Hyperbolos
Encyclopedia
Hyperbolus was an Athenian politician active during the first half of the Peloponnesian war
, coming to particular prominence after the death of Cleon
.
Like Cleon
, he counts as a demagogue, one who exercised power solely through speech in the assembly. Unlike Cleon, Hyperbolos did not have a noble background, appearing to be one of the first Athenian political leaders lacking aristocratic origins. It appears that like other such leaders he was wealthy. He is referred to by Aristophanes
in the play Peace
as having been a lampmaker previous to being a political figure.
Hyperbolus is universally reviled in the sources, even more so than his predecessor: both are associated with an alleged decline in Athenian political culture leading to the loss of the war with Sparta
. Thucydides
8.73 is particularly vicious. In attacks on him with comedy he is represented as being of slavish and foreign background, both of which are improbable.
Sometime in the years 417-415 BC he was ostracised, perhaps the last person to be subject to the practice. Accounts of this ostracism by Plutarch
describe a complex struggle with Nicias
and Alcibiades
, where Hyperbolos tried to bring about the ostracism of one of this pair but they combined their influence to induce the people to expel Hyperbolos instead. The validity of Plutarch's take on these events, however, is hard to gauge. Hyperbolus went to live on the island of Samos
where he was murdered in 411 BC by oligarchic
revolutionaries around the time of the coup of the 400 that for several months suppressed the democracy at Athens.
Peloponnesian War
The Peloponnesian War, 431 to 404 BC, was an ancient Greek war fought by Athens and its empire against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta. Historians have traditionally divided the war into three phases...
, coming to particular prominence after the death of Cleon
Cleon
Cleon was an Athenian statesman and a Strategos during the Peloponnesian War. He was the first prominent representative of the commercial class in Athenian politics, although he was an aristocrat himself...
.
Like Cleon
Cleon
Cleon was an Athenian statesman and a Strategos during the Peloponnesian War. He was the first prominent representative of the commercial class in Athenian politics, although he was an aristocrat himself...
, he counts as a demagogue, one who exercised power solely through speech in the assembly. Unlike Cleon, Hyperbolos did not have a noble background, appearing to be one of the first Athenian political leaders lacking aristocratic origins. It appears that like other such leaders he was wealthy. He is referred to by Aristophanes
Aristophanes
Aristophanes , son of Philippus, of the deme Cydathenaus, was a comic playwright of ancient Athens. Eleven of his forty plays survive virtually complete...
in the play Peace
Peace (play)
Peace is an Athenian Old Comedy written and produced by the Greek playwright Aristophanes. It won second prize at the City Dionysia where it was staged just a few days before the ratification of the Peace of Nicias , which promised to end the ten year old Peloponnesian War...
as having been a lampmaker previous to being a political figure.
Hyperbolus is universally reviled in the sources, even more so than his predecessor: both are associated with an alleged decline in Athenian political culture leading to the loss of the war with Sparta
Sparta
Sparta or Lacedaemon, was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the banks of the River Eurotas in Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese. It emerged as a political entity around the 10th century BC, when the invading Dorians subjugated the local, non-Dorian population. From c...
. Thucydides
Thucydides
Thucydides was a Greek historian and author from Alimos. His History of the Peloponnesian War recounts the 5th century BC war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 BC...
8.73 is particularly vicious. In attacks on him with comedy he is represented as being of slavish and foreign background, both of which are improbable.
Sometime in the years 417-415 BC he was ostracised, perhaps the last person to be subject to the practice. Accounts of this ostracism by Plutarch
Plutarch
Plutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...
describe a complex struggle with Nicias
Nicias
Nicias or Nikias was an Athenian politician and general during the period of the Peloponnesian War. Nicias was a member of the Athenian aristocracy because he had inherited a large fortune from his father, which was invested into the silver mines around Attica's Mt. Laurium...
and Alcibiades
Alcibiades
Alcibiades, son of Clinias, from the deme of Scambonidae , was a prominent Athenian statesman, orator, and general. He was the last famous member of his mother's aristocratic family, the Alcmaeonidae, which fell from prominence after the Peloponnesian War...
, where Hyperbolos tried to bring about the ostracism of one of this pair but they combined their influence to induce the people to expel Hyperbolos instead. The validity of Plutarch's take on these events, however, is hard to gauge. Hyperbolus went to live on the island of Samos
Samos Island
Samos is a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off the coast of Asia Minor, from which it is separated by the -wide Mycale Strait. It is also a separate regional unit of the North Aegean region, and the only municipality of the regional...
where he was murdered in 411 BC by oligarchic
Oligarchy
Oligarchy is a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with an elite class distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, commercial, and/or military legitimacy...
revolutionaries around the time of the coup of the 400 that for several months suppressed the democracy at Athens.