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dablink|For the fictional Galactic Empire
(Asimov)|Galactic Emperors in the writings of
Isaac Asimov, see Cleon I and Cleon II.

Cleon (d. 422 BC), Athens|Athenian politician
during the Peloponnesian War, was the son of
Cleaenetus, from whom he inherited a lucrative
tannery (tanning) business. He was the first
prominent representative of the commercial class
in Athenian politics.

He came into notice first as an opponent of
Pericles, to whom his advanced ideas were
naturally unacceptable, and in his opposition
somewhat curiously found himself acting in concert
with the aristocrats, who equally hated and feared
Pericles. During the dark days of 430 BC|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
George Grote|Grote's History of Greece, abridged
ed., 1907, p. 406, note 1).

A revulsion of feeling, however, soon took place.
Pericles was reinstated, and Cleon now for a time
fell into the background. The death of Pericles
(429 BC|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 "sycophant|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 BC|427 Cleon gained an evil notoriety by
his proposal to put to death indiscriminately all
the inhabitants of Mytilene, which had put itself
at the head of a revolt. His proposal, though
accepted, was, fortunately for the credit of
Athens, rescinded, although, as it was, the chief
leaders and prominent men, numbering about 1000,
fell victims. 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
(ancient Athens)|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 BC|425. In 422 he was sent to
recapture Amphipolis, but was out-generalled by
Brasidas and killed. His death removed the chief
obstacle to an arrangement with Sparta, and in 421
BC|421 the peace of Nicias was concluded.

The character of Cleon is represented by
Aristophanes and Thucydides in an extremely
unfavourable light. But neither can be considered
an unprejudiced witness. The poet had a grudge
against Cleon, who had accused him before the
senate of having ridiculed (in his 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
oligarchy|oligarchical prejudices, had also been
prosecuted for military incapacity and exiled by a
decree proposed by Cleon. It is therefore likely
that Cleon has had less than justice done to him
in the portraits handed down by these two writers.

===Authorities===

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

The following are the chief authorities:
*Favourable to Cleon
**CF Ranke, Commentatio de Vita Aristoprianis
(Leipzig, 1845)
**Johann Gustav Droysen|JG Droysen, Aristophanes,
ii., Introd. to the Knights (Berlin, 1837)
**G Grote, Hist. 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
**JF Kortüm, Geschichtliche Forschungen (Leipzig,
1863), and Zur Geschichte hellenichen
Statsverfassungen (Heidelberg, 1821)
**F Passow, Vermischte Schriften (Leipzig, 1843)
**Connop Thirlwall|C Thirlwall, Hist. of Greece,
ch. 21
**Ernst Curtius|E Curtius, Hist, of Greece (Eng.
tr. iii. p. 112)
**J Schwartz, Die Demokratie (Leipzig, 1882)
**Hans Delbrück|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:
**J Beloch, Die attische Politik seit Perikles
(Leipzig, 1884), and Griechische Geschichte, i. p.
537
**A Holm, Hist. of Greece, ii. (Eng. tr.), ch. 23,
with the notes.

This entry was originally from the 1911
Encyclopedia Britannica.

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