Alcibiades comes from one of the best families in Athens, the family of the Alcmeonidae. His uncle is Pericles. Plutarch notes that he was famous for his good looks throughout his life and that these good looks gave him many advantages.

There are a lot of inconsistencies in Alcibiades’s character. From a young age, he loves competition and being the best. He is also very vain, refusing to play the flute because of the way it makes his face look, and he can be extremely reckless. Among the people drawn to the young Alcibiades is the philosopher, Socrates. According to Plutarch, Socrates was Alcibiades’s only real friend who tried to help him: Besides Socrates, Alcibiades was surrounded only by flatterers. Though Alcibiades greatly reveres Socrates, he is also self-indulgent and allows himself to be moved too much by his flatterers, who play to his desire for fame.

For all his weaknesses, Alcibiades is a brave soldier. In the Battle of Potidaea, he is nearly killed but is saved by Socrates. In the later Battle of Delium, Alcibiades puts himself in danger to defend Socrates.

Alcibiades marries Hipparete, the daughter of a wealthy Athenian named Hipponicus. Hipparete soon tries to divorce Alcibiades when she learns of all the time he spends with sex workers.