The Eclacia and the Revolt of Athens

Cleon put forward a motion that all Midelineian men should be executed, and all women and children should be enslaved. The citizens were particularly enraged that revolt had brought a Spartan fleet in Ionian waters. But some of the Athenians who had made their decision out of anger began to have a change of heart. A second extraordinary meeting of the Eclacia was held so that punishment could be discussed again. What followed was one of the most famous debates in the history of the Athenian democracy.