Why was cimon ostracised

They had six hundred ships, according to Phanodemus; three hundred and fifty, according to Ephorus. Whatever the number, nothing was achieved by them on the water which was worthy of such a force, 6 but they straightway put about and made shore, where the foremost of them abandoned their ships and fled for refuge to the infantry which was drawn up near by; those who were overtaken were destroyed with their ships.

Whereby also it is plain that the Barbarian ships which went into action were very numerous indeed, since, though many, of course, made their escape and many were destroyed, still two hundred were captured by the Athenians. But he saw that his men were exalted by the impetus and pride of their victory, and eager to come to close quarters with the Barbarians, so he landed his hoplites still hot with the struggle of the sea-fight, and they advanced to the attack with shouts and on the run.

But after a long struggle the Athenians p routed the Barbarians with slaughter, and then captured them and their camp, which was full of all sorts of treasure. Most of their crews were destroyed with the ships. This exploit so humbled the purpose of the King that he made the terms of that notorious peace, by which he was to keep away from the Hellenic sea-coast as far as a horse could travel in a day, and was not to sail west of the Cyanean and Chelidonian isles with armoured ships of war.

And they say that the Athenians p also built the altar of Peace to commemorate this event, and paid distinguished honours to Callias as their ambassador. By the sale of the captured spoils the people was enabled to meet various financial demands, and especially it constructed the southern wall of the Acropolis with the generous resources obtained from that expedition.

From this base he had a good opportunity, as it was thought, to invade Macedonia and cut off a great part of it, and because he would not consent to do it, he was accused of having been bribed to this position by King Alexander, and was actually prosecuted, his enemies forming a coalition against him. They confounded the established political order of things and the ancestral practices which they had formerly p observed, 2 and under the lead of Ephialtes they robbed the Council of the Areiopagus of all but a few of the cases in its jurisdiction.

They made themselves masters of the courts of justice, and plunged the city into unmitigated democracy, Pericles being now a man of power and espousing the cause of the populace. And so when Cimon came back home, and in his indignation at the insults heaped upon the reverend council, tried to recall again its jurisdiction and to revive the aristocracy of the times of Cleisthenes, they banded together to denounce him, and tried to inflame the people against him, renewing the old slanders about his sister and accusing him of being a Spartan sympathiser.

He actually named one of his twin sons Lacedaemonius, and the other Eleius, — the sons whom a woman of Cleitor bare him, as Stesimbrotus relates, wherefore Pericles often reproached them with their maternal lineage. The Athenians were glad to see this at first, since they reaped no slight advantage from the good will which the Spartans showed him.

He was the foremost Hellenic statesman, dealing generally with the allies and acceptably with the Lacedaemonians. But afterwards, when they became more powerful, and saw that Cimon was strongly attached to the Spartans, they were displeased thereat. For on every occasion he was prone to exalt Lacedaemon to the Athenians, especially when he had occasion to chide or incite them.

Then, as Stesimbrotus tells us, he would say: "But the Lacedaemonians are not of such a sort. At any rate, the strongest charge against him arose as follows. The rest were thrown down by the earthquake. Their tomb, even down to the present day, they call Seismatias. This was all that saved Sparta at that crisis. For the Helots hurriedly gathered from all the country round about with intent to despatch the surviving Spartans. The Messenians besides joined in this attack upon the Spartans. Accordingly, the Lacedaemonians sent Pericleidas to Athens with request for aid, and Aristophanes introduces him into comedy as "sitting at the altars, pale of face, in purple cloak, soliciting an army.

Whereupon, as Critias says, Cimon made his country's increase of less account than Sparta's interest, and persuaded the p people to go forth to her aid with many hoplites. And Ion actually mentions the phrase by which, more than by anything else, Cimon prevailed upon the Athenians, exhorting them "not to suffer Hellas to be crippled, nor their city to be robbed of its yoke-fellow. They came back home in a rage, and at once took open measures of hostility against the Laconizers, and above all against Cimon.

