Callius (son of Hippo)

The son of Gipponik from the Kerikov clan, one of the most famous representatives of the so-called Kalliev family, or the Kalliev-Gipponik family. In prosopographic and genealogical literature, for convenience, it is usually referred to as Callius (III) ^{[1] [2]} .

Probably born around 455 BC. e. ^[1] His mother, allegedly, was the daughter of Megacles Alkmeonid , with whom Hipponicus divorced around 453 BC. e. In her second marriage, she married her cousin Pericles , and Xanthippus and Paral, who were born from this union, were the uterine brothers of Callia ^[3] .

Shortly before 422/421 BC. e. Kallius inherited the state of his father, which for several years after this remained very significant ^[4] , despite the financial difficulties that began under Hippo. Like other landowners, Keriks undoubtedly suffered greatly from the Spartan devastations during the Archidamy war, part of the estates were mortgaged, and soon Callia had to be sold ^[2] .

In Athens itself, Kallius owned two houses, one in the fashionable Melita district, the other in Piraeus ^[1] . Like his ancestors, he became a daduh (torchbearer) in the Eleusinian cult of Demeter and a Spartan proxen ^[1] .

A commercial enterprise operating the Lavrian silver mines , bringing his father a mine of silver per day, died in 413 BC. e., when the Spartans persuaded the slaves who worked there to rebel and flee to their camp ^[2] , and the bank office ( trapeza ) experienced difficulties even in the time of Hippo ^[5] .

Nevertheless, due to his enormous marital status and connections, Callia managed to lead a luxurious lifestyle for some time, until bad governance and huge expenses led him to ruin. Maintaining his reputation, he carried out public assignments, in particular, very expensive hierarchies . He was probably a triarch during the battle of the Arginus Islands , and was also an architector on Delos ^[2] .

In 406/405 BC e. was an archon-eponym , during the Corinthian war in 391/390 BC. e. served as a strategist and commanded the Athenian hoplites at the Battle of Lehei ^[6] . His colleague Iphicrates , the peltast commander, had a low opinion of Callia.

As a Spartan proxy, Callius carried out important diplomatic missions. In 371 BC e. he headed the embassy in Sparta with the goal of concluding universal peace, which was supposed to end the Boeotian and Athenian-Spartan wars ^[7] . An agreement was signed, but the Thebans almost immediately disavowed the actions of their ambassadors, and continued the war ^[8] .

In connection with this embassy, Xenophon mentions the two previous diplomatic missions of Callia, which were crowned with success. The Athenian historian does not explain what the contracts were, but S. Ya. Lurie suggests that we can talk about embassies in Sparta in 405/404 and 403 BC. e., and negotiations on the surrender of Athens in the Peloponnesian war and the help of the Spartans in the civil war between the Democrats and the oligarchs. I.E. Surikov considers this unlikely, since in this case Callius would be a supporter of the oligarchy and tyranny of thirty . In his opinion, Callius could participate in the conclusion of the Athenian-Spartan peace in 374 BC. e. ^[9]

Conflict with Alcibiades

Callia's personal life was very scandalous. Having become the head of the family, he soon came into conflict with Alcibiades , who married his half-sister Hipparetus and received a huge dowry of 10 talents from her. After the birth of his son, Alcibiades began extorting as much from Callia, claiming that Hipponik promised to double the amount of the dowry after the birth of the firstborn ^{[10] [11]} .

Knowing the indomitable disposition of Alcibiades, Callius feared that his son-in-law could organize the physical elimination of both him and his son, and therefore officially bequeathed property to the people in case he died without leaving heirs ^{[11] [12]} .

Marriages and scandals

The first marriage, Kallius was married to the daughter of Glavkon, from whom he had a son, Hippo . By his second marriage, he married the daughter of Iskhomakh and the widow of Epilikus . According to Andokid , having not lived with her for a year, he took her mother Chrysilla to his house and began to live with both. The daughter of Iskhomakh could not endure such a shame and tried to commit suicide, and then fled from her husband ^[13] .

After some time, he also drove out his wife’s mother, she stated that she was pregnant from him, when her relatives demanded Callia to acknowledge paternity during apathy , he vowed that he had only one son. There was a scandal, and another one happened when Callius again got married to this woman and then officially recognized her child ^[14] .

Then Callius set out to marry also the daughter of Epilicus. According to Andokid, this libertine had little mother and daughter, he also wanted a granddaughter, intending to surpass Oedipus and Aegisthus ^{[K 1] [15]} . Since the relative of Epilica Andokid claimed his rights to the girl, Kallius charged him with blasphemy, tried to falsify evidence, but was exposed and lost the case.

All these details are known from the words of Andokid, who was an interested person, but, being Kerik himself by mother, he was probably knowledgeable about the family affairs of his enemy. In the text of his speech, the names of witnesses are given, and, in general, the information communicated by him seems reliable ^{[16] [2]} .

The process of the Mysteries took place in 400/399 BC. e., and, as it is believed, its main reason was a commercial conflict between two groups of farmers , one of which, taking charge of the two percent trade duty, was represented by Andokid, and the other, who lost the competition, Kallius ^{[17] [18]} .

