Ismenias (Ancient Greek: Ἰσμηνίας) was an ancient Theban politician of the 4th century BC, leader of the Theban democratic faction.
He rose to power in 403 BC, a year after the end of the Peloponnesian War, and pursued an anti-Spartan policy, which included harboring exiles fleeing the Thirty Tyrants in Athens. In 382 BC, during a Spartan occupation of Thebes, he is identified, along with Androcleides, as one of the leaders of the anti-Spartan faction. He was imprisoned and executed for Medism. [1]
Plato, in his work Meno, names him as an example of someone who made a great amount of money in a short period of time by acquiring his wealth through a Persian gift,[2] and includes him in a list of rich and powerful men with little moral fiber.[3] In 2008, Monique Canto-Sperber suggested that this money came from Persia with the aim of weakening Sparta [4]
In his work The Republic, Plato states that the following maxim originated from Ismenias: "It is just to do good to your friends and harm to your enemies".[5]
References
editFurther reading
edit- Buck, Robert J. Thrasybulus and the Athenian Democracy: The Life of an Athenian Statesman. Franz Steiner Verlag, 1998, ISBN 3-515-07221-7
- Jacques Cazeaux. Ménon (1998). ISBN 978-2-251-79997-1
- Platon, Flammarion, sous la direction de Luc Brisson. Œuvres complètes (Paris, 2008). p. 2163.
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