We have here a convenient summary of the life and career of one of the most celebrated characters in all of ancient history (excerpted from M. Cartwright, Ancient History Encyclopedia, 2013). Alcibiades is described as talented, flamboyant, colorful, cunning, treacherous, and extravagant. We are also told that it was his “shifting of sides” during the great war between Athens and Sparta that earned him the reputation for cunning and treachery.