Cleon (; Kleon ; died 422 BCE) was an Classical Athens politician and Strategos ( strategos) during the Peloponnesian War. The son of Cleaenetus, a wealthy tanner,
As a political leader, Cleon aligned himself with the poor citizens and emerging commercial class of Athens, while also advocating for an aggressive military strategy against Sparta and its allies.
Cleon was a deeply polarizing figure, portrayed harshly by the two principal contemporary sources on his life - the historian and fellow general at Amphipolis Thucydides and the playwright Aristophanes - both of whom had reasons to personally dislike Cleon. There continues to be an active debate within the historical scholarship regarding Cleon and the fairness of his portrayals by his contemporaries. Some argue that his negative portrayal is due to bias on the part of Thucydides and Aristophanes, while others counter that there is evidence to suggest that their depictions of him were less informed by personal dislike and bias than previously believed. Ultimately, the veracity of Thucydides and Aristophanes portrayal of Cleon remains uncertain.
Political and military career
Rise to power
Cleon emerged as a prominent political figure in Athens during the late 430s BCE through his opposition to the military strategy of
Pericles. In particular, he criticized Pericles' policy of avoiding battle with the invading Peloponnesian League in 431 BCE.
Initially, Cleon aligned himself with aristocratic factions opposed to the so called "leaders of the demos," which included Pericles, Thucydides,
Isagoras,
Miltiades,
Nicias, and
Theramenes.
In 430 BCE, following the failure of Pericles' expedition to the Peloponnese, Cleon led the opposition movement against Pericles' leadership and accused him of mismanaging public funds. While Pericles was found guilty and removed from office, he was quickly reinstated.
[George Grote. History of Greece, abridged ed., 1907, p. 406, note 1]
Following Pericles' death from the plague in 429 BCE,
Cleon quickly rose to political prominence. According to Thucydides, by the year 428 BCE, Cleon had become the most persuasive speaker in the Athenian Assembly.
Cleon increased his support amongst poorer citizens of Athens by increasing the pay for jury service, which was a source of livelihood for many. His reforms, embrace of Athens' litigious culture, and use of potentially false charges to remove political rivals greatly enhanced his political power and influence.
In 426 BCE, Cleon unsuccessfully prosecuted the general Laches due to his supposed hoarding of the wealth gained from an military Athenian expedition to Sicily.
Role in the Peloponnesian War
Mytilene revolt and debate
In 428 BCE the city of
Mytilene revolted against Athenian rule, likely spearheaded by the city's rich elite, and appealed to Sparta for military assistance. Although a Spartan fleet was dispatched it failed to arrive before the end of the rebellion. Growing dissasstifaction amongst the Mytilenean populace towards the government resulted in widespread refusal to follow governmental orders. This situation ultimately forced the ruling elite to surrender to Athens, who had sent their own fleet upon hearing of the rebellion, before the Spartan reinforcements could arrive.
Following the surrender, an Assembly session was held to discuss the fate of the city, wherein Cleon advocated for putting to death all of the Mytilenean adult men, while enslaving the women and children.
Battle of Pylos and Sphacteria
In the spring of 425 BCE, an Athenian fleet decisively defeated a Spartan counterpart in the Battle of Pylos, trapping 400 Spartan soldiers on the island of
Sphacteria. Recognizing the severity of the situation, Sparta sent envoys to Athens with offers of peace. However, the Athenians, spurred on by Cleon, believed they held the advantage and could afford to delay in hopes of extracting even more favorable terms from their enemy.
Furthermore, at Cleon's urging, the Athenians rejected the Spartan's request to conduct the negotiations in private rather than in front of the whole Assembly. These factors ultimately led to the Spartan envoys concluding that no reasonable settlement could be reached, and they left Athens without securing a peace agreement.
The Athenians began to regret their decisions regarding the peace proposals as conditions of the blockading forces began to deteriorate due to a lack of food and water, which would be greatly exacerbated by the approaching winter. In subsequent Assembly sessions held to discuss the status of the blockade, Cleon claimed that capturing the island from the Spartan garrison should have been an easy task for their generals, and something he would have done if he was in their position.
Battle of Amphipolis and death
In 422 BCE, Cleon was appointed to lead a force sent to retake the city of
Amphipolis, which had been lost to the Spartans.
However, during the subsequent campaign he was outmaneuvered by the enemy general
Brasidas at the Battle of Amphipolis, and was killed by a
peltast as his army was routed.
[Kagan, Donald (1974), The Archidamian War, 329.] However, Brasidas was also slain during the battle, and with his and Cleon's deaths the main opponents to peace on both sides were removed.
As such, soon after the Peace of Nicias was signed between Athens and Sparta in 421 BCE.
[Kagan, Donald (1974), The Archidamian War, 329.]
