Hyperbolus

Hyperbolus (Ancient Greek: Ὑπέρβολος, Hyperbolos; died 412/411 BC) was an Athenian politician active during the first half of the Peloponnesian war, coming to particular prominence after the death of Cleon.

A fragment of a document by 4th-century BC Greek historian Theopompus suggests that Hyperbolus was the son of Chremes, but surviving ostraka prove that his father's name was actually Antiphanes.

[1] Some ancient sources claim that Hyperbolus was from a slave family, though the fact that his father had a Greek name makes this unlikely.

[1] However, an inscription naming Hyperbolus as the proposer of an amendment to a law was restored in 1949 by A. G. Woodhead, which suggests that he was still active after an ostracism in 417 ought to have taken place.

[7] Rhodes argues, however, that ostracism was in fact abandoned because it was too imprecise, and from the late fifth century the Athenians began to use more targeted methods for holding office-holders to account.