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THEMISTOCLES (c. 514-449 B.C.)

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 759 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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THEMISTOCLES (c. 514-449 B.C.)  , Athenian soldier and statesman in some respects probably the ablest and most far-sighted whom See also:Greece produced in the first See also:half of the 5th See also:century . He was the son of Neocles, an Athenian of no distinction and moderate means, his See also:mother being a Carian or a Thracian, Hence according to the Periclean See also:law iE &,u, oiv avroiv he would not have been a See also:free Athenian at all (see See also:PERICLES) . See also:Thucydides properly brings out the fact that, though he lacked that See also:education which was the See also:peculiar See also:glory of the Periclean See also:age, he displayed a marvellous See also:power of analysing a complex situation together with a See also:genius for rapid See also:action . See also:Plutarch similarly enlarges on his consuming ambition for power both See also:personal and See also:national, and the unscrupulous ability with which he pursued his ends . In all these points he is the See also:antithesis of his See also:great See also:rival See also:Aristides (q.v.) . Of his See also:early years little is known . He may have been See also:strategus of his tribe at See also:Marathon (F;ut . Arist . 5) and we are told that he deeply envied the glory which See also:Miltiades earned . At al; events the See also:death of Miltiades See also:left the See also:stage to Aristides and See also:Themistocles . It is sufficiently clear that their rivalry, terminated in 483-82 by the See also:ostracism of Aristides, turned largely on the fact that Themistocles was the See also:advocate of a policy of See also:naval expansion . This policy was unquestionably of the highest importance to See also:Athens and indeed to Greece .

Athens was faced by the equal if not See also:

superior power of See also:Aegina, while the danger of a renewed See also:Persian invasion loomed large on the See also:horizon . Themistocles therefore persuaded his countrymen to put in See also:hand the See also:building of 200 triremes, and —what was of even greater importance—to fortify the three natural harbours of See also:Peiraeus (see E . See also:Gardner, See also:Ancient Athens, 562 f.) in See also:place of the open roadstead of Phalerum . For the building of the See also:ships Themistocles persuaded the Athenians to allocate 100 talents obtained from the new See also:silver mines at See also:Laurium (See also:Ath . Pol . 22) which were about to be distributed to the citizens (10 drachmae each) . One See also:hundred of the proposed 200 were built . According to the Ath . Pol. it would seem that Themistocles was See also:archon in 483-82 at the See also:time when this naval See also:programme began . See also:Dionysius of See also:Halicarnassus places his archonship in 403-92, in favour of which are several considerations . In 487 the See also:office lost much of its importance owing to the substitution of the See also:lot for See also:election: the See also:chance that the lot would at the particular crisis of 483 fall on Themistocles was obviously remote: and the Ath . Pol. is generally wrong about Themistocles .

In any See also:

case the See also:year See also:prior to the invasion of See also:Xerxes found Themistocles the See also:chief See also:man in Athens if not in Greece . Though the See also:Greek See also:fleet was nominally under the See also:control of the Spartan Eurybiades, it was Themistocles who caused the Greeks to fight the indecisive See also:battle of Artemisium, and still more it was he who, by his See also:threat that he would See also:lead the Athenian See also:army to found a new See also:home in the See also:West, and by his treacherous See also:message to Xerxes, precipitated the engagement at See also:Salamis (q.v.) . The retirement of the Persians left the Athenians free to restore their ruined See also:city (see ATHENS) . See also:Sparta, nominally on the ground that it was dangerous to Greece that there should be any citadel See also:north of the See also:Isthmus which an invader might hold, urged that this should not be done, but Themistocles by means of See also:diplomatic delays and subterfuges enabled the See also:work to be carried sufficiently near to completion to make the .walls defensible . He also carried out his See also:original See also:plan of making Peiraeus a real See also:harbour and fortress for Athens . Athens thus became the finest See also:trade centre in Greece, and this fact, coupled with Themistocles' remission of the See also:alien's tax (s rohaov), induced many See also:foreign business men to See also:settle in Athens . After the crisis of the Persian invasion Themistocles and Aristides appear to have composed their See also:differences . But Themistocles soon began to lose the confidence of the See also:people, partly owing to his boastfulness (it is said that he built near his own See also:house a See also:sanctuary to See also:Artemis Aristoboule " of See also:good counsel ") and partly to his alleged readiness to take bribes . Diodorus (xi . 54) and Plutarch (Themist . 23) both refer to some See also:accusation levelled against him,' and some time between 476 and 471 he was ostracized . He retired to See also:Argos, but the Spartans further accused him of treasonable intrigues with See also:Persia, and he fled to Corcyra, thence to See also:Admetus, See also:king of the Molossians, and finally to See also:Asia See also:Minor .

Phoenix-squares

He was proclaimed a traitor at Athens and his See also:

property was confiscated, though his See also:friends saved him some portion of it . He was well received by the Persians and was allowed to settle in See also:Magnesia on the Maeander . The revenues (5o talents) of this See also:town were assigned to him for See also:bread, those of Myus for condiments, those of See also:Lampsacus for See also:wine . He died at Magnesia at the age of sixty-five, and a splendid memorial was raised by the people of the ' There is, however, much difficulty regarding this accusation . It may be simply a misunderstanding of his ostracism.town, though it is said that his bones were secretly transferred to See also:Attica . He was worshipped by the Magnesians as a See also:god, as we find from a See also:coin on which he is shown with a See also:patera in his hand and a slain See also:bull at his feet (hence perhaps the See also:legend that he died from drinking bull's See also:blood: cf . Aristoph . Eq . 83; Diod. xi . 58; Plut . Them . 31) .

Though his end was discreditable, though his great See also:

wealth can hardly have been obtained by loyal public service, there is no doubt that his services to Athens and to Greece were great . He created the Athenian fleet and with it the possibility of the Delian See also:League (q.v.) which became the Athenian See also:empire, and there are many indications (e.g. his well-attested plan of expansion in the west) that the later imperialist ideal originated in his fertile See also:brain . There are monographs by See also:Bauer (See also:Merseburg, 1881) and Wecklein (See also:Munich, 1882); but the best discussions of his career will be found in the chief Greek histories- e.g . Busolt; on the difficult See also:chronology of his later years see See also:Grote, See also:History of Greece (and the one-vol. ed. by See also:Mitchell and See also:Caspari, 1907, p . 283, See also:note 1, with the authorities there quoted) ; on the Magnesian coin, Rhousopoulos, in Athen . Mitteil . (1896), p . 22 . On the walls, see Ed . See also:Meyer in See also:Hermes, xl . (1905), pp . 561-569 .

(J . M .

End of Article: THEMISTOCLES (c. 514-449 B.C.)
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