Themistocles Biography

Overview
Themistocles (Greek: Themistokles, Θεμιστοκλῆς; born circa 524/523 BC, died circa 459/458 BC) was an Athenian statesman and general whose naval strategy and political leadership were decisive in repelling the Persian invasion of Greece in 480–479 BC. Architect of Athens’s turn to sea power, he masterminded the Battle of Salamis and laid the foundations for the city’s later maritime empire. Talented, audacious, and often controversial, he rose rapidly, reshaped Athenian policy, was later ostracized, and ended his life in the service of the Persian king in Asia Minor.

Early Life and Family
- Birth and deme: Born in Athens around the late 520s BC, Themistocles was enrolled in the deme of Phrearrhioi (tribe Leontis).
- Parentage: His father was Neocles. Ancient authors disagreed about his mother’s identity and origin, calling her either a Thracian named Abrotonon or a Carian named Euterpe, an uncertainty that later fed claims about his outsider status.
- Education and temperament: Sources portray him as precociously ambitious and politically minded. He cultivated oratory and practical intelligence rather than aristocratic polish, preferring the rough-and-ready skills of persuasion, planning, and swift decision.

Rise in Athenian Politics
- Archonship and early reforms: As eponymous archon in 493/2 BC, Themistocles began developing the Piraeus, the deep-water harbor west of Athens, envisioning it as the strategic naval base that would supplant the shallow anchorage at Phaleron.
- Democrat and naval advocate: In the decade after Marathon (490 BC), he argued that Athens’s security and prosperity lay on the sea. He promoted measures that empowered the thetes (poorer citizens who rowed the triremes), thereby weaving naval policy into the fabric of Athenian democracy.

The Naval Program
- Laurium windfall: Around 483/2 BC, a rich vein in the Laurium silver mines provided a surplus. Themistocles persuaded the Assembly to invest it in building a fleet of triremes, formally to confront Aegina, Athens’s rival, but with the looming Persian threat in mind.
- Piraeus vision: He pushed for fortifications and infrastructure at Piraeus, imagining a fortified, multi-harbor naval complex that would protect Athens, enable rapid deployment, and anchor commercial expansion.

The Road to War
- Strategic foresight after Marathon: While many Athenians basked in the land victory over Persia at Marathon, Themistocles warned that the main danger still lay ahead. He prepared for a larger, more sophisticated invasion by sea and land.
- Rivalry with Aristides: His political opponent Aristides the Just championed conservative policies and land-based defense. Aristides was ostracized in 482 BC, clearing the way for Themistocles’s naval program to proceed at full speed.

Command in the Persian Invasion (480–479 BC)
- Artemisium: During Xerxes I’s invasion, Themistocles served among the allied Greek strategoi under the Spartan admiral Eurybiades. At Artemisium, he argued for holding the line at sea and tried to sway the Ionian Greeks in the Persian fleet by leaving inscribed messages urging them to defect.
- Salamis: After the fall of Athens and the stand at Thermopylae, Themistocles insisted on fighting in the narrow straits of Salamis, where Greek seamanship and shorter lines could offset Persian numbers. When allies hesitated, he employed a high-stakes ruse: he sent his slave Sicinnus to Xerxes with a message suggesting the Greeks planned to flee, luring the Persians into a cramped battle space. The result was a decisive Greek victory in 480 BC that crippled the Persian fleet.
- After Salamis: Themistocles skillfully managed post-battle diplomacy, restraining impetuous moves, signaling to Xerxes in a way that encouraged his withdrawal, and consolidating Athenian influence among the islands, though critics accused him of opportunism and graft.
- 479 BC campaigns: While the Greek land army under the Spartan Pausanias won at Plataea, and the allied fleet led by Leotychidas and Athenian commanders triumphed at Mycale, Themistocles’s naval vision framed the larger strategy: neutralize Persian sea power and secure the Aegean.

Rebuilding Athens and the Piraeus
- Fortifying the city: On returning to a devastated Athens, Themistocles pushed to rebuild the city walls despite Spartan protests that no Greek polis north of the Isthmus should be fortified. He outmaneuvered the Spartans, delaying them diplomatically in Sparta while Athenians hurried the wall’s construction back home.
- Piraeus and long-term strategy: He accelerated fortifications at Piraeus and argued for a maritime policy that would protect Athens, foster commerce, and ensure enduring naval supremacy. His plans foreshadowed the later “Long Walls” and the Delian League’s Athenian leadership.

Rivalries, Ostracism, and Flight
- Political backlash: Themistocles’s pride, wealth, and rumored acceptance of gifts fueled resentment. New rivalries emerged, notably with Cimon and with those who preferred Spartan leadership abroad and traditional mores at home.
- Ostracism: Around 471/470 BC he was ostracized and withdrew to Argos. Soon after, when the Spartan regent Pausanias was implicated in treasonable dealings with Persia, Themistocles was accused as an accomplice. Whether guilty or framed, he became a political fugitive.
- Escape: Pursued by both Spartans and angry Athenians, he fled via Corcyra and Epirus. The Molossian king Admetus granted him protection after a dramatic supplication. From there, Themistocles slipped to Pydna, sailed east, and reached Asia Minor.

