Cleon of Athens

Political leader

Born: Date unknown; place unknown Died: 422 b. c.e.; Amphipolis, Macedonia Category: Government and politics

Life Cleon (KLEE-ahn) of Athens, the first demagogue, was a tanner who made enough money to enter political life by 430 b. c.e. He was perhaps a member of the boule, or council, in 428 b. c.e., and in 427 b. c.e. in the Mytilene debate, he proposed the execution of all male Mytileneans after that town’s revolt in 428 b. c.e. He was successful, but the next day, the assembly reversed its decision. In 425 b. c.e., Cleon’s criticism of Nicias of Athens’s ability to capture besieged Spartans on Sphacteria led to his extraordinary command, and with Demosthenes’ help, he captured the Spartans. When Sparta sued for peace, Cleon blocked the proposals.

Cleon’s influence was now paramount in Athens. He was elected strategos (general) for 424 b. c.e., increased the tribute paid by the Athenian allies and pay for the jurors, and was perhaps responsible for Thucydides’ exile for failing to save Amphipolis from Sparta. In 422 b. c.e., as strategos, he marched to Amphipolis, where he was defeated and killed in battle by a Spartan force. The presentation of Cleon in contemporary sources by Thucydides and Aristophanes is biased, but there is no question that he was an able orator who wanted to increase Athens’s power.

Influence Cleon was the first demagogue in the Athenian democracy and set a trend for the non-noble “new politicians” who followed him, thereby changing the dynamics of Athenian political life.

Further Reading

Andrews, James A. “Cleon’s Hidden Appeals (Thucydides 3.37-40).” Classical Quarterly 50, no. 1 (2000): 45.

Kagan, Donald. The Archidamian War. Ithaca, N. Y.: Cornell University Press, 1974.

Woodhead, A. G. “Thucydides’ Portrait of Cleon.” Mnemosyne 13 (1960): 289-317.

Ian Worthington

See also: Archidamian War; Aristophanes; Nicias of Athens; Thucydides.