From the book
Alcibiades I
Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordThe place where Alcibiades’ landed holding is located; the Greek form is locative, “at Erchia.”
- In Alcibiades ISocrates puts the young man’s land, not even three hundred plethra, beside the very large tracts reportedly assigned to a Persian royal woman’s adornment.
- In this editionThe note calls Erchia an Attic deme east of Athens and offers an approximate modern acreage.
- A place to readThe royal ornament estates are contrasted with Alcibiades’ land at Erchia.
Meaning
The place where Alcibiades’ landed holding is located; the Greek form is locative, “at Erchia.”
Use in the book
Socrates puts the young man’s land, not even three hundred plethra, beside the very large tracts reportedly assigned to a Persian royal woman’s adornment. The number forms part of the information an imagined messenger might give Amestris. Its effect is relational rather than an assertion that Alcibiades is poor: a substantial local holding can look tiny on the royal scale. Erchia makes the comparison concrete by locating the familiar estate, while the Persian report names entire districts after ornaments.
Places to read
Translation in this edition
The note calls Erchia an Attic deme east of Athens and offers an approximate modern acreage. The dialogue itself specifies the place and upper limit, not an exact surveyed area or modern conversion.
Ἐρχία
Attested: Ἐρχίασιν (erchiasin; 123c). Erchia, where Alcibiades’ land is situated; the attestation is locative. Lexical identification: lemma: Ἐρχία. See Erchia.