Hipparete

Hipparete sought unsuccessfully to end her marriage with the Athenian statesman Alcibiades. Her father, Hipponicus, was the wealthiest man in Athens. After her grandfather died, her father inherited the family property, including silver mines. Hipparete's mother, Hipparete (1), was the divorced wife of Pericles, Athens's most famous ruler.

Hipparete married Alcibiades sometime in the late 420s BCE and was said to have been a proper and affectionate wife to her brilliant and mercurial husband, who led the Athenian navy to victory at Cyzicus in 421. Both charming and handsome, her husband was notorious for his sexual exploits and pranks, some of which were incorporated into several of Plato's Socratic dialogues. Nonetheless, Hipparete had every reason to expect from her husband the respect due to a well-born wife and adherence to the expected social proprieties. After he repeatedly brought prostitutes into their home, she fled to her brother's house. On her own, in a show of public independence, she went to register her divorce. Alcibiades intercepted her en route and forcibly carried her across the public market back into his house.

Alcibiades' interest in maintaining his marriage may have had more to do with money than affection. Hipparete had a dowry of 20 talents. The sum was huge when one considers that the total revenue of Athens in 431 BCE was estimated at 1,000 talents. Under Athenian law, Alcibiades would have been forced to return the money had they divorced. Half of the dowry had been given at their marriage, and the second half would come due upon the birth of a son. Hipparete died shortly after the birth of that son in 417 or 416 BCE .