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Information about Cleon

For the fictional Galactic Emperors in the writings of Isaac Asimov, see Cleon I and Cleon II.


Cleon (Greek: Κλέων) (d. 422 BC), Athenian Strategos during the Peloponnesian War, was the son of Cleaenetus, from whom he inherited a lucrative tanning business. He was the first prominent representative of the commercial class in Athenian politics, although he was an aristocrat himself.

He came into notice first as an opponent of Pericles, and curiously found himself acting in concert with the aristocrats, who equally hated and feared Pericles. During the dark days of 430, after the unsuccessful expedition of Pericles to Peloponnesus, and when the city was devastated by the plague, Cleon headed the opposition to the Periclean régime. Pericles was accused by Cleon of maladministration of public money, with the result that he was actually found guilty (see Grote's History of Greece, abridged ed., 1907, p. 406, note 1).

A reversal of feeling, however, soon took place. Pericles was reinstated, and Cleon now for a time fell into the background. The death of Pericles (429) left the field clear for him. Hitherto he had only been a vigorous opposition speaker, a trenchant critic and accuser of state officials. He now came forward as the professed champion and leader of the democracy, and, owing to the moderate abilities of his rivals and opponents, he was for some years undoubtedly the foremost man in Athens. Although rough and unpolished, he was gifted with natural eloquence and a powerful voice, and knew exactly how to work upon the feelings of the people. He strengthened his hold on the poorer classes by his measure for trebling the pay of the jurymen, which provided the poorer Athenians with an easy means of livelihood.

The notorious fondness of the Athenians for litigation increased his power; and the practice of "sycophancy" (raking up material for false charges), enabled him to remove those who were likely to endanger his ascendancy. Having no further use for his former aristocratic associates, he broke off all connection with them, and thus felt at liberty to attack the secret combinations for political purposes, the oligarchical clubs to which they mostly belonged. Whether he also introduced a property-tax for military purposes, and even held a high position in connexion with the treasury, is uncertain. His ruling principles were an inveterate hatred of the nobility, and an equal hatred of Sparta. It was mainly through him that the opportunity of concluding an honourable peace (in 425) was lost, and in his determination to see Sparta humbled he misled the people as to the extent of the resources of the state, and dazzled them by promises of future benefits.

In 427 Cleon gained an evil notoriety by his proposal to put to death the whole male population of Mytilene, which had put itself at the head of a revolt. His proposal, though at first accepted, was soon rescinded, though about 1000 chief leaders and prominent men of Mytilene were executed. In 425, he reached the summit of his fame by capturing and transporting to Athens the Spartans who had been blockaded at the Battle of Sphacteria. Much of the credit was probably due to the military skill of his colleague Demosthenes (not the orator); but it must be admitted that it was due to Cleon's determination that the Ecclesia sent out the additional force which was needed.

In 426 Cleon brought an unsuccessful prosecution against Laches based on the generalship in the unsuccessful first Sicily expedition. This is one of the very few times that an Athenian general escaped civil punishment for a defeat.

It was almost certainly due to Cleon that the tribute of the "allies" was doubled in 425. In 422 he was sent to recapture Amphipolis, but was out-generalled by the Spartan Brasidas. However, both Brasidas and Cleon were killed at Amphipolis and their deaths removed the chief obstacle to peace. Thus, in 421 the peace of Nicias was concluded.

Aristophanes and Thucydides on Cleon

The character of Cleon is represented by Aristophanes and Thucydides in a very unfavourable light. But neither can be considered an unprejudiced witness. The poet had a grudge against Cleon, who may have accused him before the senate of having ridiculed (in his lost play Babylonians) the policy and institutions of his country in the presence of foreigners and at the time of a great national war. Thucydides, a man of strong oligarchical prejudices, had also been prosecuted for military incapacity and exiled by a decree proposed by Cleon. It is therefore possible that Cleon has had injustice done to him in the portraits handed down by these two writers[1].

Authorities

For the literature on Cleon see CF Hermann, Lehrbuch der griechischen Antiquilaten, i. pt. 2 (6th ed. by V Thumser, 1892), p. 709, and Georg Busolt, Griechische Geschichte, iii. pt. 2 (1904), p. 988, note 3.

