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Statues of Hermes are smashed across Athens

415 BCE, Athens. An event.

Where and when

415 BCEAthens

2,440.1 years ago

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, Athens

In one night, most of the stone Hermes figures at Athens' doorways have their faces mutilated, just as the fleet for Sicily is being prepared.

In the midst of these preparations all the stone Hermae in the city of Athens, that is to say the customary square figures so common in the doorways of private houses and temples, had in one night most of them their faces mutilated.

Thucydides 6.27.1Translated by Richard Crawley (1874)Read the full passage (Thucydides 6.27.1, opens scaife.perseus.org)

Background: Sicilian Expedition: Destruction of the hermai, Wikipedia (opens en.wikipedia.org)

Why it matters

Athenians took it as a bad omen for the expedition and as evidence of a plot to overthrow the government. Alcibiades was later put under arrest, partly over the herms.

Based on Wikipedia: Sicilian Expedition

This event was taken very seriously by the Athenian people as it was considered a bad omen for the expedition, as well as evidence of a revolutionary conspiracy to overthrow the government.

The fleet proceeded to Catania, where an Athenian ship arrived to inform Alcibiades that he was under arrest, not only for the destruction of the hermai, but also for supposedly profaning the Eleusinian Mysteries.

Wikipedia, Sicilian Expedition (opens en.wikipedia.org), as of 2026-09-27. Text CC BY-SA 4.0. Our line is checked against these sentences only.

Related moments

In time order, with this one in its place. Each says why it is here.

  1. 423 BCE7.899999999999977 years earlier Aristophanes' Socrates on the gods Also about the gods
  2. c. 420–413 BCEDuring it Orestes on judging a man's worth Also in Athens
  3. 416 BCE0.8999999999999773 years earlier Athens takes Melos and kills its men Same years
  4. set in 416 BCE0.8999999999999773 years earlier Socrates on Love as the best helper Also in Athens
  5. 415 BCEThis momentStatues of Hermes are smashed across Athens
  6. 415 BCE0.10000000000002274 years later The great fleet sails for Sicily Same years
  7. c. 420–410 BCEDuring it Socrates on why he stays in the city Also in Athens
  8. c. 431–400 BCEDuring it Thucydides on how he wrote the speeches Same years
  9. 413 BCE2.1000000000000227 years later The Athenian army is destroyed in Sicily Same years
  10. 411 BCE4.100000000000023 years later An oligarchy of Four Hundred seizes Athens Same years
  11. set in 399 BCE16.100000000000023 years later Socrates asks Euthyphro what holiness is Also about the gods

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