Cleandridas or Cleandrides (

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: Κλεανδρίδας or Κλεανδρίδης) was a

Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...

n general of the 5th century BCE, who advised the young Agiad king

Pleistoanax Pleistoanax, also spelled Plistoanax, () was Agiad king of Sparta from 458 to 409 BC. He was the leader of the peace party in Sparta at a time of violent confrontations against Athens for the hegemony over Greece. The son of Pausanias, Pleist ...

during the early part of the latter's reign. According to

Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...

, both Cleandrides and Pleistoanax were banished from

(most likely between the years 446 and 444 BC), for allegedly accepting a bribe from the

Athenian Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

leader

Pericles Pericles (; ; –429 BC) was a Greek statesman and general during the Golden Age of Athens. He was prominent and influential in Ancient Athenian politics, particularly between the Greco-Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War, and was acclaimed ...

to call off their planned attack on the Athenian region

Attica Attica (, ''Attikḗ'' (Ancient Greek) or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the entire Athens metropolitan area, which consists of the city of Athens, the capital city, capital of Greece and the core cit ...

. Although Pleistoanax was later recalled to Sparta, Cleandrides had a death sentence imposed upon him in his absence (Plutarch, ''Life of Pericles'' XXII). Nevertheless, Cleandridas was described as a shrewd general and strategist. The 2nd century AD writer

Polyaenus Polyaenus or Polyenus ( ; see ae (æ) vs. e; , "much-praised") was a 2nd-century Roman Macedonian author and rhetorician, known best for his ''Stratagems in War'' (), which has been preserved. He was born in Bithynia, Asia Minor. The ''Suda'' c ...

described how Cleandridas skillfully sowed dissent among his enemies, the people of

Tegea Tegea (; ) was a settlement in ancient Arcadia, and it is also a former municipality in Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the Tripoli municipality, of which it is a municipal unit with an area o ...

, by promoting the false appearance that their leaders had accepted bribes from Sparta. Cleandridas was the father of Spartan general

Gylippus Gylippus (; was a Spartan general (strategos) of the 5th century BC; he was the son of Cleandridas, who was the adviser of King Pleistoanax and had been expelled from Sparta for accepting Athenian bribes in 446 BC and fled to Thurii, a pan-H ...

, who defeated the Athenians in Sicily.

References

{{AncientGreece-bio-stub Ancient Spartan generals 5th-century BC Spartans Ephors