Persia

Use in the book

The Persian comparison combines inherited sovereignty, a carefully reared heir, royal religious and ethical tutors, visible luxury and an almost unimaginable resource base. The result is not that Alcibiades should merely copy Persian court life. Socrates uses what he admires, including riches and splendour, to demonstrate that he cannot win on those grounds, and then points to care and craft as his plausible means of surpassing rivals. The description is mainly Socrates’ extended speech, with conditional imaginings and an explicitly reported traveller’s story inside it. These different evidential forms must not be compressed into a single verified ethnography.

Places to read

1. 120aThe Great King is identified as one of Athens’ repeated opponents.
2. 120e–122c23Dynasty, upbringing, tutors and luxury are compared.
3. 123b–123e2Royal revenues and Amestris’ imagined judgement dwarf the Athenian household.

Translation in this edition

“The king” within the comparison normally means the Persian king, whereas “the kings” can mean the Spartan rulers or the two sets of dynasties. The context, not the noun alone, determines the reference.

μέγας βασιλεύς

Attested: μεγάλῳ βασιλεῖ (megalōi basilei; 120a). Great King, the understood title for the Persian ruler. Lexical identification: phrase label: μέγας βασιλεύς. See Persia.

Πέρσης

Attested: Περσῶν (persōn; 120a). Persian; the people of the Great King and the royal tutors. Lexical identification: lemma: Πέρσης. See Persia.

Περσίς

Attested: Περσίδος (persidos; 121a). Persia, the country of the dynasty’s continuing rule. Lexical identification: lemma: Περσίς. See Persia.