From the book
Alcibiades I
Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordTanagra is the named battle-site; the Boeotians are one of the peoples whose dead Socrates includes with Athenians and Spartans.
- In Alcibiades IThe example moves the argument about disagreement over justice from Homeric stories to recent human memory.
- In this editionThe source note dates Tanagra and cites Thucydides.
- A place to readTanagra precedes Coronea as an example of disagreement ending in deaths.
Meaning
Tanagra is the named battle-site; the Boeotians are one of the peoples whose dead Socrates includes with Athenians and Spartans.
Use in the book
The example moves the argument about disagreement over justice from Homeric stories to recent human memory. Socrates characterizes the quarrel behind the fighting as about the just and unjust and receives Alcibiades’ assent. That characterization is part of his case that people who disagree so violently cannot serve as reliable teachers of justice. The dialogue does not separately analyse military aims or assign sole responsibility to a particular side. Boeotia is represented by its people in the Greek, not by a description of its geography.
Places to read
Translation in this edition
The source note dates Tanagra and cites Thucydides. The spoken text names the site and combatant peoples without giving a year; those two layers should remain distinct.
Βοιωτός
Attested: Βοιωτῶν (boiōtōn; 112c). Boeotian, one of the peoples whose dead are included in the battle example. Lexical identification: lemma: Βοιωτός. See Tanagra and Boeotia.
Τάναγρα
Attested: Τανάγρᾳ (tanagrai; 112c). Tanagra, the battle-site named before Coronea. Lexical identification: lemma: Τάναγρα. See Tanagra and Boeotia.
Source note
The supplied edition, note 20 on 112c, dates Tanagra to 457 BC with reference to Thucydides 1.107–108. The dialogue gives no numerical date.