Historical interpretations
Contemporary depictions
Cleon is portrayed in a highly negative light by both the historian Thucydides
[Cf. Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, book III (36: "the most violent man at Athens", and 37–40 on the Mytilene affair), IV (21: "a popular leader of the time and very powerful with the multitude", 22, 27–29 on the Pylos affair), and V (16: "Cleon and Brasidas, who had been the two principal opponents of peace on either side—the latter from the success and honour which war gave him, the former because he thought that, if tranquillity were restored, his crimes would be more open to detection and his slanders less credited").] and the comic playwright Aristophanes,
[Cf. Aristophanes, chiefly The Knights (864–867: "You are like the fishers for eels; in still waters they catch nothing, but if they thoroughly stir up the slime, their fishing is good; in the same way it's only in troublous times that you line your pockets.", etc.), The Wasps (esp. 664–712), and most mentions of Cleon in the other plays.] two of the most prominent contemporary sources on his life. These depictions have significantly shaped his historical reputation, often presenting him as a demagogue and a destabilizing influence in Athenian politics.
Some scholars have noted that these portrayals may reflect a personal dislike and bias against Cleon by Thucydides and Aristophanes. The latter, for instance, had a direct grievance against Cleon, who is said to have made a complaint against Aristophanes for his lost play Babylonians for supposedly slandering the Athenians. Following this, Cleon frequently appeared in Aristophanes' subsequent plays as the target of comedic ridicule.
Thucydides may also have had a reason to hold a personal grudge against Cleon. Thucydides was exiled from Athens for 20 years for failing to prevent the capture of Amphipolis by the Spartan general Brasidas.
19th and early 20th century scholarship
For a general overview of the literature on Cleon during the 1800 and 1900s, see Karl Friedrich Hermann,
Lehrbuch der griechischen Antiquitäten, i. pt. 2 (6th ed. by V. Thumser, 1892), p. 709, and
Georg Busolt,
Griechische Geschichte, iii. pt. 2 (1904), p. 988, note 3.
Notable early scholarly perspectives are categorized below:
-
Favorable:
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C. F. Ranke, De Aristophanis Vita Commentatio (Leipzig, 1845)
-
J. G. Droysen, Aristophanes, ii., Introd. to the Knights (Berlin, 1837)
-
George Grote, History of Greece. chs. 50, 54
-
W. Oncken, Athen und Hellas, ii. p. 204 (Leipzig, 1866)
-
H. Müller-Strübing, Aristophanes und die historische Kritik (Leipzig, 1873)
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J. B. Bury, Hist, of Greece, i. (1902)
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Unfavorable:
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J. F. Kortüm, Geschichtliche Forschungen (Leipzig, 1863), and Zur Geschichte hellenichen Statsverfassungen (Heidelberg, 1821)
-
F. Passow, Vermischte Schriften (Leipzig, 1843)
-
Connop Thirlwall, History of Greece, ch. 21
-
Ernst Curtius, History of Greece (Eng. tr. iii. p. 112)
-
Julius Schvarcz, Die Demokratie (Leipzig, 1882)
-
H. Delbrück, Die Strategie des Perikles (Berlin, 1890)
-
Eduard Meyer, Forschungen zur alten Geschichte, ii. p. 333 (Halle, 1899)
-
Balanced:
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K. J. Beloch, Die attische Politik seit Perikles (Leipzig, 1884), and Griechische Geschichte, i. p. 537
-
Adolf Holm, History of Greece, ii. (Eng. tr.), ch. 23, with the notes.
-
Hermann Bengtson, History of Greece: From the Beginnings to the Byzantine Era, Cleon p. 140
21st century scholarship
-
Aaron Hershkowitz reexamines Cleon's previously posited role in the Athenian financial administration, arguing there is no solid evidence linking him to major fiscal policies such as the property tax known as the eisphora or the Kleonymos and Thoudippos decrees.
-
Edith Foster offers insight into the post-Peloponnesian War audience for whom Thucydides was writing, which calls into question previously held notions in modern scholarship regarding Thucydides' bias against Cleon. She emphasizes that this audience would not only have recently "suffered" at the hands of the Athenian politicians Alcibiades and Theramenes, who, like Cleon, were associated with Demagogue, but that by the war's end his earlier victory at Sphacteria would have been "buried in graver defeats of every kind," in the public consciousness.
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Anastasios Nikolaidis reexamines Thucydides' account of the Sphacteria campaign and uses it to challenge the commonly held view that Thucydides' depiction of Cleon reflects a strong bias against him. While acknowledging that Thucydides likely held personally animosity toward Cleon, Nikolaidis argues that this prejudice did not compromise the historian's commitment to factual accuracy. As evidence, he highlights Thucydides' reference to Cleon's claim that he would capture Sphacteria within 20 days as "mad." While earlier scholars have taken this phrasing as proof of Thucydides' bias, Nikolaidis contends that Thucydides' decision to nonetheless record the ultimate success of Cleon's expedition demonstrates a commitment to historical truth that overrides his personal feelings.
Notes
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