Hermocrates

Hermocrates (Ancient Greek: Ἑρμοκράτης, died 407 BC) was an ancient Syracusan general during the Athenians' Sicilian Expedition in the midst of the Peloponnesian War. He is also remembered as a character in the Timaeus and Critias dialogues of Plato.

Life
The first historical reference to Hermocrates comes from Thucydides, where he appears at the congress of Gela in 424 BC giving a speech demanding the Sicilian Greeks stop their quarreling. In 415 BC he proposed a coalition that would even include non-Sicilian cities (as well as non-Greek cities such as Carthage) in an alliance against Athens.

He was elected as one of Syracuse's three strategoi, but was dismissed from this position after a short period because of his lack of success in battle. Later he was one of the most important advisers to the Spartan general Gylippus, and thus contributed to the victory over Athens during its siege of Syracuse.

In 412 BC he held the position of admiral during the battle of Cyzicus. In this battle, the Spartans and their allies were badly defeated by the Athenians and, as a result, Hermocrates was banned in absentia. He did not return to Sicily until 408 BC. He died in a street fight after a failed coup in Syracuse in 407 BC.

Other literary appearances
Hermocrates is one of the persons appearing in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias. Plato originally might have planned a third dialogue named Hermocrates, but failed to compose it. F. M. Conford writes: "'Since the dialogue that was to bear his name was never written, we can only guess why Plato chose him. It is curious to reflect that, while Critias is to recount how the prehistoric Athens of nine thousand years ago had repelled the invasion from Atlantis and saved the Mediterranean peoples from slavery, Hermocrates would be remembered by the Athenians as the man who had repulsed their own greatest effort at imperialist expansion.'"

Hermocrates is also mentioned by Xenophon, Plutarch and Polyaenus.

In popular culture
In the comic book Yu-Gi-Oh! by Shonen Jump, Hermocrates (here named Hermos) is one of the three warriors of Atlantis turned into dragons along with Critias and Timaeus in the Waking the Dragons arc of the series.

In Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (1992) Plato's "Lost Dialogue" (titled Hermocrates) is the player's guide to locating Atlantis.