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All I know about Alcibiades comes from Assassin's Creed Odyssey. That should be reliable history, right? The game presents him as a beautiful, oversexed, Machia

All I know about Alcibiades comes from Assassin's Creed Odyssey. That should be reliable history, right? The game presents him as a beautiful, oversexed, Machiavelli/Loki character. He practices upon our country bumpkin hero's credulousness relentlessly.

knd775 7y ago
From what I've read, that was an fairly accurate (but dramatized) portrayal of him. He had a crazy life.
- hmahncke 7y ago
  I read the book reviewed in the link because Alcibiades was such an interesting character in Assassin's Creed :-). The book is very enjoyable - it's a non-fiction book, but aimed to be readable in the style of a historical fiction novel. The events are all true, but the author takes considerable (and fun) license on the details of the narrative to flesh out the events. Highly recommended, and yes - what an amazing life.
bhaak 7y ago
Do note that Assassin's Creed Odyssey plays in 431 BCE that would be before Alcibiades gained any political power when he was about 20 years old. Given how sexually open the Greeks were, the stories about his sex life probably weren't exaggerated.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
padobson 7y ago
I had one quote from Patton[0] the film: I think it was Alcibiades in the Peloponnesian War... ...415 B.C. He said, "If Syracuse falls, all Sicily falls, and then Italy." He knew that Syracuse was the jugular of the island. Old Alcibiades always went for the throat. Good movie. [0]https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066206/?ref_=nv_sr_5?ref_=nv_sr_5 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066206/?ref_=nv_sr_5?ref_=nv_s...
Matticus_Rex 7y ago
The portrayal there was biased towards the portrayal we see in Aristophanes, so it probably caricatures somewhat... but it's not made up out of thin air.
minimaxir 7y ago
It's worth noting that Odyssey takes more creative liberties with historical data than the other AC games since there's less information on Ancient Greece (notably this is explicitly pointed out in-game).
- programd 7y ago
  On the other hand it is also worth noting that the game gets a lot of the non-game details surprisingly right. The ancient Greek environment are great - e.g. the architecture, sculptures, decorations, historical locations, etc. They even have a touring mode where you can learn the history of the locations (though I have not tried it yet) Its a great game to wander around in and sightsee. If it gets you to look up the actual history of the fun characters you meet that’s just a bonus. Perhaps that’s another good thread for HN - games as a repository of history. Or maybe the gamification of history education. I’ll stop hijacking Alcibiades‘ thread now...
forzagunner 7y ago
Here's a nice video by OSP on him - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRLkjBUgB2o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRLkjBUgB2o

knd775 7y ago

From what I've read, that was an fairly accurate (but dramatized) portrayal of him. He had a crazy life.

hmahncke 7y ago
I read the book reviewed in the link because Alcibiades was such an interesting character in Assassin's Creed :-). The book is very enjoyable - it's a non-fiction book, but aimed to be readable in the style of a historical fiction novel. The events are all true, but the author takes considerable (and fun) license on the details of the narrative to flesh out the events. Highly recommended, and yes - what an amazing life.

bhaak 7y ago

Do note that Assassin's Creed Odyssey plays in 431 BCE that would be before Alcibiades gained any political power when he was about 20 years old. Given how sexually open the Greeks were, the stories about his sex life probably weren't exaggerated.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

padobson 7y ago

I had one quote from Patton[0] the film: I think it was Alcibiades in the Peloponnesian War... ...415 B.C. He said, "If Syracuse falls, all Sicily falls, and then Italy." He knew that Syracuse was the jugular of the island. Old Alcibiades always went for the throat. Good movie. [0]https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066206/?ref_=nv_sr_5?ref_=nv_sr_5 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066206/?ref_=nv_sr_5?ref_=nv_s...

Matticus_Rex 7y ago

The portrayal there was biased towards the portrayal we see in Aristophanes, so it probably caricatures somewhat... but it's not made up out of thin air.

minimaxir 7y ago

It's worth noting that Odyssey takes more creative liberties with historical data than the other AC games since there's less information on Ancient Greece (notably this is explicitly pointed out in-game).

programd 7y ago
On the other hand it is also worth noting that the game gets a lot of the non-game details surprisingly right. The ancient Greek environment are great - e.g. the architecture, sculptures, decorations, historical locations, etc. They even have a touring mode where you can learn the history of the locations (though I have not tried it yet) Its a great game to wander around in and sightsee. If it gets you to look up the actual history of the fun characters you meet that’s just a bonus. Perhaps that’s another good thread for HN - games as a repository of history. Or maybe the gamification of history education. I’ll stop hijacking Alcibiades‘ thread now...

forzagunner 7y ago

Here's a nice video by OSP on him - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRLkjBUgB2o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRLkjBUgB2o