Nikeratos

Nikeratos (* around 440 BC; † 404 BC ) was the son of the unfortunate Athenian general Nikias , who died during the Peloponnesian War in 415 BC. BC in Sicily with the entire Athenian expeditionary force, which was under his leadership, failed and was executed by the victorious Syracusans .

Nikeratos got its name after his paternal grandfather, who had left the family with a large fortune of around 100 talents , most of which came from the silver mines in the Attic Laureion , where his father Nikias had slaves work for him. The general Eukrates was the uncle of Nikeratos.

Niceratus was - as he himself in our banquet of Xenophon reports - raised in ancient Greek way by especially the knowledge of the scriptures to him Homer was conveyed that Niceratus had even learn by heart. This is probably a sign that the aristocrat Nicias viewed the new education of the philosophers and sophists as ominous and preferred and rigidly exaggerated the traditional in the upbringing of his son. In Xenophon's banquet , Nikeratos shows himself to be proud of his knowledge of Homer. He is even said to have appeared publicly once in the competition of the rhapsodes, i.e. the professional singers, although he was defeated.

The speaker Demosthenes describes him as having a weak constitution . His friendly, engaging demeanor made him popular in Athens. He was married and had one son, whom he named after his grandfather Nikias.

Nikeratos is one of the most prominent victims of the rule of the Thirty Tyrants . The oligarchs supported by the Spartans killed him in 404 BC. As part of their efforts to stabilize the state they established, although Nikeratos was not to be blamed for taking sides with the opposition democrats , only because of his wealth. His wife, as Jerome reports, evaded desecration through voluntary death.

The moderate oligarchic politician Theramenes mentioned Nikeratus in his defense speech, which he gave when he himself was 403 BC. BC by the tyrant Critias before the judgment of the thirty. From his point of view, the murder of the well-respected Nikeratos represented an outrage and at the same time a turning point from which all moderately thinking men of the oligarchic government were necessarily alienated.

swell

• Demosthenes 21,165 (speech “Against Meidias”).
• Diodorus 14.5.
• Lysias 18.6 and 18.10 (speech “On the confiscation of the property of Nicias's brother”).
• Lysias 19:47 (speech “About the wealth of Aristophanes”).
• Xenophon, Memorabilia 2,5,2.
• Xenophon, On Government Income 6.272e.
• Xenophon, symposium .
• Xenophon, Hellenika 2,3,39.

literature

• Georg Peter Landmann: To understand the work . In: Xenophon: Das Gastmahl (= Rowohlt's classics of literature and science. Volume 7). Rowohlt Verlag, Hamburg 1957, p. 72.
• György Németh: Kritias and the Thirty Tyrants. Studies on the politics and prosopography of the ruling elite in Athens 404/403 BC Chr. (= Heidelberg ancient historical contributions and epigraphic studies . Volume 43). Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-515-08866-0 , p. 148.