Cleon

Cleon (Greek: Κλέων, sometimes Kleon) (d. 422 BC) was an Athenian statesman and a Strategos during the Peloponnesian War. He was the first prominent representative of the commercial class in Athenian politics, although he was an aristocrat himself. Contemporaries Thucydides and Aristophanes represented him as a warmonger and a demagogue; modern historians provide a more balanced view.

Early life

Cleon was the son of Cleaenetus, who had become rich through his tanning business.

Public service

Opposition to Pericles

Cleon first came to notice as an opponent of Pericles in the late 430s through his opposition to Pericles' strategy of refusing battle against the Peloponnesian League invaders in 431 BC. As a result, he found himself acting in concert with the Athenian aristocratic parties, who also had no liking for Pericles. During 430 BC, after the unsuccessful expedition by Pericles to the Peloponnesus, and when the city was devastated by the plague, Cleon headed the opposition to Pericles' rule. At this time, Pericles was accused by Cleon of maladministration of public money, with the result that Pericles was found guilty and removed from office (see Grote's History of Greece, abridged ed., 1907, p. 406, note 1). However, Pericles' setback was temporary and he was soon reinstated.

Rise in popularity

The death of Pericles from the plague in 429 BC left the field clear for new leadership in Athens. Hitherto Cleon had only been a vigorous opposition speaker, a trenchant critic and accuser of state officials, but he now came forward as the professed champion and leader of the democracy and, as a result, dominated Athenian politics. Although rough and unpolished, he was charismatic, being gifted with natural eloquence and a powerful voice, and he knew how to work upon the emotions of the Athenian populace. He strengthened his support amongst the poorer citizens of Athens by increasing the pay of the jurymen, which provided many of the poorer Athenians with a means of livelihood.

The 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. In 426 BC, Cleon brought an unsuccessful prosecution against Laches based on his generalship in the unsuccessful first Sicilian expedition. This is one of the very few times that an Athenian general escaped civil punishment for a defeat. 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 connection with the treasury, is uncertain.

War against Sparta, subsequent death

Cleon's 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.

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^[1] and Thucydides^[2] in a very unfavourable light, both describing him as a warmonger and a demagogue. But both have been suspected of being prejudiced witnesses: The poet had a grudge against Cleon, who may have accused him before the Council of having ridiculed (in his lost play Babylonians) the policy and institutions of his city in the presence of foreigners and at the time of a great national danger. Thucydides, a man of strong oligarchical inclinations, 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.^[3]

Authorities

For the literature on Cleon see Karl Friedrich 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

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

References

External links

• Livius.org: Cleon