Yes it is greek history time again
which means it is time to learn about assholes
or really, one asshole
generally when we talk about history
we tend to focus on one or two assholes at a time
(or else whole huge groups of assholes that run in packs
leaving great greasy black trails of shit all over everything
but that’s gross so today we’re only talking about one)

this asshole on which we are focusing today
is attached to a dude named Alcibiades
and he is objectively the HOTTEST DUDE TO EVER HAVE LIVED
he is so hot that people find themselves unable to call him on any of his bullshit
and my friends
Alcibiades is the source of a whole BARREL FULL of bullshit
a REALLY LARGE barrel
like REALLY LARGE
like … they don’t make barrels as large as the barrel i’m imagining here
so maybe barrel was the wrong word
maybe “vat” would be more appropriate
no actually
boat
a huge cruise-liner full of bullshit
floating on a gently rolling sea of bullshit
and then it rains and you discover that the clouds were also made of bullshit
and now it’s raining bullshit
it’s really unpleasant, is what I’m saying
it’s really unpleasant for anybody but Alcibiades

Seriously, dude can get away with anything
one time he gets invited to a party
and he doesn’t want to go
but then he gets drunk at home
and decides to crash the party
and have his servants straight up steal HALF THE SILVERWARE
and the host of the party is like HAHA THAT’S OKAY
HE’S ACTUALLY BEING REALLY CONSIDERATE BY NOT TAKING THE OTHER HALF
another time Alcibiades punches a famous dude in the face on a dare
and his only punishment is GETTING TO MARRY THAT DUDE’S DAUGHTER
who he impregnates
and then he demands more money from her father to support the baby
and then when his wife tries to divorce him for buying too many prostitutes
he literally picks her up and carries her to another city
and i guess keeps carrying her with him everywhere he goes until she dies
and nobody does anything about it because HE’S SO SEXY

but there is exactly one person who is willing to call bullshit
and that is the dude who is a bad enough dude to call bullshit on LIFE ITSELF
yeah babies
i’m talking about SOCRATES
I mean don’t get me wrong
Socrates is just as hypnotized by Alcibiades’ wang as everybody else
but he is also actively engaged in trying to make Alcibiades use his wang for good
rather than for dumb
basically Alcibiades is Dorian Gray
and Socrates is his Basil
and EVERY OTHER PERSON IN ATHENS is Henry

so naturally debauchery wins out
and Alcibiades does the only natural thing for jerks to do in athens:
he runs for office
and he wins
because
well
i’m not sure if I’ve said this yet
but he’s SUPER HOT
and then he immediately starts screwing things up for everyone including himself

you see, at this time in athens, Alcibiades is not the only popular dude
there are exactly two others
one of them is called Nicias, and Alcibiades cannot STAND him
cause Athens happens to be at war with Sparta at the time
which is not unusual because Sparta is basically at war with EVERYONE ALL THE TIME
(seriously i don’t get how greece is even a country)
and Nicias has been doing everything he can to stop the war
which Alcibiades thinks is lame because he fucking crazy

pretty soon Sparta sends a couple of diplomats to Athens
and these diplomats are actually special SUPER-diplomats
with the power to make whatever the hell deals they want
they’re there because Nicias told them to come there
so naturally Alcibiades has to fuck this all up

he calls the diplomats up and he’s like yo guys
i hear you wanna meet with the people of athens tomorrow
and make some sweet deals
my advice is don’t do that
the people of athens are all total assholes
and if you tell them you have any kind of decision-making power
they will destroy you like new prison ass
TRUST ME

so the next day the diplomats show up in front of everyone
and Alcibiades is like hey guys do you have the power to make deals?
and they’re like NOPE
and Alcibiades is like YOU FUCKING ASSHOLES
HOW DARE YOU COME HERE NOT BEING ABLE TO MAKE DEALS
NICIAS HOW DARE YOU BRING THESE NON-DEAL-MAKIN’ MOTHERFUCKERS UP IN HERE
and Nicias is like …?

so Athens gets to keep being at war with Sparta
and Alcibiades gets to be general, because it looks like he’s super keen on war
and he abuses this power by immediately hatching a plan to take over sicily
as part of a crazy Alexander-the-Great style plan to take over EVERYTHING
but nobody realizes how crazy the plan is because Alcibiades is SO SEXY

okay, that’s a lie
there are some people who are not dazzled by the light glistening off his pecs
and these people come up with a great scheme to destroy him:
see, apparently Alcibiades has been having the ancient greek equivalent
of some late-night Rocky Horror Picture Show screenings
where everyone dresses up as priests from one of the local temples
and then they all re-enact some sacred ritual or whatever
(wearing fishnets? I don’t know
I was trying to come up with a good metaphor, forgive me)
and at the same time as they’re doing this
some jerk is running around athens
chopping the dicks off of statues of hermes
and that wouldn’t be a big deal
greek statues don’t have very big dicks anyway
but the statues of hermes are LITERALLY NOTHING BUT A HEAD AND A DICK:

So all the devout hermes-worshippers
and super-lazy sculptors
are obviously really mad about this part
and since Alcibiades has to leave to help with this war he started
his enemies take the opportunity to get everyone REALLY MAD about this stuff
and vote to kill him when he comes home
so they send a boat to ask him to come home
and he’s like uh
naw
I think actually what I’m going to do is defect to sparta
peace

so he defects to sparta
and sets them up in a fort right outside Athens
then gets kicked out of sparta for fucking the king’s wife
and joins the persians
because really he isn’t ready to be a father

so as soon as he’s working for the persians he starts calling up Athens
(which is still fighting Sparta)
and he’s like yo guys
if you set up a new government and make me part of it
I’ll totally come back home and bring all these persian troops
which is total bullshit
but they set up the new government anyway
because it’s super unjust in a way that appeals to rich people
and then they bring Alcibiades back even though he can’t bring any Persian troops
…because he’s hot?

but it’s okay
he actually does a really good job for Athens in the war
mainly because he knows that if he goes back home without doing a good job
he’ll be killed for that weird religious stuff he did
and also the dick-chopping
(which i guess was also religious and weird
but it deserves its own category because i wanted to say dick-chopping again)

so he does all that good stuff and goes home
and he’s well-received and everything
but then he needs to go fight sparta again
and he loses somehow
so Athens fires him again
along with all its other good generals
which is a great strategy if your goal is to get conquered by sparta
which is pretty much what happens
and then meanwhile Alcibiades runs back to persia
and gets burned to death in his house by some Spartans
which means, yes
he finally died from being too hot.

so the moral of the story
is that honesty is the best policy
unless you’re sexy

the end.