Critias (Greek Κριτίας Kritias, 460-403 BC), born in Athens, son of Callaeschrus, was an uncle of Plato, and a leading member of the Thirty Tyrants, and one of the most violent. He was an associate of Socrates, a fact that did not endear Socrates to the Athenian public. He was noted in his day for his tragedies, elegies and prose works. Some, like Sextus Empiricus, believe that Critias authored the Sisyphus fragment; others, however, attribute it to Euripides.
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Life
Critias was a very dark person in Athenian history. After the fall of Athens to the Spartans, he blacklisted many of its citizens as a leading member of the Thirty Tyrants. Most of his prisoners were executed and their wealth confiscated. He proved to be a tormented personality, displaying many complexes and much hatred (in contrast to the Platonic figure described as the student of Socrates).
Critias was killed in a battle near Piraeus, the port of Athens, between a band of pro-democracy Athenian exiles led by Thrasybulus and members and supporters of the Thirty, aided by the Spartan garrison. In the battle, the exiles put the oligarchic forces to flight, ending the rule of the Thirty.[1]
Critias asserted that "religion was a deliberate imposture devised by some cunning man for political ends."[2]
Plato's description
Critias appears as a character in Plato's dialogues Charmides and Protagoras, and according to Diogenes Laërtius, he was Plato's great-uncle (Diogenes Laërtius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, III:1). The Critias character in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias is often identified as the son of Callaeschrus – but not by Plato; and given the old age of the Critias in these two dialogues, he may be the grandfather of the son of Callaeschrus.
References
- Davies, J. K. (1971). Athenian propertied families 600-300 BC. London: Oxford University Press.
- Rosenmeyer, Thomas G. (1949). "The family of Critias". American Journal of Philology 70: 404–410. doi:.
Citations
- ^ Buck, Thrasybulus and the Athenian Democracy, 71–79. See also Xenophon, Hellenica 2.4
- ^ Polybius: "The Rise Of The Roman Empire", Page 25, Penguin, 1979.
External links
- Critias entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
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