Charmides (politician)

Charmides ( Greek Χαρμίδης Charmídēs ; * around 445 BC in Athens ; † 403 BC near Munychia ) was an ancient Greek politician in Athens and a follower of the philosopher Socrates .

family

The Charmides family were distinguished and wealthy. Among his ancestors on his father's side was Dropides ("Dropides II."), The Athenian archon from 593/92 BC. BC, a friend and relative of the legendary Athenian legislature Solon . Charmides 'mother was a sister of Pyrilampes , who played a role as envoy in Athens' foreign policy. His sister Periktione was the mother of the famous philosopher Plato .

Charmides was still a minor when his father Glaucon died. The guardianship took over Kritias , who was Charmides' cousin on his father's side. In contrast to Pyrilampes, who was a supporter of the Athenian democracy, Critias was oligarchic . He later belonged to the most prominent representatives of the oligarchic direction, which Charmides also joined.

Life

Charmides occurs in Plato after him Named dialog Charmides as a teenager ( meirákion ) on; at the time of the fictional dialogue act he was around 14 to 17 years old. He was a few years younger than Alcibiades, who was probably born in 451 . The action of the dialogue can be dated to the spring of 429, immediately after the return of Socrates from a campaign that lasted from 432 to May 429; during Socrates' absence Charmides was still under tutelage. Therefore, his birth probably falls between 446 and 443.

In 415, scandals broke out in Athens that shook the city's political life. Young men had parodied the mysteries of Eleusis in private homes and thereby profaned them. This has been prosecuted as a grave crime against religion. One of the suspects was a Charmides, in whose house such an event allegedly took place. The identity of this Charmides with Plato's uncle is not certain, but probable. The accused Charmides fled like other suspects. Like the others, he was sentenced to death in absentia and his property was confiscated. However, the convicts were later given amnesty. Charmides was allowed to return home.

In his banquet, the contemporary writer Xenophon lets Plato's uncle Charmides appear as an impoverished man who has lost his possessions and income. Even his home furnishings were sold. After losing his fortune, he lives on public funds, but from his point of view leads a better life than at the time of his prosperity, as he no longer suffers from the fear of loss. It is unclear how Charmides got into such poverty. Most of the losses were likely due to the devastation of the Peloponnesian War . If Charmides, who fled in 415, is Plato's uncle, his impoverishment may have been a result of the confiscation.

Charmides belonged to the circle of friends around the philosopher Socrates. Xenophon reports in his memoirs of Socrates that Socrates valued Charmides and encouraged him to overcome his shyness and fear of public speaking and to be politically active, which in Athens involved appearing at the popular assembly.

Indeed, Charmides went into politics, but not in the way Socrates envisaged within the framework of the democratic state order. Since he was oligarchic like his cousin Critias, his chance came after the catastrophic defeat of Athens by Sparta in the Peloponnesian War, when an oligarchic group overturned the democratic order in 404. The oligarchs took power and set up a “ Council of Thirty ” as the highest body. Critias played an important role in the thirty-member council, which consisted of the leaders of the oligarchic movement. Charmides now also came to the train. He did not belong to the Council of Thirty - as is often wrongly claimed - but was only appointed to a committee of ten men, to which the thirty entrusted the administration of the port city of Piraeus .

The terror-related rule of the thirty did not last long, however. The oligarchs' opponents rallied in exile. The democratic exile politician and general Thrasybulus soon assembled a force of like-minded people and took up the fight against the thirty. In 403 the troops of the oligarchs were defeated at Munychia hill near Piraeus; Critias and Charmides fell in battle. The military success of the insurgents resulted in a change of power in Athens, which led to negotiations and ultimately to the restoration of democracy.

Role in literary dialogues

Critias and Charmides are Socrates' main interlocutors in Plato's dialogue Charmides , which the author named after his uncle. There, at the beginning, the beauty of Charmides is extensively praised; she makes a strong impression in the homoerotic milieu, and Socrates is also fascinated. Charmides' prudence is also praised, but in the subsequent philosophical conversation he does not succeed in finding a satisfactory definition for the term “prudence” ( sophrosyne ). Finally Charmides decides to become a pupil of Socrates.

In Plato's dialogue Protagoras , Charmides is also among those present; there, however, he does not take the floor, but appears only at the beginning in the crowd of admirers of the sophist Protagoras , with whom Socrates then grapples. In Plato's symposium , Alcibiades names him among those whose sexual desires Socrates had not fulfilled. Charmides also appears in the dialogue Theages ascribed to Plato , the authenticity of which is disputed. There Socrates tells that Charmides trained short-distance running in order to take part in the Nemean Games , although Socrates advised against it. This turned out to be a mistake.

Charmides is also among those present in the pseudo-Platonic (wrongly attributed to Plato) dialogue Axiochos , but he does not take part in the conversation. According to the depiction in this work, he has an erotic relationship with Kleinias, the son of Axiochus, who is around two decades younger. Kleinias also appears in Plato's dialogue Euthydemos ; he appears there as a conversation partner and his beauty arouses admiration among homoerotics.

literature

• Luc Brisson : Charmidès . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques . Volume 2, CNRS Éditions, Paris 1994, ISBN 2-271-05195-9 , pp. 299-302
• Debra Nails: The People of Plato. A Prosopography of Plato and Other Socratics . Hackett, Indianapolis 2002, ISBN 0-87220-564-9 , pp. 90–94 (and family tree p. 244)
• John S. Traill: Persons of Ancient Athens , Volume 18: Philosyria? to Ōphiliōn. Athenians, Toronto 2009, ISBN 978-0-9810250-1-8 , pp. 360f. (No. 987950 and 987975; compilation of the documents)

Remarks

1. ^ Plato, Timaeus 20e and Charmides 155a. See John K. Davies: Athenian Property Families, 600-300 BC , Oxford 1971, pp. 322-326.
2. ↑ See on the relationship Alan S. Henry: Charmides Son of Glaukon . In: Rheinisches Museum für Philologie 117, 1974, pp. 360–362.
3. ↑ Plato, Charmides 154b.
4. ↑ Cf. on the chronology Debra Nails: The People of Plato , Indianapolis 2002, pp. 90f., 311f.
5. ^ Robert W. Wallace: Charmides, Agariste and Damon: Andokides 1.16 . In: The Classical Quarterly 42, 1992, pp. 328-335; Debra Nails: The People of Plato , Indianapolis 2002, pp. 91f., 94.
6. ↑ Xenophon, Symposium 4, 29-33.
7. ^ Robert W. Wallace: Charmides, Agariste and Damon: Andokides 1.16 . In: The Classical Quarterly 42, 1992, pp. 328-335, here: 331f. See Debra Nails: The People of Plato , Indianapolis 2002, p. 92; Phillip V. Stanley: The Family Connection of Alcibiades and Axiochus . In: Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 27, 1986, pp. 173-181, here: 179-181.
8. ↑ Xenophon, Memorabilia 3.7. See Diogenes Laertios 2.29.
9. ↑ Xenophon, Hellenika 2,4,19. See György Németh: Kritias und die thirty tyrants , Stuttgart 2006, p. 115f .; Debra Nails: The People of Plato , Indianapolis 2002, p. 92.
10. ↑ Xenophon, Hellenika 2,4,19.
11. ^ Plato, Charmides 154a – d.
12. ↑ Plato, Protagoras 315a.
13. ^ Plato, Symposium 222b.
14. ↑ Theages 128d-129a1.
15. ↑ Axiochos 364a.