Clearchus

Spartan of the aristocratic elite, born c. 450 BC; harmost at Byzantium from 410 (sent out at Xen. *Hell.* 1.1.35–36, escaped by sea when Alcibiades took the city in 408 at *Hell.* 1.3.15–22) and ephor in 403/402 per the Poralla prosopography (Diod. 14.12.2–4 preserves the Spartan recall for severity). Exiled from Sparta for disobedience c. 403/402, he was taken into Cyrus's service and given the overall command of the Greek mercenary corps for the Cunaxa campaign. On the field at Cunaxa he held the right wing and refused Cyrus's order to redeploy to the centre for fear of having his own right flank turned (Xen. *Anab.* 1.8.12–13) — a decision the Greek and modern military tradition has debated ever since, since Cyrus died because the centre broke. After Cunaxa he negotiated with Tissaphernes for a safe-conduct home; the satrap invited him and four other generals to a conference, had them seized, and beheaded them at the Persian court on Artaxerxes's order (Xen. *Anab.* 2.5–6 + Plut. *Artax.* 18). Xen. 2.6.1–15 gives the set-piece obituary of him, the most sustained character-portrait in the *Anabasis*: 'A man who loved war as others love the pleasures of peace.'

Associated Places