nifi cant about you; somehow or other you will become a great man, either for good or for evil.” With much determination Themistocles strove for greatness in action and longed to disting
Trang 1nifi cant about you; somehow or other you will become
a great man, either for good or for evil.”
With much determination Themistocles strove for
greatness in action and longed to distinguish himself
from others, both politically and militarily
Themisto-cles also fought the Persians at the Battle of
Mara-thon, and while most Athenians were convinced that
the victory at Marathon would keep the Persians at
bay, he believed otherwise He sought to ensure that his
city and its inhabitants would be ready for the enemy’s
return Themistocles successfully persuaded the
Athe-nians to increase their naval fl eet by building more than
100 ships with the silver that was mined at Laurium,
despite the many arguments against the idea and the
desired alternative of distributing the wealth
His effectiveness was due to the fact that he played
on popular Athenian fears of Aegina, a traditional
enemy; however, Themistocles himself was
undoubted-ly preparing for the next encounter with Persia
Addi-tionally, Themistocles persuaded his fellow citizens to
believe in his interpretation of a prophecy given by the
priestess at the Delphic oracle It spoke of a wooden
wall and great destruction at Salamis While others felt
that the allusion to a wooden wall meant the Athenians
should hide behind the wall of the Acropolis,
Them-istocles convinced them that the wooden walls
repre-sented the naval fl eet and that the Athenians were
des-tined to win the battle at Salamis against Xerxes Sure
enough, in 480 b.c.e the enlarged Athenian fl eet met
the Persians to wage the naval battle of Salamis with the
courageous Themistocles at the helm
Themistocles managed to bring many of the Greek
city-states together to fi ght on behalf of a common
goal and against a common enemy, despite their
recur-ring internal animosities Largely due to the Athenian
general’s wisdom the Greeks managed to fi ght in the
narrow strait of Salamis, which was crucial for the
Athe-nian advantage Despite being outnumbered by nearly
twice as many Persian ships, the Greeks fought valiantly
and came out victorious in the end The judgment and
timing of Themistocles was instrumental as he crowded
the large Persian fl eet in the strait and used the winds
as well as the maneuverability of the smaller Greek
triremes to ram and sink more than 200 enemy ships
while only losing roughly 40 of his own The Persians
eventually retreated, and not only was Greece saved,
but so too was Western civilization Themistocles was
generously honored for his leadership, and the
histo-rian Herodotus wrote, “Themistocles was acclaimed
throughout the whole of Hellas and deemed to be the
wisest man by far of the Hellenes.” As a political leader
Themistocles rebuilt and fortifi ed Athens, which had suffered prior to the successful naval battle
The initial respect and praise that Themistocles was showered with quickly came to an end Such was the nature of a fi ckle citizenry and manipulative rulers who used the city-state’s democratic structure to their advantage By 471 b.c.e Themistocles was ostracized
by his political opponents and forced to live in Argos for a number of years He was later summoned back to his native city due to criminal charges of treason, which were likely fabricated by his rivals in Athens Convinced
of certain failure against such powerful adversaries and trumped-up charges, he went into self-imposed exile Ironically, he eventually ended up in Persia Themis-tocles managed to convince the Persian king that he arrived voluntarily as an ally and that it was because of his decision making that the Hellenes had not pursued and destroyed more retreating Persian ships at Salamis Having successfully convinced and wooed the king, the bounty that was formerly on Themistocles’ head was removed and instead the reward was given to him After learning the Persian language Themistocles became a consultant on Greek matters in the Persian king’s court
He took up residence in Magnesia, one city of three in Asia Minor that he was additionally rewarded with However, around 459 b.c.e the Persian king called upon Themistocles not simply for the purposes of con-sultation but to fi ght directly against the Greeks Instead
of tarnishing and undermining his earlier reputation and the deeds done on behalf of his homeland, he is said to have called a banquet with friends at his home
in Magnesia whereupon he poisoned himself Disagree-ment persists surrounding the factual manner of The-mistocles’ death, and it is not certain whether it was truly his loyalty to Athens that drove him to suicide
In any case the life and story of Themistocles remains
a legendary and heroic one that continues to serve as
an example of how a single man as both statesman and general can have a signifi cant impact on a political com-munity and important historical events
See also ostracism; Persian invasions
Further reading: Herodotus The Histories New York:
Nor-ton, 1992; Lenardon, Robert J The Saga of Themistocles London: Thames and Hudson, 1978; Plutarch Plutarch’s Lives London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, and Riving-ton, 1876; Richard, Carl J Twelve Greeks and Romans Who Changed the World Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefi eld
Publishers, 2003
Trevor Shelley
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