10. The Man Who Had a Relationship With a King, and a Heterosexual Relationship With the King’s Wife
Once in Sparta, Alcibiades wasted no time helping Athens’ mortal enemies against his home city. He advised the Spartans to adopt a strategy which culminated in the near-complete annihilation of Athens’ Sicilian expedition. The force he had organized, convinced Athens to send to Sicily, whose men he once led. That was the most catastrophic and bloodiest defeat suffered by Athens during the war. Of the tens of thousands of Athenians who took part, only a handful ever saw Athens again. Those who did not perish were enslaved, then sent to Sicilian quarries, where they were worked to death.
Alcibiades also convinced the Spartans to abandon their strategy of marching into Attica each campaigning season to burn and loot, then retreat and repeat the next year. Instead, he had the Spartans establish a permanent fortified base in Attica, which allowed them to exert direct pressure on Athens year round. He also went to Ionia, where he stirred up a revolt against Athens by her allies and subject cities in Asia Minor. Despite the valuable services he rendered Sparta, Alcibiades wore out his welcome. He had reportedly become a lover of Sparta’s King Agis II, but things soured after he was caught in bed with the Spartan king’s wife. He fled again, this time to the Persians. Alcibiades convinced them to adopt a strategy to prolong the war as long as possible, and keep the Athenians and Spartans too busy fighting each other to challenge Persia’s interests.
