Hermenfrevel
Hermenfrevel describes the desecration of the Athenian hermen (pillar shafts with heads) in 415 BC. And the unrest in the city associated with it.
event
In the midst of preparations for the second expedition to Sicily in the summer of 415 BC In one night almost all herms in Athens had their heads cut off or mutilated (see also Peloponnesian War ). The Athenians were surprised by this incident at a time of great tension. The result was wild suspicions against various people who in some way fell outside the norm of the community. In the course of the investigation, other religious outrages were uncovered and investigated. After calls from witnesses, statements and suspicions about the Hermen crime or other religious offenses increased. High bounties were offered and slaves and metics were asked to testify. Particularly serious was the discovery that the Eleusinian Mysteries had been performed as farce in private homes. Among other things, Alkibiades, who is known for his dissolute life, was involved . Other members of the upper class, including the later rhetor Andokides, as well as Phaedrus, known from the Platonic dialogues, and the doctor Akumenus were also victims of the denunciations that threatened their existence .
In Athens, the events were seen as a bad omen for the upcoming expedition to Sicily or as a threat to democracy. The latter, fear of tyranny, always hovered over the polis like a sword of Damocles during the time of Attic democracy .
Alkibiades came more and more into the center of the indictment. However, as a general, he was about to leave for Sicily. Since he was sure of his support from his subordinates, he demanded an immediate trial. The political assessment of his opponents, however, was that the demos did not want to endanger the expedition. Therefore they demanded that Alkibiades should go to Sicily first and that the trial should only take place after his return.
When the accusations against Alkibiades grew sharper in Athens, the city decided to recall the general. They sent a ship, the "Salaminia", with which Alkibiades was to go back to Athens. Along with him, other soldiers on the expedition were now also under suspicion. Alkibiades boarded the ship, but fled at a stop in Thurioi. After detours he went to Sparta . In his absence, Alkibiades was sentenced to death. In addition, the priests were asked to curse Alcibiades. A priestess refused to cast this curse.
swell
Thucydides
Thucydides dedicated his sixth book to the Hermen crime. Above all, he emphasized the power-political background. At the center of the indictment was Alkibiades, who was exposed to attacks again and again due to his lifestyle and his success in many situations. The Hermenfrevel was used by the opponents of Alcibiades to suspect the latter of intending to be a tyranny. According to Thucydides, however, the opponents themselves intended to take power. Thucydides also interpreted the offer by Alkibiades' opponents to let the general move to Sicily as a ruse in order to spread slander in this way during his absence and thus to have a better starting position in the coming process.
According to Thucydides, this plan was successful, the opponents were therefore able to cite hermen's crime and desecration of the Eleusinian Mysteries against Alcibiades in absentia. The value of the Thucydideic explanations lies above all in a look at the power constellations and disputes between the political actors in Athens. The problem, however, is the fact that Thucydides wants to have precise knowledge of the background to a conspiracy that was obviously not easy to uncover and that puzzled an entire polis. Thucydides also clearly takes the side of Alcibiades and portrays his opponents as “bad people”. Ultimately, however, he shows how rumors and a certain dynamic of their own exclude a citizen of Athens who deviates from the usual average from society. It seems that only a citizen who does not correspond to the popular image is capable of such acts. Alkibiades therefore had to pay for his sometimes eccentric way of life with his emigration, the hermit sacrilege - if one follows the explanations of Thucydides - was only used as a pretext.
Cornelius Nepos
In his biography of Alkibiades, the Roman historian Cornelius Nepos, who was born over 300 years after the events, lists the fundamental events, but also gives the additional detail that all the herms of Athens were affected by the desecration, except for those in front of the house of Andokides stood. This claim has not been proven in sources closer to the time. But Andokides did appear as a key witness against Alcibiades.