Laying hold of a trifling pretext, they ostracised him for ten years. As he went away he besought Euthippus of Anaphlystus and his other comrades, all who were specially charged with laconizing, to fight sturdily against the enemy, and by their deeds of valour to dissipate the charge which their countrymen laid at their door.

While the Persians had been mostly driven from the Aegean sea, they remained in the Chersonese , a peninsula in the northern Aegean , and allied themselves with some of the people of Thrace ; the Athenians dispatched Cimon to wage war against them Plut.

Cimon won a victory in Thrace , which allowed him, had he wished to, to invade Macedonia. When he failed to do this, he was brought to trial in Athens , accused of accepting bribes to leave Macedonia alone; one of the prosecutors at his trial was Pericles Plut. Cimon spoke well in his own defense Plut. Read about the evidence Pausanias Paus.

Aristophanes Aristoph. Plot on a Map Peloponnese. All your slaves were up in arms when that big earthquake hit you. Plot on a Map Sparta. Ephialtes opposed sending help to Sparta , but Cimon argued in favor of doing so and persuaded the Athenians Plut.

After this successful intervention, the Spartans called for help from Athens a second time, in BCE , when they were besieging a group of rebellious helots in the town of Ithome , in Messenia source for date: OHCW. But there may have been more to it than that.

We have reason to think that while Cimon was away in Messenia with an Athenian army, the people in Athens , under the leadership of Ephialtes and Pericles , enacted a radical democratic reform by limiting the powers of the Court of the Areopagus.

Plot on a Map Ithome. First there is the question of why the Spartans, after summoning the Athenians to help, suddenly changed their minds and dismissed them. Second, there are several passages from ancient authors that say that democratic reforms were passed in Athens while Cimon was away. Plutarch suggests this, in very general terms, in his biography of Pericles. Read about the evidence Diodorus Diod.

If we put these four categories of evidence together, we might tentatively reconstruct events as follows: In BCE the Spartans sent for Athenian help during the siege of Ithome in Messenia. Cimon marched south with an army that consisted of those Athenians wealthy enough to afford the bronze armor necessary for fighting on land. While this army was gone, the Assembly at Athens , with a smaller-than-usual number of wealthy citizens participating, passed democratic reforms, including a reform of the Court of the Areopagus.

Word of this reached Sparta , and the Spartans who did not look kindly on reform, certainly not democratic reform decided that the Athenians were dangerous to have around and so dismissed them. Upon returning to Athens , Cimon , who was known for his good relationship with Sparta and for opposing reforms such as had just been passed, was ostracized.

It is important to note that the preceding paragraph is one possible interpretation of a few pieces of evidence. The evidence, by itself, does not give a full, or consistent, picture of events. The Athenian statesman Cimon was ostracised from Athens for ten years BC , after the Athenian expedition led by him and sent to help Sparta during the helot uprisings was dismissed by the suspicious Spartans. Other than a little appearance at the Battle of Tanagra, in Boeotia, the quick Google sources Wikipedia , Britannica , Ancient History Encyclopedia don't mention anything about him during this time.

I think I've found it: the Chersonese. Now take the days when we were fighting Euboea and controlled Megara, Pegae, and Troezen. We were seized with a longing for peace; and, in virtue of his being Sparta's representative at Athens, we recalled Cimon's son, Miltiades, who had been ostracized and was living in the Chersonese, for the one purpose of sending him to Sparta to make overtures for an armistice.

About the same time the two great parties in Athens were reconciled, and Cimon was recalled at the motion of Pericles, having completed only five years of his term of banishment, which he spent on his inherited lordship in the Chersonese. This seems to confirm the Chersonese, although the book is from and the idea of Cimon being exiled for "only" five years is, from what I've read, somewhat debatable today.

Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Cimon d. With Aristides, established the Delian League. Haaren and A. He masterminded Athenian naval supremacy.

Aristides Athenian General and Statesman. Fought at Marathon, Salamis; created Delian League. Archidamus Spartan King during the early years of Peloponnesian War. Sought peace with Athens, but was forced into the war. Model Aristocrat in.