The Mutilation of the Herms

Pictures related to the so-called "mutilation of the herms," a city-wide act of vandalism that led to a sort of witch hunt in Athens in 415 B.C. The incident is the subject of my self-published book The Mutilation of the Herms: Unpacking an Ancient Mystery.
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Debra Hamel
a statue of a man with curly hair wearing a headdress in front of a red wall
The charismatic Alcibiades, who had been appointed as general of the upcoming expedition to Sicily, was implicated in the profanation of the Mysteries.
the ruins of an ancient city with people walking around
The investigation into the mutilation of the herms led to the discovery of a series of unrelated offenses: the profanation of the Eleusinian Mysteries. Pictured is an excavation site at Eleusis, some 20 miles northwest of Athens.
an ancient greek book with the title, lysphatia and other plays
Aristophanes refers to the hermokopidae--literally "herm choppers"--in lines 1093-1094 of his play Lysistrata: "If you're smart [he says to a chorus of men sporting huge erections], you'll close your coats lest the hermokopidae see you."
an image of some type of stone with writing on it
A fragment of one of the inscriptions that recorded the sale of property confiscated from those found guilty in the scandals of 415 B.C.
an ancient temple on top of a hill
The Temple of Hephaestus, in Athens' agora, where Diocleides allegedly talked to one of the hermokopidai, Euphemus.
The cover of my Kindle book, The Mutilation of the Herms: Unpacking an Ancient Mystery Greek History, Short Words, Short Books, Ancient Mysteries, Kindle App, Greek Gods, True Stories, Amazon Books, Kindle Books
The Mutilation of the Herms: Unpacking an Ancient Mystery
The cover of my Kindle book, The Mutilation of the Herms: Unpacking an Ancient Mystery
an aerial view of the ancient city of ephes, with ruins and trees in the foreground
The Theater of Dionysus, near the Acropolis in Athens, where Diocleides said he saw the hermokopidai ("herm-choppers") gathered before they went out to mutilate the statues.
a map of the middle east showing the route of mittelmeer and ktm
The herms were mutilated in late May or early June of 415 B.C., shortly before the Athenians launched their expedition to Sicily. The expedition would end in disaster two years later.
a map showing the location of an airport
Diocleides allegedly saw the hermokopidae milling around the Theater of Dionysus in the middle of the night before they'd vandalized the statues. He had woken up early because he had to walk down to Laurium in southern Attica, some 20 or 25 miles away, to collect a payment from a slave who was working the silver mines there.
Cover of the paperback version of The Mutilation of the Herms. Greek History, Short Books, Ancient Mysteries, Greek Gods, Paperback Books, True Stories, How To Know, Amazon Books, Book Club Books
The Mutilation of the Herms: Unpacking an Ancient Mystery
Cover of the paperback version of The Mutilation of the Herms.
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Our principal source for the mutilation of the herms is Andocides' speech On the Mysteries.
an old black and white drawing of men in ancient clothing standing around a table with other people
This 17th-century engraving by Pietro Testa depicts the drunken Alcibiades interrupting a more sedate get-together (as described by Plato in his dialogue Symposium).
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Ancient Mysteries
Athens
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