Cleinias, father of Alcibiades · Lexicon

From the book

Alcibiades I

Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Orientation

At a Glance

The wordCleinias is Alcibiades’ father; the genitive in “son of Cleinias” identifies the young man by his paternal line.
In Alcibiades IThe opening patronymic gives the first spoken identification of the addressee.
In this editionBurnet brackets Κλεινίας after “your father” at 112c; the edition accordingly omits that repetition in English.
A place to readThe dialogue opens with the paternal address.

Meaning

Cleinias is Alcibiades’ father; the genitive in “son of Cleinias” identifies the young man by his paternal line. He must be distinguished from Alcibiades’ brother of the same name.

Use in the book

The opening patronymic gives the first spoken identification of the addressee. The father’s arrangements also explain Pericles’ guardianship at 104b. At 112c Socrates moves from poetic wars to battles within family memory: Alcibiades’ father died at Coronea. The example therefore makes the consequences of disagreement about justice personal rather than remote. Nothing in the dialogue supplies a rounded biography or dates his birth. His name returns in the full identification “Alcibiades the beautiful, son of Cleinias” when Socrates restates the young man’s ignorance, and again when Socrates describes his own exclusive claim to be Alcibiades’ lover.

Places to read

103aThe dialogue opens with the paternal address.
104bThe father left Pericles as guardian.
112cThe father’s death at Coronea illustrates lethal disagreement.
113bPatronymic and beauty are included in the diagnosis.
131eAlcibiades’ patronymic is paired with Socrates’ own parentage.

Translation in this edition

Burnet brackets Κλεινίας after “your father” at 112c; the edition accordingly omits that repetition in English. The identification is secure from the other passages and does not require treating the bracketed word as accepted text.

Κλεινίας

Attested: Κλεινίου (kleiniou; 103a); Κλεινίαν (kleinian; 118e). Cleinias: father of Alcibiades in the opening patronymic; his distinct brother of the same name at 118e. Lexical identification: lemma: Κλεινίας. See Cleinias, father of Alcibiades; Cleinias, brother of Alcibiades.

Source note

The supplied edition, note 1 on 103a, cites Plutarch, Alcibiades 1 for the death at Coronea; note 20 on 112c explains Burnet’s brackets around the repeated name. These references are reported from the edition, not a new collation of Plutarch.