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The Alcmaeonidae (; Ἀλκμαιωνίδαι, ; Attic Greek: Ἀλκμεωνίδαι, ) or Alcmaeonids () were a wealthy and powerful Eupatridae of ancient Athens, a branch of the Neleides who claimed descent from the Greek mythology Alcmaeon, the great-grandson of Nestor.
In the 7th through 5th centuries BC, the Alcmaeonidae played a significant role in the developments and events that occurred in Athens. Such developments included overthrowing an Athenian tyrant, helping to lay the foundations of Athenian democracy, and having generals for Athens during the Peloponnesian War. The Alcmaeonidae were mentioned frequently throughout Herodotus' The Histories, and many played a key role in shaping Athens. The first prominent Alcmaeonid was Megacles, who was exiled from the city and given a curse on him and his family. Furthermore, there was Cleisthenes, who became known as "the father of Athenian democracy" by numerous scholars and historians.R. Po-chia Hsia, Julius Caesar, Thomas R. Martin, Barbara H. Rosenwein, and Bonnie G. Smith, The Making of the West, Peoples and Cultures, A Concise History, Volume I: To 1740 (Boston and New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2007), 44. Another famous Alcmaeonid was Pericles, whom Thucydides would later call "the first citizen of Athens," as well as Alcibiades, who switched sides numerous times during the Peloponnesian War, and would end up being the last of the notable Alcmaeonidae.Strassler, R.B, ed. The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War. Trans. by R. Crawley. New York: The Free Press, 1996. pp. 6.61. The main aristocratic rival of the Alcmaeonidae in the 6th and 5th centuries BC were the Peisistratos.Strassler, R.B, ed. The Landmark Herodotus: The Histories. Trans. by A.L. Purvis. New York: Anchor Books, 2009. p. 791.
Alcmaeonids were allowed back into the city in 594 BC, during the archonship of Solon, and were able to recover significant influence. During the Tyrant of Pisistratus, a member of the influential Peisistratids family and rival clan to the Alcmaeonidae, the aforementioned Megacles married his daughter to the tyrant, but when the tyrant refused to have children with her, Megacles and his allies banished him.Strassler, R.B, ed. The Landmark Herodotus. pp. 1.61. Later the Alcmaeonids would claim to have been exiled following Pisistratus' return in 546 BC, so as to distance themselves from possible accusations of complicity, but epigraphic evidence in fact proves that Cleisthenes was archon for the year 525–24 BC. Megacles was able to marry (for a second or third time) Agarista, the daughter of the tyrant Cleisthenes of Sicyon. They had two sons, Hippocrates and another Cleisthenes, this one the reformer of Athenian democracy. Hippocrates' daughter was Agariste, the mother of Pericles.
A few of the contributions that the Alcmaeonid Cleisthenes helped develop in Athens included the shifting of political organization from the four traditional tribes, which were based on family relations and which formed the basis of the upper class Athenian political power network, into ten tribes according to their area of residence (their deme), which would form the basis of a new democratic power structure.Aristotle, Politics 6.4. Additionally, through Cleisthenes' reforms, the people of Athens endowed their city with isonomic institutions—equal rights for all citizens (though only men were citizens)—and established ostracism as a punishment. He also established sortition—the random selection of citizens to fill government positions rather than kinship or heredity, a true test of real democracy. He reorganized the Boule, created with 400 members under Solon, so that it had 500 members, 50 from each tribe. He also introduced the bouletic oath, "To advise according to the laws what was best for the people".Morris & Raaflaub Democracy 2500?: Questions and Challenges.
Alcibiades was a prominent orator, general, and statesman of Athens as well; however, he would end up switching sides from Athens to Sparta several times during the Peloponnesian War. He was an aggressive advocate for the Sicilian Expedition, and eventually fled to Sparta after accusations of sacrilege. According to some scholars, Alcibiades was an invincible general and wherever he went, victory would follow; had he led the army in Sicily, the Athenians would have avoided disaster and, had his countrymen followed his advice at Aegospotami, Lysander would have lost and Athens would have ruled Greece."Alcibiades." Encyclopaedic Dictionary: The Helios. 1952. Alcibiades also tried to ally with the Persians after he was accused of impiety, but Thucydides claims this was due to him wanting to be restored in Athens by the Persians. Ultimately failing to achieve this goal.Strassler, R.B, ed. The Landmark Thucydides. pp. 8.47. The family would eventually disappear from prominence after the defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian War.
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