From the book
Alcibiades I
Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordCallias, son of Calliades, is the second named pupil said to have benefited from Zeno’s company.
- In Alcibiades IThe full patronymic matters because Callias is not a uniquely identifying first name in Athenian literature.
- In this editionThe note says he is usually identified with the general killed at Potidaea.
- A place to readThe patronymic identifies the second pupil in Socrates’ comparison.
Meaning
Callias, son of Calliades, is the second named pupil said to have benefited from Zeno’s company.
Use in the book
The full patronymic matters because Callias is not a uniquely identifying first name in Athenian literature. Socrates puts him beside Pythodorus and says each paid one hundred minae and became wise and distinguished. His contribution to the argument is the same kind of concrete, named educational result that Alcibiades cannot supply for Pericles. The passage does not describe his political career or identify him with another Callias. Calliades is mentioned only as his father.
Places to read
- 119aThe patronymic identifies the second pupil in Socrates’ comparison.
Translation in this edition
The note says he is usually identified with the general killed at Potidaea. Because it explicitly presents a usual identification, it should not be made an unqualified dialogue fact; that later event is not narrated here.
Καλλιάδης
Attested: Καλλιάδου (kalliadou; 119a). Father of Callias, identifying Zeno’s pupil. Lexical identification: lemma: Καλλιάδης. See Callias and Calliades.
Καλλίας
Attested: Καλλίαν τὸν Καλλιάδου (kallian ton kalliadou; 119a). Callias, named with his father Calliades as one of Zeno’s pupils. Lexical identification: lemma: Καλλίας. See Callias and Calliades.
Source note
The supplied edition, note 32 on 119a, presents the identification with the general in Thucydides 1.61–63 as the usual one, not as an explicit identification by this dialogue.