Conspiracy of Cinadon
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The Conspiracy of Cinadon was an attempted coup d'État which took place in Sparta in the 4th century BCE during the first years of the reign of Agesilaus II (398 BCE-358 BCE)[1].
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[edit] Protagonists
Cinadon was a young and valiant man. He was a police officer who carried out important missions for the Ephors; he had a Scytale in his possession which was used to direct Hippeis, members of the elite Spartan guard. He was literate and had thus received some education. Because of his job he should have been a valued and respected person likely (according to Xenophon and Aristotle[2]) to be a member of the peers (Homoioi). In fact, he was a member of the "Inferiors" (hypomeiones), those Spartans who had lost their civil rights through cowardice[3] , or poverty (for example, inability to pay their dues to the syssitia). He aspired, as he rebuts in the course of his trial, "to be a Lacedaemonian inferior to no one"
He assembled other hypomeiones around himself of whom the most dangerous, according to Xenophon, was the seer Tisamenus, a descendant of an Elean of the same name who had received Spartan citizenship after the Greco-Persian Wars. He had also lost his civil rights, probably because of poverty. These two plotters were not members of the oppressed classes, but had been stripped of their usual rights as citizens.
[edit] Discovery of the plot
During a sacrifice presided over by king Agesilaus II, the omens proved to be very bad. Xenophon bluntly indicates that the soothsayer assisting the king foresaw "a most terrible conspiracy". Several days later a man denounced the conspiracy of Cinadon to the ephors: he said that Cinadon had brought him to the agora and ordered him to count the Spartans in the crowd, which consisted of nearly 4000. It turned out that only 40 of them were Peers: a king, ephors, Gerousia, and citizens. Cinadon then pointed out that the 40 Spartans were the enemy, and the 4000 others were allies. The informer added that Cinadon had gathered around himself a number of hypomeiones who hated the Spartans:
" for whenever among these classes any mention was made of Spartiatae, no one was able to conceal the fact that he would be glad to eat them raw."(Hellenica, III, 3, 6) [4].
The informer finished by pointing out that some conspirators were armed and the rest had access to implements such as hatchets and sickles.(Hellenica, III, 3, 7)
Panicked, the ephors did not immediately arrest Cinadon. By means of an elaborate ruse they sent him to the Elean frontier, at Aulon in Messenia. His escort was composed of young Hippeis, carefully selected by their commander. An additional detachment of cavalry was available as reinforcements. Cinadon is interrogated in the field; where he reveals the names of the principal co-conspirators who were then arrested. On his return to Sparta, he was further questioned until all his accomplices were named. Cinadon and the conspirators were then bound, flogged and dragged through the city until they were dead.
[edit] Notes
- ^ This article translated from the French wiki article 15 June 2006
- ^ Aristotle, Politics (V, 7, 1306b 33–35)
- ^ Reginald Walter Macan, Herodotus: The Seventh, Eighth, & Ninth Books with Introduction and Commentary explains the term 'tresantes' which is associated with this misdeed. online accessed 13 June 2006.
- ^ Xenophon, Hellenica Online at Perseus accessed 14 June 2006
[edit] Bibliography
- E. David, "The Conspiracy of Cinadon". Athenæeum 57 (1979), p. 239–259
- J.F. Lazenby, "The Conspiracy of Cinadon reconsidered". Athenæum 55 (1977), p. 437–443
- (French) Edmond Lévy. Sparte : histoire politique et sociale jusqu’à la conquête romaine. Seuil, "Points Histoire" collection, Paris, 2003 (ISBN 2-02-032453-9)
- (Italian) R. Vattone, "Problemi spartani. La congiura di Cinadone". RSA 12 (1982), p. 19–52.