The following are the chief authorities:
  • Favourable to Cleon
  • C. F Ranke, Commentatio de Vita Aristoprianis (Leipzig, 1845)
  • JG Droysen, Aristophanes, ii., Introd. to the Knights (Berlin, 1837)
  • G. Grote, History of Greece. chs. 50, 54
  • W. Oncken, Athen und Hellas, ii. p. 204 (Leipzig, 1866)
  • H. Muller Strubing, Aristophanes und die historisehe Kritik (Leipzig, 1873)
  • J. B. Bury, Hist, of Greece, i. (1902)
  • Unfavourable
  • J. F. Kortüm, Geschichtliche Forschungen (Leipzig, 1863), and Zur Geschichte hellenichen Statsverfassungen (Heidelberg, 1821)
  • F. Passow, Vermischte Schriften (Leipzig, 1843)
  • C Thirlwall, History of Greece, ch. 21
  • E Curtius, History of Greece (Eng. tr. iii. p. 112)
  • J. Schwartz, Die Demokratie (Leipzig, 1882)
  • H Delbrück, Die Strategie des Perikles (Berlin, 1890)
  • E. Meyer, Forschungen zur alten Geschichte, ii. p. 333 (Halle, 1899)
  • Balance between the two extreme views:
  • Karl Julius Beloch, Die attische Politik seit Perikles (Leipzig, 1884), and Griechische Geschichte, i. p. 537
  • A. Holm, History of Greece, ii. (Eng. tr.), ch. 23, with the notes.
  • H. Bengston, History of Greece: From the Beginnings to the Byzantine Era, Cleon p. 140

References

1. ^ "Cleon" Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition vol IV, p. 495;

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Athenian statesmen of Ancient Greece
Aeschines - Agyrrhius - Alcibiades - Andocides - Archinus - Aristides - Aristogeiton - Aristophon - Autocles - Callistratus - Chremonides - Cimon - Cleisthenes - Cleophon - Cleon - Critias - Demades - Demetrius Phalereus - Demochares - Democles - Demosthenes - Ephialtes - Eubulus - Hyperbolus - Hypereides - Laches- Lycurgus - Lysicles - Miltiades - Moerocles - Nicias - Peisistratus - Pericles - Philinus - Phocion - Themistocles - Theramenes - Thrasybulus - Thucydides - Xanthippus
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strategos (plural strategoi; Greek στρατηγός) (literally meaning "army leader") is used in Greek to mean "general". In the Hellenistic and Byzantine Empires the term was also used to describe a military governor.
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Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) was an Ancient Greek military conflict, fought by Athens and its empire against the Peloponnesian League, led by Sparta. Historians have traditionally divided the war into three phases.
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Tanning is the process of converting putrescible skin into non-putrescible leather, usually with tannin, an acidic chemical compound that prevents decomposition and often imparts color.
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aristocracy refers to a form of government where power is held by a small number of individuals from a social elite or from noble families. The transmission of power is often hereditary.
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Pericles (also spelled Perikles) (ca. 495–429 BC, Greek: Περικλῆς, meaning "surrounded by glory
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The Peloponnese or Peloponnesus (Greek: Πελοπόννησος Pelopónnisos; see also List of Greek place names) is a large peninsula in southern Greece, forming the part of the country south of the Gulf of Corinth.
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The Plague of Athens was a devastating epidemic which hit the city-state of Athens in ancient Greece during the second year of the Peloponnesian War (430 BC), when an Athenian victory still seemed within reach.
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A sycophant (Gr. συκοφάντης) is a servile person who, acting in their own self interest, attempts to win favor by flattering one or more influential people,
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Sparta (Doric: Σπάρτᾱ Spártā, Attic: Σπάρτη Spártē
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Battle of Sphacteria was a land battle of the Peloponnesian War, fought in 425 BC between Athens and Sparta. It resulted from the failure of peace negotiations after the earlier Battle of Pylos.
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ecclesia or ekklesia (Greek ἐκκλησία) was the principal assembly of the democracy of ancient Athens.
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Laches (Gr. Λάχης) (* c.475 BCE in Athens, Greece; † 418 BCE in Mantineia, Greece) was an Athenian aristocrat, the son of the Melanopos, and general during the Peloponnesian War.
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strategos (plural strategoi; Greek στρατηγός) (literally meaning "army leader") is used in Greek to mean "general". In the Hellenistic and Byzantine Empires the term was also used to describe a military governor.
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Amphipolis (ancient Greek: Ἀμφίπολις – Amphípolis) was an ancient Greek city in the region once inhabited by the Edoni people in the present-day periphery of East Macedonia and
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Brasidas (Greek: Βρασίδας) (d. 422 BC) was a Spartan officer during the first decade of the Peloponnesian War.

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The Peace of Nicias was a peace treaty that was signed between the Greek city-states of Athens and Sparta in the March of 421 BC, ending the first half of the Peloponnesian War.
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