From the book
Alcibiades I
Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordHeracles is the heroic ancestor assigned to the Spartan royal line; Heraclids are his descendants and the family from which the kings are supposed to be born.
- In Alcibiades ISocrates includes the Spartan genealogy in the argument that Alcibiades’ rivals are not inferior in birth.
- In this editionThe ancient genealogical parallels in the supplied note belong to external background.
- A place to readHeracles anchors the Spartan line.
Meaning
Heracles is the heroic ancestor assigned to the Spartan royal line; Heraclids are his descendants and the family from which the kings are supposed to be born.
Use in the book
Socrates includes the Spartan genealogy in the argument that Alcibiades’ rivals are not inferior in birth. The line is traced through Heracles to Perseus and Zeus. At 121b–c2 the supposed public guarding of royal wives by ephors is explained as a means of preserving Heraclid descent. These are claims within Socrates’ encomiastic comparison, not a modern historical verification of biological lineage. Their argumentative purpose is to show that good birth, carefully protected and joined to good upbringing, cannot simply be claimed as an exclusively Athenian advantage.
Places to read
Translation in this edition
The ancient genealogical parallels in the supplied note belong to external background. The present entry records how Socrates uses the genealogy, without treating mythic ancestry as historical proof.
Ἡρακλεῖδαι
Attested: Ἡρακλειδῶν (hērakleidōn; 121c). Heraclids, descendants of Heracles whose royal succession the ephors are said to protect. Lexical identification: lemma: Ἡρακλεῖδαι. See Heracles and the Heraclids.
Ἡρακλῆς
Attested: Ἡρακλέους (hērakleous; 120e). Heracles, heroic ancestor of the Spartan kings. Lexical identification: lemma: Ἡρακλῆς. See Heracles and the Heraclids.
Source note
The supplied edition, note 35 on 120e, cites Herodotus 6.53, 7.61 and 7.150 for related genealogical traditions. Mythic descent is being analysed as a claim used by the speakers.