Pratinos was an Athenian fisherman and populist leader who, in 431 BC, led a failed attempt on the politician Metiochos' life. After an encounter with the mercenary Kassandra, he was persuaded to ignore the politicians and concentrate on making change in his own home district.
Biography[]
Pratinos was born into a poor family of fishermen in the Fishing District of Athens, and he was motivated by Cleon's calls for the poor to take back the city from the elite in 431 BC. That year, he and several other thugs threw rotten food at Pericles' ally Metiochos after he arrived in the district to visit the sick and poor, and Pratinos later acquired venomous snakes from The Poisoner and brought them to Metiochos' home; his fellow thug Aktis was accidentally killed when one of their own snakes bit him. The thugs tied Metiochos up and left him to his fate as they fled, but the mercenary Kassandra rescued Metiochos and was sent to investigate the Fishing District. There, Pratinos and his gang confronted her, but she persuaded them to give up The Poisoner, and she spared them and told them to concentrate on making change where they could in their district while ignoring the politicians; Pratinos thanked her and promised that they would try.