He was the son of Callias II of the deme Alopece and Elpinice of Laciadae (sister of Cimon).
[3] Hipponicus' wealth came from, among other things, his owning six hundred slaves working at the silver mines at Laurion in southern Attica.
[4] In 445/4 BC he was secretary of the Athenian Council (boule)[1] and was still active as late as 426 BC when he, Nicias and Eurymedon commanded Athenian regiments in an incursion into Boeotian territory where they successfully engaged Tanagran and Theban forces at Tanagra.
[5] Hipponicus was reported by Andocides to have been slain at the Battle of Delium in 424 BC,[6] but this appears to have been an error, either on Andocides' part or a later transcriber, for Thucydides reported that the general at Delium was Hippocrates.
[7] According to Athenaeus, Hipponicus died shortly before Eupolis exhibited his comedy Flatterers during the archonship of Alcaeus ( 422/1).