The remarkable rise and fall of Cimon in ancient Athens

Cimon was born into an upper-class household in around 510 BC that already carried great fame in Athens, for his father Miltiades had commanded the Athenian army at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC and had secured a clear victory against the Persians.

Miltiades later died in disgrace after a failed campaign against Paros in 489 BC. He had been fined fifty talents and died from gangrene caused by a wound.

The family’s honour shifted from triumph to shame, which left them with a heavy fine to pay.

Cimon’s mother, Hegesipyle, was the daughter of a Thracian king, and her family background gave Cimon valuable foreign connections that enhanced his social position.

Also, his sister Elpinice influenced Athenian politics through her marriage to the wealthy Callias, a union that helped repay the family’s debts and strengthened Cimon’s ties to the city’s elite. 

Writers in ancient times described Cimon as tall and strong and naturally likeable, which helped him gain popularity despite his lack of formal education.

He earned public support through generous acts, acts that provided open feasts and that gave citizens free access to his estates so they could harvest fruit from his land.

He also financed projects in Athens, particularly improvements to the Agora and other public facilities.

These actions built loyalty among the poor and strengthened his support, which allowed him to pursue a political career at a time when memories of his father’s disgrace still lingered. 

Cimon first gained attention during the later stages of the Persian Wars, when he fought at the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC, which, it was said, saved Greece from Persian conquest.

By the late 470s BC, he had been elected as strategos, or general, and he quickly established himself as one of the most influential figures in Athens.

His rise coincided with Athens taking control of the Delian League, an alliance of Greek states originally formed to continue the fight against Persia, which created opportunities for ambitious leaders to expand both their personal prestige and the city’s influence. 

He strengthened his position by securing a series of military victories that made him a famous commander across Greece.

He captured the Persian stronghold of Eion on the Strymon River in Thrace around 476 BC, and he followed this success with the seizure of Scyros in 475 BC.

After taking Scyros, he returned to Athens with what were believed to be the bones of the hero Theseus: an act that appealed to civic pride and religious devotion.

He also promoted the establishment of kleruchies, or Athenian colonies, in key locations to secure resources and control over allied territories.

These achievements, and because he showed political generosity, enabled Cimon to control Athenian politics for nearly two decades. 

Cimon became the central figure in Athens’ control of the Delian League, which had started as a voluntary alliance of Greek city-states but gradually turned into a tool of Athenian power.

He used Athenian authority with harshness when the records show that Naxos attempted to secede from the league around 470 BC and was forced back into submission.

The suppression of rebellion, combined with the imposition of tribute on member states, enriched Athens and allowed it to build the naval power that supported its empire. 

The height of his military career came with the great victory at the Eurymedon River in Pamphylia around 466 BC.

Ancient accounts describe how in a single day he defeated both a large Persian fleet and a land army, where he captured or destroyed about two hundred ships.

The exact number of vessels remains uncertain, yet the scale of the victory secured Athenian control in the Aegean and established Cimon as the foremost general of his generation.

Tribute from subject allies and profits from war strengthened Athens economically, while Cimon’s personal prestige made him the leading figure in the city’s political life. 

Cimon’s respect for Sparta came to influence his political views and brought him into increasing conflict with the democratic faction in Athens.

He saw Sparta as a vital ally and believed that Athens should maintain cooperation rather than rivalry with it.

He opposed the democratic reforms promoted by Ephialtes and Pericles, favouring instead a political structure in which aristocratic influence remained strong.

As problems between Athens and Sparta increased, his stance appeared out of touch with public opinion. 

Events in 464 BC showed the weakness of his policy. A massive earthquake damaged Sparta and started a revolt by the helots, which prompted the Spartans to request Athenian assistance.

Cimon persuaded the assembly to send an army, but the mission failed when Sparta dismissed the Athenian troops out of fear that they agreed with the rebels.

The humiliation of being sent home in disgrace weakened Athens’ reputation, and the failure gave Cimon’s rivals the chance to present him as an ill-advised leader whose loyalties conflicted with the interests of the city.

Pericles and his allies used this failure to strengthen their position and prepare for significant reforms. 

Cimon’s political rivals, strengthened by the failure of his Spartan policy, moved quickly to cut power from his supporters.

Ephialtes and Pericles introduced reforms that greatly cut the power of the Areopagus council, which had long been a stronghold of aristocratic influence.

In 461 BC, the Athenian assembly voted to ostracize Cimon, a process in which citizens inscribed a man’s name on a shard of pottery to exile him for ten years without seizing his property.

The decision, which required at least six thousand votes, ended Cimon’s political power. 

During his exile, Athens followed more forceful empire-building policies and increased fights with Sparta.

Pericles and his allies gained control of the state and reshaped its political direction.

The absence of Cimon allowed Athens to adopt a more aggressive approach toward Sparta, which ultimately triggered the rivalry that would eventually lead to the Peloponnesian War. 

Cimon returned to Athens around 451 BC after changing political situations created a need for agreement with Sparta.

The Athenians wanted peace after years of escalating conflict, and Cimon’s reputation as a supporter of cooperation with Sparta made him the ideal figure to negotiate a settlement.

He successfully arranged a five-year truce, which temporarily reduced hostilities and allowed both cities to recover from the costs of war. 

Cimon soon embarked on a final effort against Persia in Cyprus in 451 BC. He commanded a fleet of about two hundred triremes that besieged the city of Citium, but he died of illness during the effort.

After his death, the Athenians won a naval victory off Salamis-in-Cyprus, ending the mission on good conditions for Athens.

Plutarch later described Cimon as the greatest general of his generation, a man whose victories secured Athenian naval control for decades.

His death closed the career of a man whose military achievements had been very great in his time, yet whose political choices had divided the city he had fought to defend.

His rise and fall showed how power in democratic Athens could shift rapidly, which left even the most celebrated leaders open to exile and eventual ruin.