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Cimon(510 – 450) or Kimon was an
Athenian statesman and general in mid-5th century Greece. He was the son of
Miltiades, the victor of the Battle of Marathon. Cimon played a key role in
creating the powerful Athenian maritime empire following the failure of the
Persian invasion of Greece by Xerxes I in 480–479. Cimon became a
celebrated military hero and was elected to the rank of strategos after
fighting in the Battle of Salamis. One of Cimon's greatest exploits was his
destruction of a Persian fleet and army at the Battle of the Eurymedon river in
466. In 462, he led an unsuccessful expedition to support the Spartans during
the helot uprisings. As a result, he was dismissed and ostracized from Athens
in 461; however, he was recalled from his exile before the end of his ten-year
ostracism to broker a five-year peace treaty in 451 between Sparta and Athens.
For this participation in pro-Spartan policy, he has often been called a
laconist. Cimon also led the Athenian aristocratic party against Pericles and
opposed the democratic revolution of Ephialtes seeking to retain aristocratic
party control over Athenian institutions.
Early years:
Cimon was born into Athenian nobility in 510. He was a member of the Philaidae
clan, from the deme of Laciadae (Lakiadai). His grandfather was Cimon the
Silly, who won three Olympic victories with his four-horse chariot and was
assassinated by the sons of Peisistratus. His father was the celebrated
Athenian general Miltiades and his mother was Hegesipyle, daughter of the
Thracian king Olorus and a relative of the historian Thucydides. While Cimon
was a young man, his father was fined 50 talents after an accusation of treason
by the Athenian state. As Miltiades could not afford to pay this amount, he was
put in jail, where he died in 489. Cimon inherited this debt and, according to
Diodorus, some of his father's unserved prison sentence in order to obtain his
body for burial. As the head of his household, he also had to look after his
sister or half-sister Elpinice. According to Plutarch, the wealthy Callias took
advantage of this situation by proposing to pay Cimon's debts for Elpinice's
hand in marriage. Cimon agreed.
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.
Marriage:
Cimon is repeatedly said to have married or been otherwise involved with his
sister or half-sister Elpinice (who herself had a reputation for sexual
promiscuity) prior to her marriage with Callias, although this may be a legacy
of simple political slander. He later married Isodice, Megacles' granddaughter
and a member of the Alcmaeonidae family. Their first children were twin boys
named Lacedaemonius (who would become an Athenian commander) and Eleus. Their
third son was Thessalus (who would become a politician).
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. Between 478
and 476, a number of Greek maritime cities around the Aegean Sea did not wish
to submit to Persian control again and offered their allegiance to Athens
through Aristides at Delos. There, they formed the Delian League (also known as
the Confederacy of Delos), and it was agreed that Cimon would be their
principal commander. As strategos, Cimon commanded most of the League's
operations until 463. During this period, he and Aristides drove the Spartans
under Pausanias out of Byzantium. Cimon also captured Eion on the Strymon from
the Persian general Boges. Other coastal cities of the area surrendered to him
after Eion, with the notable exception of Doriscus. He also conquered Scyros
and drove out the pirates who were based there. On his return, he brought the
"bones" of the mythological Theseus back to Athens. To celebrate this
achievement, three Herma statues were erected around Athens.
Battle of the Eurymedon:
Cimon took command of the Greek Fleet. Around 466, Cimon carried the war
against Persia into Asia Minor and decisively defeated the Persians at the
Battle of the Eurymedon on the Eurymedon River in Pamphylia. Cimon's land and
sea forces captured the Persian camp and destroyed or captured the entire
Persian fleet of 200 triremes manned by Phoenicians. And he established an
Athenian colony nearby called Amphipolis with 10,000 settlers. Many new allies
of Athens were then recruited into the Delian League, such as the trading city
of Phaselis on the Lycian-Pamphylian border. 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 Peace of Callias negotiated by his brother-in-law
in 450 is sometimes called the Peace of Cimon as Callias' efforts may have led
to a renewal of Cimon's earlier treaty. He had served Athens well during the
Persian Wars and according to Plutarch: "In all the qualities that war
demands he was fully the equal of Themistocles and his own father
Miltiades".
Thracian Chersonesus:
After his successes in Asia Minor, Cimon moved to the Thracian colony
Chersonesus. There he subdued the local tribes and ended the revolt of the
Thasians between 465 and 463. Thasos had revolted from the Delian League over a
trade rivalry with the Thracian hinterland and, in particular, over the
ownership of a gold mine. Athens under Cimon laid siege to Thasos after the
Athenian fleet defeated the Thasos fleet. These actions earned him the enmity
of Stesimbrotus of Thasos (a source used by Plutarch in his writings about this
period in Greek history).
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.
Helot revolt in Sparta:
Cimon was Sparta's Proxenos at Athens, he strongly advocated a policy of
cooperation between the two states. He was known to be so fond of Sparta that
he named one of his sons Lacedaemonius. In 462, Cimon sought the support of
Athens' citizens to provide help to Sparta. Although Ephialtes maintained that
Sparta was Athens' rival for power and should be left to fend for itself,
Cimon's view prevailed. Cimon then led 4,000 hoplites to Mt. Ithome to help the
Spartan aristocracy deal with a major revolt by its helots. However, this
expedition ended in humiliation for Cimon and for Athens when, fearing that the
Athenians would end up siding with the helots, Sparta sent the force back to
Attica.
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. 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, Cimon sought to return to
Athens to assist its fight against Sparta at Tanagra, but was rebuffed.
Return:
Eventually, around 451, 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.
Death on Cyprus:
Cimon laid siege to the Phoenician and Persian stronghold of Citium on the
southwest coast of Cyprus in 449; he died during or soon after the failed
attempt. However, his death was kept secret from the Athenian army, who
subsequently won an important victory over the Persians under his 'command' at
Salamis-in-Cyprus. He was later buried in Athens, 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.
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