Callicrates(2)

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Callicrates (2), son of Theoxenos of Leontion, (died 149/8 bce), Achaean politician, opponent of *Lycortas and *Polybius (1). As envoy to Rome in 180/79 he urged the senate to support its friends in the Greek states who put Roman interests first, by expressing its wishes unambiguously. The senate's praise boosted Callicrates’ position at home, so that as stratēgos (chief magistrate) for 179/8 he restored the exiles to *Sparta and *Messene—the major issue on which Achaean politicians and Rome disagreed. Polybius (24. 10. 8–10) views Callicrates’ speech as a turning-point for the worse in Roman relations with Achaea, though his own opposition and later experience coloured his view. Callicrates remained influential: in 168 he prevented Achaea from sending troops to Egypt, after *Pydna he provided the Romans with a list of 1,000 Achaeans to be interned (including Polybius), which made him widely unpopular, not just with Polybius. He died during a diplomatic mission to Rome.