Long before Pericles turned the Delian League into an Athenian empire, another man laid its foundations — and then tried to make peace with Persia. Cimon, son of Miltiades, was Athens's most successful general of the early 5th century BCE. He crushed the Persian fleet at the Eurymedon River, expanded Athenian power across the Aegean, and brought back enough plunder to build the south wall of the Acropolis. But his fervent admiration for Sparta eventually cost him everything. This episode of The History of Greece follows Cimon's rise from ostracism to triumph, his controversial policy of 'mixing' with Sparta, the earthquake that changed Greek politics, and his final, ironic death while trying to liberate Cyprus. We also explore the ostracism that sent him into exile, the Cimonian walls that still stand in Athens, and the moment the democratic reformers finally eclipsed his conservative vision. Why did the same people who cheered his victories later vote to exile him? And what does his story tell us about the fragility of political consensus in ancient Athens?
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