Kimon 466 - 449 BC
The aristocratic party and their leaders, Alkmaeon, Kimon and Xanthippos, under the influence of Sparta succeeded to ostracize Themistokles, at 461 BC. In Athens, the new leaders Aristeides and Kimon continued the plans of the genius Themistokles. Aristeides was responsible for the regulation of the Greek islands, that had agreed to place themselves under the command of Athens. The confederacy of Delos, which started in 477 BC, was not only confided to the Ionians, but it was joined by all the Aegean islands. The treasury of the league was in the sacred island of Delos. Aristeides decided that some of the allies ought to keep a number of ships at sea and the islands who could not afford it, to pay a contribution to the treasury, starting thus the foundation for the naval dominion of Athens.
The war with Persia was still continuing and Kimon with a big fleet sailed to Thrace and laid siege to Eion, on the Strymon river (476 BC). The besieged, a Persian governor with his garrison, after a hard struggle, rather than surrender, threw the gold and the silver of the city in the river. He then raised a pile of wood and burned his wife, children and slaves, throwing himself after that in the flames. All the other Greek cities except Doriskos, that had Persian garrisons, were subdued. Kimon later sailed against Skyros (476 BC) and as executor of the Amphictionic league, he expelled the Dolopian pirates and brought Athenians to colonize the island. With him, he brought the bones of the hero Theseus, who had been assassinated in this island eight hundred years before. When the island of Naxos in 466 BC, a confederate, refused to contribute in the league, Kimon sailed with a large fleet and after forcing the Naxians to submit, he enslaved them.
From Naxos, Kimon sailed to Asia and after assembling a fleet of two hundred triremes, laid siege to the Greek city of Phaselis, and as soon as the city was submitted, he sailed to the river Eurymedon in 466 BC, to attack the Persian fleet. After a complete victory, in which two hundred ships were captured, Kimon pursued the Persians, who had fled meanwhile to the land and defeated them. When he received information, that eighty Phoenician ships were at Hydros, in Cyprus, he sailed as fast as he could, defeating and destroying the lot of them. This was the third victory in one day, of the glorious general Kimon, lifting Athens to the highest point of her power.
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The war with Persia was still continuing and Kimon with a big fleet sailed to Thrace and laid siege to Eion, on the Strymon river (476 BC). The besieged, a Persian governor with his garrison, after a hard struggle, rather than surrender, threw the gold and the silver of the city in the river. He then raised a pile of wood and burned his wife, children and slaves, throwing himself after that in the flames. All the other Greek cities except Doriskos, that had Persian garrisons, were subdued. Kimon later sailed against Skyros (476 BC) and as executor of the Amphictionic league, he expelled the Dolopian pirates and brought Athenians to colonize the island. With him, he brought the bones of the hero Theseus, who had been assassinated in this island eight hundred years before. When the island of Naxos in 466 BC, a confederate, refused to contribute in the league, Kimon sailed with a large fleet and after forcing the Naxians to submit, he enslaved them.
From Naxos, Kimon sailed to Asia and after assembling a fleet of two hundred triremes, laid siege to the Greek city of Phaselis, and as soon as the city was submitted, he sailed to the river Eurymedon in 466 BC, to attack the Persian fleet. After a complete victory, in which two hundred ships were captured, Kimon pursued the Persians, who had fled meanwhile to the land and defeated them. When he received information, that eighty Phoenician ships were at Hydros, in Cyprus, he sailed as fast as he could, defeating and destroying the lot of them. This was the third victory in one day, of the glorious general Kimon, lifting Athens to the highest point of her power.
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