Who was behind the Segesta ruse? I am proposing that Alcibiades was the mastermind of both the dinner ware ploy and the one involving the temple. He certainly had a motive, as no one had lusted after Sicily and a conquest of the island as much as Alcibiades. Playing tricks came naturally for him, and his entire public career had been filled with connivances and chicanery. Alcibiades knew what it would take to convince the Athenian Assembly to launch an expedition and he understood what a draw a small temple in the heart of Sicily could be. As for the people of Segesta, I’m proposing that they were merely the agents of Alcibiades. They went along with his idea of faking great wealth and they most likely listened to him about the propganada value of the temple project. The Segestans needed someone like Alcibiades to advise them on what it would take to get the Athenians to commit to such an enormous undertaking, and they needed someone like Alcibiades to help with the construction of a building that was foreign to them. Alcibiades doubtless knew the great temple architects of Athens and he easily could have arranged for their services on behalf of the Segesta project.