Critical Interpretation of a Concept:Cyrus II and Xerxes I in the Platonic Conversation "Alcibiades Major"

Some scholars doubt that the dialog "Alcibiades Major" was written by Plato, but this conversation has an important place among the works belonging to the Platonic school. "Alcibiades Major" contains a dialog between Socrates and the young Alcibiades, and in some parts of the conversation they also talk about the Achaemenid Empire. In this study, only one part of the conversation has been considered, namely that Socrates mentions Cyrus the Great and Xerxes I as the only people the young and ambitious Alcibiades respects. Thus, the aim of this study is to identify, through a critical and comparative reading of the conversation of "Alcibiades Major", the concepts and images that led the author to mention the names of Cyrus and Xerxes as the only honorable persons for Alcibiades". Finally, this study aims to analyze the hidden ideas that existed in the public opinion of the Greeks of the 5th and 4th centuries BC about these two Achaemenid great kings.