Critias
Who was Critias?
Athenian politician (c. 460 – 403 BC)
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Critias (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Critias (c. 460–403 BC) was an Athenian politician, poet, philosopher, and playwright who lived during the unsettled times of late fifth-century Athens. He came from one of the city's most aristocratic families and was a cousin of Plato's mother, mingling with intellectual elites from a young age. His connection with Socrates made him one of the philosopher's more controversial students, and critics later cited this relationship during Socrates' trial in 399 BC, using Critias as an example of Socrates' negative influence on Athenian youth.
As a writer, Critias worked across different genres, including elegies, tragedies, and prose. His elegies covered political and cultural matters, and the surviving fragments show he had genuine literary talent. Among his works are those examining the political systems of various Greek city-states, written in both verse and prose. He is also known for a philosophical piece suggesting that gods were a human idea invented to prevent secret crimes, a viewpoint considered scandalously atheistic by ancient commentators and still discussed by scholars today.
Critias had a controversial political career in Athens. He was linked to the oligarchic faction against Athenian democracy and was occasionally exiled or sidelined for his political ideas and actions. He was rumored to be involved in the mutilation of the Herms in 415 BC, an act of sacrilege connected to the ill-fated Sicilian Expedition, though his exact role is unclear. His exile gave him a chance to travel and study other Greek governments, which possibly increased his admiration for Spartan political systems and values, which he praised in many writings.
After Athens' loss in the Peloponnesian War in 404 BC, the Spartans imposed an oligarchic government in Athens. Critias became the leading figure among the Thirty Tyrants, a group of thirty men set to govern the city. Under his rule, the Thirty were known for their brutal policies, executing hundreds of Athenians and resident aliens, seizing their property, and exiling thousands. Ancient writings, like those of Xenophon, describe Critias as the most ruthless member, willing to eliminate political opponents within the group, notably his former ally Theramenes, who was executed in 404 BC for opposing the group's extreme measures.
The Thirty's rule was short. A democratic resistance led by Thrasybulus returned from exile, defeating the Thirty at the Battles of Phyle and Munychia. Critias was killed in battle at Munychia in 403 BC, ending his life and the tyranny he led. His death allowed for the return of Athenian democracy, and his name became synonymous with cruel tyranny and betrayal of philosophical ideas.
Before Fame
Critias was born into an upper-class Athenian family with long-standing ties to the city's political scene. These connections put him close to some of the leading intellectual and political figures at the time, and his connection to Plato's family linked him directly to the philosophical ideas that would later define that era. As a young man, he studied with Socrates, which greatly influenced his thinking, even though he leaned more toward oligarchic beliefs rather than Socratic balance.
His early writings showed him to be a skilled writer during a time when Athens was at the forefront of Greek cultural production. His youth coincided with Athens at its peak, the building of the Parthenon, and the rise of tragedy and philosophy. This environment provided Critias with the education and drive to pursue careers in both writing and politics, a common path for wealthy Athenian aristocrats of that time.
Key Achievements
- Led the Thirty Tyrants as the dominant political figure in post-war Athens in 404–403 BC
- Produced literary works spanning elegy, tragedy, and philosophical prose, with surviving fragments still studied by classicists
- Authored one of antiquity's earliest rationalist critiques of religious belief in a philosophical fragment on the origins of the gods
- Wrote prose and verse analyses of Greek constitutional systems, contributing to the comparative political thought of the period
- Studied under Socrates and became one of the philosopher's most intellectually significant, if controversial, associates
Did You Know?
- 01.A fragment attributed to Critias contains one of the earliest known arguments that the gods were a political invention by a wise man to prevent people from committing secret crimes, a strikingly rationalist position for the fifth century BC.
- 02.Critias was a cousin of Perictione, Plato's mother, making him a relative of one of the most influential philosophers in Western history.
- 03.Xenophon records that Critias had Theramenes, his own colleague among the Thirty Tyrants, dragged from an altar where he had sought sanctuary and executed by hemlock after a show trial.
- 04.Critias reportedly admired Sparta so deeply that he wrote poems praising Spartan customs and institutions, a notable stance for an Athenian aristocrat.
- 05.Although ancient sources labeled him a student of Socrates, Critias was also said to have studied with the sophist Gorgias, reflecting the eclectic intellectual culture of fifth-century Athens.