Chaeron
(Χαίρων), a son of Apollo and Thero, the daughter of Phydas, is the mythical founder of Chaeroneia in Boeotia. (Paus. 9.40.3; Steph. Byz. s. v. Χαιρώνεια; Plut. Sull. 17.) [L.S]
(Χαίρων), or, according to another reading, CHARON, a Lacedaemonian, who appears to have belonged to the party of Nabis; for we find him at Rome in B. C. 183 as the representative of those who had been banished or condemned to death by the Achaeans when they took Sparta in B. C. 188, and restored the exiled enemies of the tyrant. On this occasion the object of Chaeron's mission was obtained. (Plb. 24.4; Liv. 39.48; comp. Plut. Phil. 17.) He was again one of the ambassadors sent to Rome in B. C. 181, to inform the senate of the recent admission of Lacedaemon for the second time into the Achaean league and of the terms of the union. (See p. 569a.; Plb. 25.2; Liv. 40.2, 20.) Polybius represents him as a clever young man, but a profligate demagogue; and accordingly we find him in the ensuing year wielding a sort of brief tyranny at Sparta, squandering the public money, and dividing lands, unjustly seized, among the lowest of the people. Apollonides and other commissioners were appointed to check these proceedings and examine the public accounts; but Chaeron had Apollonides assassinated, for which he was brought to trial by the Achaeans and cast into prison. (Plb. 25.8.) [E.E]
(Χαίρων), a man of Megalopolis, who, shortly before the birth of Alexander the Great, B. C. 356, was sent by Philip to consult the Delphic oracle about the snake which he had seen with Olympias in her chamber. (Plut. Alex. 3.) It was perhaps this same Chaeron who, in the speech (πεπὶ τῶν πρὸς Ἀλέξ. p. 214) attributed by some to Demosthenes, is mentioned as having been made tyrant of Pellene by Alexander (comp. Fabric. Bibl. Graec. b. ii. ch. 26), and of whom we read in Athenaeus (xi. p. 509) as having been a pupil both of Plato and Xenocrates. He is said to have conducted himself very tyranically at Pellene, banishing the chief men of the state, and giving their property and wives to their slaves. Athenaeus, in a cool and off-hand way of his own, speaks of his cruelty and oppression as the natural effect of Plato's principles in the " Republic" and the " Laws." [E.E]
- tyrant of Pellene: Paus. 7.27.7
- Paus. 9.40.5, 6