A heatwave named “Cleon” affecting Southern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean is expected to start being felt in Cyprus by Thursday, pushing temperatures up to 42 degrees Celsius, Meteorology Department director Kleanthis Nicolaides told the Cyprus News Agency (CNA).
As he explained, “Cleon” which combines high pressure with a warm and dry air mass, has already affected Sardinia, Corsica, as well as the southern parts of France and Italy.
In Cyprus, “temperatures are expected to reach up to 40 degrees Celsius tomorrow (Thursday, 13/07), while on Friday and Saturday, we will have even higher temperatures of 42 degrees Celsius,” Nicolaides noted.
The heatwave was named after Cleon, an ancient Theban general who fought in the Peloponnesian wars.
Cleon had a reputation for being ruthless and in 427 he proposed that all citizens of Mytilene – which had revolted against Athens – be put to death and the women and children enslaved.
He is considered to be the first prominent representative of the commercial class in Athenian politics, and in 429 he became leader of the Athenian democracy after the death of his political enemy, Pericles.
Cleon was defeated and killed at Amphipolis by the Spartan general Brasidas when trying to recover the cities of Thrace for the Athenian Empire. Cleon is represented by Aristophanes and Thucydides in an extremely unfavourable light.
The name was picked by the national meteorological services of Greece, Cyprus and Israel, Nicolaides said.
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