On 7 June 415 BCE, various statues of the god Hermes were desecrated in Athens. The Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE) had been raging for decades as one of the biggest civil wars in Ancient Greece, and the Athenians prepared for the expedition to Sicily in 415 BCE. However, a few priests warned against it, and others spoke of disastrous omens. The Athenian statesman Alcibiades (450-404 BCE), on the other hand, spoke of oracles and counter-omens. Regardless, Athens was preparing for the expedition confident of their safety and hoping to acquire a huge revenue source in Sicily. However, on the morning of 7 June 415 BCE a general cause of alarm occurred in Athens; hermai, statues of the god Hermes, throughout the city had their faces smashed and their phalluses hacked off. This event is not without controversy and its impact on Athens and Alcibiades remains important to this day as a prelude to the disaster in Sicily.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original content at https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1684/the-desecration-of-the-statues-of-hermes-415-bce/.