the terms of that accounting instead of naming a missing costly rite.
The answer is carefully restricted. Ammon would prefer Spartan auspicious speech to all the Greeks’ rites together, and nothing further is said. Socrates comments that the god evidently did not allow more. The brevity is part of the reported narrative; it does not furnish a list of oracular instructions for Athens to carry out.
Socrates then makes an interpretive move of his own. He thinks the god means the Spartans’ prayer, whose limitation to fine and good things differentiates it from the other Greeks’ indiscriminate asking. The movement from the oracle’s phrase to a theory of prayer belongs to Socrates’ reasoning, not a longer speech hidden inside Ammon’s answer.
Alcibiades accepts the conclusion in part because he would not cast a contrary vote against the god. The divine authority reinforces a conclusion already articulated through ethical and epistemic considerations. Yet the narrative itself remains hearsay, and the edition explicitly warns against treating it as independently attested history.
Places to read
- 148d–148eSocrates introduces a story heard from certain people and the Athenians’ decision to consult.
- 148e–149a2The embassy argues from ritual expenditure and asks how to escape its troubles.
- 149a–149bThe prophet gives only Ammon’s preference for Spartan auspicious speech.
- 149b–149cSocrates interprets the response in terms of the quality of prayer.
- 150a–150bThe oracle’s authority returns in the conclusion about gifts, justice and intelligence.
Translation in this edition
Note 34 states that no other ancient author reports this consultation. It distinguishes other Ammon consultations recorded by Plutarch, Cimon 18.6–18.7 and Nicias 13.1. At 148d Burnet brackets the older men, so the translated source is simply certain people. The apparatus notes rival readings of prophet at 150a; the article follows Burnet’s printed singular.
Source note
Burnet brackets ‘the older men’ at 148d. B has ‘from the older men or from certain people’, while T has ‘from certain older men’; the English gives the retained ‘from certain people’. The supplied note 33 records this source of indeterminacy before note 34 explains the reported consultation of Ammon.