At the Persian Court
- Reception and adaptation: Presenting himself to the new king, Artaxerxes I (according to most sources), Themistocles offered his services and a promise not to act against Athens unless compelled. He reportedly took a year to learn Persian before formal audiences.
- Governorships and income: The king granted him authority and revenues in Asia Minor, most famously from Magnesia on the Maeander for “bread,” Lampsacus for “wine,” and Myus for “relish.” He effectively became a Persian-sponsored dynast in the region, loyal to the Great King.
- Role and restraint: While honored, he avoided leading Persian arms against Greece. Tradition holds that when asked to command an expedition against his homeland, he declined.

Death and Posthumous Fate
- Death: Themistocles died at Magnesia around 459/458 BC. Ancient accounts differ: some claim he took poison (a dramatic motif in Greek storytelling), others that he died of illness or natural causes.
- Burial: His remains were said, by some Athenians, to have been secretly returned and interred near the Piraeus he had fortified, though this, too, is disputed.
- Continuity: His family maintained local prominence in Asia Minor. Magnesia honored him; his son Archeptolis later appears in the numismatic record.

Family and Personal Life
- Spouse and children: Ancient writers give different names and sequences for his marriages. A commonly cited wife is Archippe. Children attributed to him include sons Neocles (who died young), Cleophantus, and Archeptolis, and several daughters. In Asia Minor, his household blended Greek and local ties.
- Character: Contemporary and later observers agreed on his extraordinary practical intelligence, boldness, and capacity to read circumstances quickly. They also noted vanity, sharp dealing, and a flair for personal advancement.

Reputation and Legacy
- Strategist of sea power: Themistocles’s decision to build a fleet and to fight at Salamis reshaped Greek history. By securing control of the sea, he not only saved Athens in the crisis but also positioned it to lead the Aegean, expand its commerce, and develop a distinctive naval democracy.
- City-builder: His fortifications and promotion of Piraeus created the physical and institutional infrastructure that made classical Athens possible.
- Ambivalent hero: Greek tradition remembered him as both savior and schemer. Thucydides praised his innate genius and speed of judgment; Herodotus highlighted his cunning; Plutarch balanced great service with moral ambiguity. Modern assessments generally credit his strategic insight while recognizing the political costs of his ambition.

People Around Themistocles
- Aristides the Just: A principal Athenian rival, advocate of probity and land power; later helped establish the Delian League on fair terms.
- Eurybiades of Sparta: Nominal commander of the allied fleet in 480 BC; Themistocles persuaded him to fight at Salamis.
- Xerxes I: Persian Great King whose massive invasion Themistocles helped to thwart.
- Mardonius: Xerxes’s general who continued the campaign on land and fell at Plataea.
- Pausanias of Sparta: Victor of Plataea later entangled in a treason scandal that pulled Themistocles into exile.
- Cimon: Influential Athenian statesman and general in the 470s–460s BC, a political counterweight to Themistocles’s legacy.
- Xanthippus: Prominent Athenian (father of Pericles), active in the Mycale campaign and postwar politics.
- Admetus of Molossia: Epirote king who sheltered Themistocles during his flight.
- Artaxerxes I: Persian king who received Themistocles and granted him governorships in Asia Minor.

Sources and Historiography
Our picture of Themistocles comes chiefly from Herodotus, Thucydides, and Plutarch, supplemented by later writers and inscriptions. Their accounts differ in details, but together they depict a leader of exceptional strategic imagination whose embrace of sea power transformed Athens and determined the outcome of the Persian Wars.

Our collection contains 8 quotes who is written / told by Themistocles.

Related authors: Plutarch (Philosopher), Pericles (Statesman), Herodotus (Historian), Thucydides (Historian), Lawrence Taylor (Athlete)

• Q: Themistocles books
  A: Plutarch’s Life of Themistocles; Herodotus’ Histories (Bk 7–8); Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War (Bk 1).
• Q: Themistocles movie
  A: 300: Rise of an Empire (2014).
• Q: Themistocles education
  A: Athenian upbringing; largely self-taught in politics and rhetoric.
• Q: Themistocles pronunciation
  A: thuh-MIS-tuh-kleez (θə-MIS-tə-kleez).
• Q: Themistocles children
  A: Several; sources name sons Neocles, Cleophantus, Archeptolis, and daughters incl. Mnesiptolema.
• Q: Themistocles cause of death
  A: Traditionally suicide by poison in exile (accounts vary).
• Q: Themistocles 300
  A: Protagonist of 300: Rise of an Empire (2014), played by Sullivan Stapleton.
• Q: Themistocles died
  A: c. 459–460 BC, in Magnesia (Asia Minor).

• Wikipedia