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The character of Cleon is represented by Aristophanes [13] and Thucydides [14] in a very unfavourable light. Their portrayals may be justified considering he instilled a feeling of mistrust within Athens through a kind of Athenian " McCarthyism ", caused by the excessive number of informants he employed to keep watch on the city.
The Knights (Ancient Greek: Ἱππεῖς Hippeîs; Attic: Ἱππῆς) was the fourth play written by Aristophanes, who is considered the master of Old Comedy.The play is a satire on the social and political life of classical Athens during the Peloponnesian War, and in this respect it is typical of all the dramatist's early plays.
However it is not necessarily true that Cleon was exploiting the system for venal or corrupt reasons, as argued in The Wasps. [7] Aristophanes' plays promote conservative values and support an honourable peace with Sparta, whereas Cleon was a radical democrat and a leader of the pro-war faction. Misunderstandings were inevitable.
Aristophanes' second play, The Babylonians (now lost), was denounced by Cleon as a slander against the Athenian polis. It is possible that the case was argued in court, but details of the trial are not recorded and Aristophanes caricatured Cleon mercilessly in his subsequent plays, especially The Knights , the first of many plays that he ...
Cleon had subsequently prosecuted him for slandering the polis — or possibly the producer, Callistratus, was prosecuted instead. [8] Aristophanes was already planning his revenge when The Acharnians was produced and it includes hints [9] that he would carve Cleon up in his next play, The Knights. Some significant events leading up to the play:
The god Hermes delivers a speech blaming the Peloponnesian War on Pericles and Cleon (lines 603–48) and this was an argument that Aristophanes had already promoted in earlier plays (e.g. The Acharnians 514–40 and The Knights 792–809). The Chorus's joyful celebration of peace is edged with bitter reflections on the mistakes of past leaders ...
Aristophanes produces Daitaleis (The Banqueters) [2] Sparta's King Archidamus II is succeeded by his son Agis II. Following the surrender of Mytilene to Athens, the Athenian leader Cleon insists that the city be destroyed. In response to the pleadings of a number of Athenian citizens, Cleon's decree to destroy the population of Mytilene is ...
The Athenian leader Cleon is often cited as a demagogue because of three events described in the writings of Thucydides [44] and Aristophanes. [45] First, after a failed revolt by the city of Mytilene, Cleon persuaded the Athenians to slaughter not just the Mytilenean prisoners, but every man in the city, and to sell their wives and children as ...