A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

(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.)

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