Cleon was an Athenian politician who lived in the fifth century BCE. He was the first prominent politician in Athens to come out of a merchant class, his father owning a successful tanning business.

Cleon first came to attention in the scene of Athenian politics in the 430s BCE as an outspoken opponent of Pericles, the most prominent Athenian statesman of the Classical Age. His original grievance with Pericles was the latter’s leniency with the enemy, lead by the Sparta that Cleon hated almost as much as the nobility. He came to lead something of an anti-Periclean party and went as far as to build a legal case and prosecute Pericles for squandering the public wealth. Cleon and his friends won, but Pericles was highly popular and soon reinstated again.

When Pericles died in 429 BCE, Cleon stepped forward and styled himself as the champion of democracy. His popularity soared, and anyone who might oppose him found themselves in the defence section of the ancient Athenian equivalent of a court room.

Unlike Pericles, Cleon favoured active and expansive war policies. He is attributed with raising the tribute for allied states with more than 300%. He also made such characteristic decisions such as killing all adult men and selling all women and children into slavery of revolting allied cities. The warmongering image of Pericles passed down to us through his contemporaries may be slightly unfair, as the contemporary writers who mention him were in direct opposition of him, but within months of Cleon’s death there was peace between Athens and Sparta.

That’s it for κ. Until it’s time for λ, feel free to nominate ancient great Greeks of any letter of the alphabet following κ in the comments section.

About the author: E P Wohlfart is a twenty-something freelance writer with a Classical Archaeology degree, a laptop and a maxed-out library card. Aside from administrating PastPresenters.com, which she started in 2008, she works with several historical publications and is a regular contributor at Suite101.