Cimon
Cimon | |
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Persian Wars and Wars of the Delian League :
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Children | Lacedaemonius Oulius Thessalus Cimon Miltiades Peisianax[1] |
Cimon or Kimon[
He was the son of
In 466 BC, Cimon led a force to
Cimon took an increasingly prominent role in Athenian politics, generally supporting the aristocrats and opposing the popular party (which sought to expand the
The
Life
Early years
Cimon was born into Athenian nobility in 510 BC. He was a member of the
While Cimon was a young man, his father was fined 50
Cimon in his youth had a reputation of being dissolute, a hard drinker, and blunt and unrefined; it was remarked that in this latter characteristic he was more like a Spartan than an Athenian.[9][10]
Marriage
Cimon is repeatedly said to have married or been otherwise involved with his sister or half-sister
Military career
During the Battle of Salamis, Cimon distinguished himself by his bravery. He is mentioned as being a member of an embassy sent to Sparta in 479 BC.
Between 478 BC and 476 BC, a number of Greek maritime cities around the
Cimon also captured
Battle of the Eurymedon
Around 466 BC, Cimon carried the war against Persia into
There is a view amongst some historians that while in Asia Minor, Cimon negotiated a peace between the League and the Persians after his victory at the Battle of the Eurymedon. This may help to explain why the
Thracian Chersonesus
After his successes in Asia Minor, Cimon moved to the Thracian colony
Trial for bribery
Despite these successes, Cimon was prosecuted by Pericles for allegedly accepting bribes from Alexander I of Macedon. During the trial, Cimon said: "Never have I been an Athenian envoy, to any rich kingdom. Instead, I was proud, attending to the Spartans, whose frugal culture I have always imitated. This proves that I don't desire personal wealth. Rather, I love enriching our nation, with the booty of our victories." As a result, Elpinice convinced Pericles not to be too harsh in his criticism of her brother. Cimon was in the end acquitted.[6]
Helot revolt in Sparta
Cimon was Sparta's
Exile
This insulting rebuff caused the collapse of Cimon's popularity in Athens. As a result, he was ostracised from Athens for ten years beginning in 461 BC.[16] The reformer Ephialtes then took the lead in running Athens and, with the support of Pericles, reduced the power of the Athenian Council of the Areopagus (filled with ex-archons and so a stronghold of oligarchy).
Power was transferred to the citizens, i.e. the Council of Five Hundred, the Assembly, and the popular law courts. Some of Cimon's policies were reversed including his pro-Spartan policy and his attempts at peace with Persia. Many ostraka bearing his name survive; one bearing the spiteful inscription: "Cimon, son of Miltiades, and Elpinice too" (his haughty sister).
In 458 BC, Cimon sought to return to Athens to assist its fight against Sparta at Tanagra, but was rebuffed.
Return
Eventually, around 451 BC, Cimon returned to Athens. Although he was not allowed to return to the level of power he once enjoyed, he was able to negotiate on Athens' behalf a five-year truce with the Spartans. Later, with a Persian fleet moving against a rebellious Cyprus, Cimon proposed an expedition to fight the Persians. He gained Pericles' support and sailed to Cyprus with two hundred triremes of the Delian League. From there, he sent sixty ships under Admiral Charitimides to Egypt to help the Egyptian revolt of Inaros, in the Nile Delta. Cimon used the remaining ships to aid the uprising of the Cypriot Greek city-states.
Rebuilding Athens
From his many military exploits and money gained through the Delian League, Cimon funded many construction projects throughout Athens. These projects were greatly needed in order to rebuild after the Achaemenid destruction of Athens. He ordered the expansion of the Acropolis and the walls around Athens, and the construction of public roads, public gardens, and many political buildings.[17]
Death on Cyprus
Cimon laid siege to the
where a monument was erected in his memory.Historical significance
During his period of considerable popularity and influence at Athens, Cimon's domestic policy was consistently antidemocratic, and this policy ultimately failed. His success and lasting influence came from his military accomplishments and his foreign policy, the latter being based on two principles: continued resistance to Persian aggression, and recognition that Athens should be the dominant sea power in Greece, and Sparta the dominant land power. The first principle helped to ensure that direct Persian military aggression against Greece had essentially ended; the latter probably significantly delayed the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War.[10]
See also
- Amphictyonic League
- Long Walls
- Battle of Salamis in Cyprus (450 BC)
Notes
- ^ a b c d Byrne, Sean G. "Κίμων of Lakiadai". Athenian Onomasticon. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
- ^ a b DGRB&M (1867), p. 749.
- ^ a b c EB (1878).
- ^ EB (1911), p. 368.
- ^ a b DGRB&M (1867), p. 750.
- ^ a b c d e Plutarch, Lives. Life of Cimon.(University of Calgary/Wikisource)
- ^ Cornelius Nepos, Lives of Eminent Commanders
- ^ Plutarch, Lives. Life of Themistocles. (University of Massachusetts/Wikisource)
- ^ a b Plutarch, Cimon 481.
- ^ a b Bury, J. B.; Meiggs, Russell (1956). A history of Greece to the death of Alexander the Great (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 343.
- ^ a b c Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War.
- ^ Herodotus, The History of Herodotus.
- ISBN 0-486-43762-0
- ISBN 0-415-12497-2
- ^ The Greek World: 479–323 BC, Simon Hornblower. Page 126.
- ISSN 2159-3159.
- ISBN 0-521-23347-X.
- ^ Plutarch, Cimon, 19
- ^ EB (1911), p. 369.
References
- Baynes, T. S., ed. (1878), Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 5 (9th ed.), New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, p. 780 ,
- Mitchell, John Malcolm (1911), Chisholm, Hugh (ed.), Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 6 (11th ed.), Cambridge University Press, pp. 368–9 , in
- On Illustrious Men(in Latin)
- Plutarch, "Life of Cimon", Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans (in Ancient Greek)
- Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920), Encyclopedia Americana, vol. 6 VI ,
- Smith, William, ed. (1870), "Cimon", Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. 1, pp. 749–751
- Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War (in Ancient Greek)
- Matteo Zaccarini, The Lame Hegemony. Cimon of Athens and the Failure of Panhellenism ca. 478-450 BC, Bologna, Bononia University Press, 2017
Further reading
- Connor, Walter R. (1967). "Two notes on Cimon". Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association. 98. Johns Hopkins University Press, American Philological Association: 67–75. JSTOR 2935869.
- Vanotti, Gabriella (2015). "Cimone, Lacedemonio e la madre nelle testimonianze di Plutarco e della sua fonte, Stesimbroto di Taso". Ancient Society (in Italian). 45: 27–51. JSTOR 44080001.
External links
- Cimon of Athens Archived 2012-02-05 at the About.com.
- Plutarch's The Life of Cimon in English
- Another English translation of Plutarch's Life of Cimon, at the Internet Classics Archive