Cleon (died 422 BC) was an Athenian general and demagogue during the Peloponnesian War. He was infamous for his warmongering and for his hawkish and populist appeal among the lower classes of Athens (leading the Populist Party in opposition to Pericles). He was the de facto leader of Athens from Pericles' death in 429 BC until his own death at the Battle of Amphipolis in 422 BC, after which Athens and Sparta made a brief peace deal.
Biography[]
Cleon was born into an aristocratic Athenian Greek family, and he became the first prominent representative of the commercial class of Athens during the 5th century BC. He equally hated Sparta and the Athenian nobility, and he became popular among the lower classes due to his populist rhetoric and his promise to "Make Athens Great Again". Following the start of the Peloponnesian War in 431 BC, Cleon became a critic of Pericles' strategy of refusing battle against the Spartans who were besieging the city, and he oversaw Pericles' brief removal from office in 430 BC when Pericles was found guilty of maladministration of public money. Cleon was secretly a member of the Cult of Kosmos, a powerful secret society which sought to unite the Greek world through pushing it into anarchy and then seizing power in the weakened city-states. He was the Sage of the Cult of Kosmos within the Delian League, using his position as leader of Athens to assist the Cult with achieving its maligned goals of political domination.
Leadership of Athens and death[]
Pericles' death during the plague in 429 BC led to Cleon becoming the new leader of the Athenian democracy, and the rough and unpolished, yet charismatic Cleon increased his popularity among the lower classes by raising the wages for jurors. He created false charges to remove political opponents from power, and he gained popular support for continuing the war with Sparta by promising them benefits.
In 427 BC, Cleon's suggestion to have the population of Mytilene massacred was voted down after Diodotus rebuked him in a public debate, but 1,000 chief leaders and prominent Mytileneans were nevertheless executed. In 425 BC, he doubled the tribute requirements for Athens' allies, and, in 422 BC, he began a campaign in Thrace. He was outmaneuvered by the Spartan general Brasidas at the Battle of Amphipolis, during which he was drowned and killed by the Spartan mercenary Kassandra, who had been hunting down the Cult members.
