Anytus (/ˈænɪtəs/; Ancient Greek: Ἄνυτος, romanized: Ánytos; probably before 451 – after 388 BCE[1]), son of Anthemion of the deme Euonymon, was a politician in Classical Athens.
Anytus appears to have been one of the nouveaux riche of Athens, that is, of the commercial class and not one of the landed aristocracy that had ruled the city since time immemorial.
Both Plutarch and Athenaeus described an incident where Anytus was hosting a dinner party during which Alcibiades rudely commandeered half the gold and silver cups at the table and presented them as a gift to Thrasyllus, another of the evening’s guests who was quite poor.
When their companions expressed indignation at Alcibiades’ effrontery, Anytus responded that his beloved had not been inconsiderate, but just the opposite, since he had the power to take everything and yet left half behind.
[10] The Spartans demanded that the city take down its walls, recall its exiles (oligarchic sympathizers all), and restore the ancient government – i.e., dismantle its democracy.
[11] Lysias, in one of his forensic orations, related an incident where one Agoratus, who had cooperated with the Thirty at first, later tried to join the exiles at Phyle, a fortress in northern Attica where they were organizing a counter coup.
[13] One of the means implemented to reconcile the warring parties was a general amnesty,[14] which was resented by many who had lost loved ones and property during the carnage perpetrated by the Thirty.
He specifically named Thrasyboulus and Anytus as:men of greatest influence in the city, although they have been robbed of large sums of money and know who gave in lists of their goods, nevertheless are not so brazen as to bring suit against them or to bring up old grudges against them; on the contrary, even if, in respect to all other claims, they have greater power than others to accomplish their ends, yet in matters covered by the covenant at least they see fit to put themselves on terms of equality with the other citizens.
[17]Diogenes, on the other hand, wrote: The affidavit in the case, which is still preserved, says Favorinus, in the Metroon [de], ran as follows: “This indictment and affidavit is sworn by Meletus, the son of Meletus of Pitthos, against Socrates, the son of Sophroniscus of Alopece: Socrates is guilty of refusing to recognize the gods recognized by the state, and of introducing other new divinities.
[19] As a latter-day democrat,[20] and one who had fought against the Thirty at Phyle and Peiraieus, Anytus would certainly have supported any effort to get rid of persons who directly or indirectly were responsible for these violent attacks on Athens’ government.
Themistocles, Aristeides, Pericles, and Thucydides (son of Melesias, not the historian) were his examples – men whom one would think would have included ethical education among those subjects taught to them.
In saying this he was not mistaken; the young man, delighting in wine, never left off drinking night or day, and at last turned out worth nothing to his city, his friends, or himself.
But it accords with the general pattern of Socrates enthralling the youth of Athens by embarrassing its leading citizens when they failed to satisfactorily answer his probing questions about virtue and wisdom.
The scholiast to Plato’s Apology (18b), cited in note 3 above, provided some additional background:[Anytus] was rich from his tanning business, for which he was mocked by Socrates.
They banished the other accusers, but put Meletus to death; they honoured Socrates with a bronze statue, the work of Lysippus, which they placed in the hall of processions.
Finally, he appears to have done a poor job of raising his son, and, rather than take responsibility for that, placed the blame for how the lad turned out on a man who did little more than ask people to question their assumptions about life.
For all his contributions to Athenian society, both positive and negative, his lasting legacy is to have prosecuted on trumped up charges one of the most admired men in world history.