Cimon

Cimon built the Athenian empire and was ostracised for admiring Sparta. Born around 510 BC, he was the son of Miltiades, the victor of Marathon, who died in disgrace owing an enormous fine that Cimon inherited and could not pay until his sister's marriage settled it. He fought at Salamis in 480 BC and rose quickly afterwards. He commanded the Delian League's operations for nearly two decades and did most of the work that turned an alliance into an empire. He took Eion on the Strymon and the island of Skyros, where he found bones he identified as Theseus's and brought to Athens. He suppressed Carystus and reduced Naxos and Thasos when they tried to leave the league, which established that membership was not voluntary. His greatest victory was at the Eurymedon river in Pamphylia around 466 BC, where he destroyed a Persian fleet and army on the same day and ended the Persian threat in the Aegean. He spent the plunder on public works — the southern wall of the Acropolis, plane trees in the agora, and the Long Walls to Piraeus — and was famously generous privately, leaving his estates unfenced so that anyone could take fruit. His politics were conservative and pro-Spartan; he named a son Lacedaemonius. In 462 BC he took four thousand hoplites to help Sparta suppress a helot revolt, and the Spartans sent them home, apparently fearing their sympathies. The humiliation destroyed him. He was ostracised, Ephialtes' reforms passed, and he died on campaign in Cyprus around 450 BC.

• Lived: 510 BCE – 450 BCE
• Nationality: Greek
• Roles: general, ruler