Critias

Family: the Thirty · Role: politician · First appears: Book 2, section 3, part 1/4

In the following year, Critias and Theramenes were appointed among the Thirty to draft a constitution. The Thirty appointed magistracies while their promised laws remained unpublished; at first Critias and Theramenes were friends. As the executions grew, however, Theramenes objected and urged the Thirty to broaden participation. Critias and the others drew up a list of three thousand citizens, seized the arms of those excluded, and authorized each committee member to kill a resident alien and confiscate his property.

The friendship turned to enmity as Critias pursued wider bloodshed and Theramenes opposed him. The Thirty plotted against Theramenes, and Critias accused him before the senate as a “conspirator and traitor.” When Critias feared a formal vote would let Theramenes escape, he declared, “We deliver over to you Theramenes yonder, who has been condemned according to the law.” Critias was also away in Thessaly, laying the foundations of a democracy with Prometheus and arming the Penestae against their masters.

Critias was killed alongside Hippomachus and Charmides in the engagement against Thrasybulus. The next day, the Thirty sat in the council chamber in desolation; in the end, the Three Thousand voted to depose the government and elect a board of ten.