Abstract

Athenian democracy depended upon political &apos champions&apos in order to operate effectively, although the champions themselves were often heavily criticised. At the same time, critics of democracy looked for alternatives in the &apos best men&apos, or &apos best man&apos to rule the state. Thucydides engages with both these issues, and informed by wider political debates and other representations of the 'democratic monarch' , analyses and draws a character sketch of Pericles and Alcibiades, in their role as either `good king' or `bad tyrant', in order to present a critique of democratic stability