Cleander of

Sparta Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...

( el, Κλέανδρος) was

harmost Harmost ( el, , "joiner" or "adaptor") was a Spartan term for a military governor. The Spartan general Lysander instituted several harmosts during the period of Spartan hegemony after the end of the Peloponnesian War in 404 BC. They were sent int ...

Byzantium Byzantium () or Byzantion ( grc, Βυζάντιον) was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium'' cont ...

in 400 BC, and promised Cheirisophus to meet the

Ten Thousand The Ten Thousand ( grc, οἱ Μύριοι, ''oi Myrioi'') were a force of mercenary units, mainly Greeks, employed by Cyrus the Younger to attempt to wrest the throne of the Persian Empire from his brother, Artaxerxes II. Their march to the Bat ...

Calpe Calpe () or Calp () is a coastal municipality located in the ''comarca'' of Marina Alta, in the province of Alicante, Valencian Community, Spain, by the Mediterranean Sea. It has an area of and a population density of . The city lies at the fo ...

with ships to convey them to Europe. However, when they reached Calpe, Cleander had not come. Nor had he sent any ships. Later, when he did arrive, he brought only two

trireme A trireme( ; derived from Latin: ''trirēmis'' "with three banks of oars"; cf. Greek ''triērēs'', literally "three-rower") was an ancient vessel and a type of galley that was used by the ancient maritime civilizations of the Mediterranean S ...

s and no transports. Soon after his arrival, a tumult occurred, in which the traitor Dexippus was roughly handled. At Dexippus' instigation, Cleander threatened to sail away, to denounce Xenophon's army as enemies, and to issue orders that no Greek city should receive them. However,

Xenophon Xenophon of Athens (; grc, wikt:Ξενοφῶν, Ξενοφῶν ; – probably 355 or 354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian, born in Athens. At the age of 30, Xenophon was elected commander of one of the biggest Anci ...

and the army's leaders succeeded in pacifying Cleander and as a result Cleander offered hospitality to Xenophon and accepted the offer of leading the army home. However, Cleander most likely wished to avoid the possibility of any hostile confrontation with the Persian satrap of

Phrygia In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; grc, Φρυγία, ''Phrygía'' ) was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. After its conquest, it became a region of the great empires ...

, Pharnabazus. So when the sacrifices for the projected march were declared to be unfavourable, Cleander sailed back to Byzantium, promising to give the army the best reception in his power on their arrival there. Cleander seemed to have kept this promise to the extent permitted given the opposition of the Spartan admiral Anaxibius. Cleander was succeeded as harmost of Byzantium by Aristarchus of Sparta.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cleander Of Sparta 5th-century BC Spartans 4th-century BC Spartans Ancient Byzantium Harmosts