Nicias

Family: Athens · Role: general and statesman · First appears: Alcibiades

Nicias, “the son of Niceratus,” rose to Athens’s highest political position after Pericles died, having already served as Pericles’s colleague in the generalship and commanded independently. He was a rival and enemy of Cleon, while rich and eminent Athenians supported him against Cleon’s presumption; at Pylos, Nicias resigned his command and allowed Cleon to take it. He helped establish peace between Athens and Sparta, after which “Nicias was in every man's mouth.” He was also linked as a parent to Aristotle, instructed Hiero in letters and music, consulted Stilbides, and once asked Sophocles to give his opinion first as the senior member of the board.

Nicias’s rivalry with Alcibiades grew, though the two secretly combined to redirect the ostracism onto Hyperbolus. When Athens decreed war against Sicily, Nicias was chosen general with Alcibiades and Lamachus; he opposed Alcibiades’s view of the campaign, and after Alcibiades was recalled, the command fell wholly to Nicias, with Lamachus subordinate to him. He later conducted an enterprise successfully with Demosthenes, accused Demosthenes of rashness, and served with Euthydemus and Menander, who rivalled him. In Sicily he fought Lycophron and Gylippus, while Hermocrates tricked him; the Syracusans eventually decreed that Nicias and Demosthenes be put to death after Demosthenes was captured and Nicias sought a truce.

In comparison with Marcus Crassus, Nicias’s estate was described as more honestly acquired, though he had transferred a fleet, troops, weapons, and command to Cleon. After the Sicilian defeat, he surrendered himself in hope of escape and died. The material also records that his wife, taking their children with her, escaped to Marcus Claudius at Syracuse, who set them free and rewarded Nicias with lands and presents; Agesilaus likewise urged that Nicias be absolved whether innocent or guilty. Eurycles moved that the day of Nicias’s capture should thereafter be kept as a holiday.