According to ancient authors, Kallius spent a lot of money on a getter, the scholars to Aristophanes reported that he had to pay three talents in order to avoid trial for seducing a married woman, and this information is confirmed by other sources ^[2] .

Xenophon mentions Callia several times in Greek History . According to him, “he was such a person who no less willingly squandered himself praises than he listened to them from the lips of others” ^[19] .

In the Socratic essay Pir, a sympathy is described, allegedly held in the house of Callius on the occasion of the victory of Autolycus, son of Lycon, in pankratiya for boys in the Panathenaeans . This meeting was to be held in 422 BC. e., and, according to Xenophon, Socrates and he were present there. Athena still made fun of the last statement ^[20] , since Xenophon was born somewhere between 430 and 425 BC. e.

Nevertheless, Xenophon could be based on the stories of Socrates and other information about Callia, and there was no reason to discard his messages. In the dialogue, Callius appears as a pompous fool, to whom Socrates' subtle ridicule does not reach. He tries to impress the sophists by stating that “I used to hide from you that I can say a lot of smart things, and now, if you have it, I will show you that I deserve full attention” ^[21] , and when he has asked to say something smart, begins to prove that makes people better and fairer by giving them money ^[22] .

To the vile question of Antisthenes - are they even paying him gratitude for this? - Kallius is forced to admit that not only do not pay, but some become even more hostile than before ^[23] . He consoles himself with a rather awkward sophism, and Socrates ironically acknowledges his alleged victory in the dispute ^[24] , and at the end of the dialogue he advises Callia to become the head of the city, and he takes his words at face value ^[25] .

Plato describes Callia's house in Protagoras . The conversation described in this dialogue, if we assume that it took place at all, was supposed to happen in the late 430s BC. e., probably, before the Peloponnesian war , that is, even during the life of Hippo.

In Socrates' Apology, Plato, like Xenophon, taunts the exorbitant spending and vanity of Callius, who was trying to learn philosophy. According to him, “Callius overpaid more money to the sophists than all the others combined” ^[26] .

Aristophanes mentions Callia in “The Birds” (it is in the scholars for this comedy that she speaks of a fine for seduction and a fake testament) and “Frogs” , where the poet lets out his poignancy: “And Callius, they told me, the son of Hippoblood, beats in a lion's skin with a girl in a mess ” ^[27] , hinting that he let down his paternal fortune in whores.

In the comedy “Flatterers” that did not reach us, Eupolid abused the shameless hangers-on around Callia while he had money.

Kratin , who mocked Kallia’s father in his comedies, sharply attacked him, reproaching him for his extravagance and indicating that Kallius suffers from the persecution of sycophants because of his immoral lifestyle ^[2] .

Aeschine Socrates dedicated Callia to the dialogue of the same name ^[1] , in which he mocked him with ridicule, like the authors of comedies. Chameleon Heraclesky in The Exhortation writes that Kallius studied flute playing, which in those days was still not considered shameful (the leader of the oligarchs Critius was also fond of this fun) ^[28]

By the time of the Corinthian War, Kallius was almost ruined, all his property was valued at two talents (his grandfather, also called Kallius Bogaty , estimated his fortune at 200 talents) ^[4] . Iphicrates mockingly called Callia "the mendicant priest of Cybele" ^[2] .

According to Heraclides of Pontius , the author of the book “On Pleasures”, in his old age all his friends and parasites abandoned Callia, he lived with one old barbarian woman and died in poverty, having no necessities ^[29] . According to legend, Callius, whose name, according to Athenaeus, in his time was known even to slaves who accompanied children to school ^[30] , committed suicide by taking poison.

According to the joke preserved by Claudius Elian ,

Motivation and profligacy ruined Pericles, Callius, son of Hippo, and Nikias of Pergasa; when all the money came out, they poured each other a bowl of poison for the last time and passed away like a feast.

- Elian . Colorful stories. IV. 23

.

• Marinovich L.P. Citizen at the festival of the Great Dionysius and Polis ideology // Man and society in the ancient world. - M .: Nauka, 1998 .-- ISBN 5-02-009559-1 .
• Nikityuk E.V. Orator Andokid and processes on charges of wickedness (ajsevbeia) in Athens at the turn of the 5th-4th centuries BC e. // Publications of the Center for Antiquity of St. Petersburg State University. - SPb. 1996.
• Swoboda E. Kallias 3 // Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft . Band X, 2. - Stuttgart: Alfred Druckenmüller, 1919.
• Surikov I.E. Two essays on the foreign policy of classical Athens // Interstate relations and diplomacy in antiquity. Part 1. - Kazan: Publishing house of Kazan State University, 2000. - ISBN 5-93139-066-9 .
• Frolov E. D. From the history of the political struggle in Athens at the end of the 5th century BC e. // Andokid. Speeches, or the history of the patriarchs. - SPb. : Aletheia, 1996 .-- ISBN 5-85233-003-26.