Themistocles: A Life

Themistocles was born in ancient Athens in 524 BC. Unlike most aristocrats, Themistocles came from a mixed background: his father belonged to an aristocratic family with deep roots in Athens, but his mother was likely a non-Athenian concubine. Coming from this background, Themistocles had his feet in two worlds: he rubbed shoulders with the aristocratic High and Mighty while at the same time feeling compassion and care for the underprivileged common folk. He shocked his aristocratic friends when he intentionally moved into a working-class district centered around the making of ceramics. There he opened a law firm and began cultivating a positive reputation with the down-and-out working class. He was elected archon - the highest political office available in Athens - in 493 BC, and he immediately began fortifying the harbors at Piraeus, a nearby seaside down linked to Athens. His reasons were likely two-fold: increase Athens' maritime prowess while at the same time preparing for future foreign threats.

In 492 BC, the mighty foreign power of Persia, under King Darius, invaded Greece, setting its sights on Athens. The Persians were defeated at the 490 BC Battle of Marathon (pictured here). Most Greeks viewed the victory as the end of the Persian threat, but Themistocles disagreed; he believed the Persians would try again. The Greek armies were centered around citizen soldiers, known as hoplites, with contingents of light cavalry and some minor missile troops like slingers; the Persians, however, had excessive cavalry and archers. Themistocles was convinced that next time the Persians came around, they would bring the whole weight of their power against Greece; he didn't think the Greek land warriors could withstand the onslaught. He advocated building a powerful navy of fast triremes - three-banked warships with bronze rams - and argued that sea power was the answer to countering Persia: by dominating the seas, the Greeks could harm Persia's supply lines and even prevent her from landing her armies on the Greek coast. Most of the Greeks didn't like this idea; they were proud of their hoplite armies and high off their victory at Marathon. If it isn't broken, why fix it?

If Themistocles wanted a fleet, he not only needed to win over support from his aristocratic friends; he also had to find a way to pay for it. In 483 a rich silver strike at the Laurium mines created a monetary windfall. Though custom dictated distributing the surplus as citizen bonuses, Themistocles persuaded the Athenian Assembly to invest it in constructing 200 triremes instead. The assembly didn't share his concerns about Persia, but they were nervous about some of their Greek neighbors; Themistocles played to their fears, stating that a 200-strong Athenian fleet would keep their Greek neighbors subdued. The Assembly agreed to build the fleet. The Greek historian Herodotus calls Themistocles a 'trickster' because of how he manipulated the Assembly to get what he wanted - and it was fortunate he did.

When King Xerxes I of Persia invaded in 480 BC, Themistocles coordinated the Greek response. He cobbled together a massive force that included hundreds of ships and thousands of troops and set them towards the Persians. He convinced the Athenians to evacuate their women and children from the city and, if needed, to abandon the city altogether. At the town of Artemisium, the Greek fleet delayed the Persians and then executed a strategic withdrawal into the narrow straits of Salamis, near Athens. Facing a Persian fleet twice their size, Themistocles sent a trusted slave with a false message to Xerxes; the slave informed the Persian king that the Greeks were divided, demoralized, and planning to flee. He added that Themistocles was willing to defect. Xerxes fell for the deception, and Xerxes threw his fleet after the Greeks: but the large Persian ships crowded and ran into each other, while the Greek triremes rammed the stalled Persian ships, disabling them, and then Greek hoplites boarded the enemy ships to engage in 'land warfare' on the slippery decks. The September 480 BC Battle of Salamis was a decisive Greek victory that left the Persian fleet all but decimated. Xerxes retreated from Greece with most of his army, leaving a reduced force under his subordinate Mardonius that was later defeated at the Battle of Plataea the next year.

The Battle of Plataea

Themistocles had his detractors, but after Salamis, he was Greece's rising star. The ancient historian Plutarch called him 'the chief savior of Greece.' Not only did Themistocles' Athenian fleet repel King Xerxes, but it also became the backbone of Athens' growing maritime empire. The fleet was the first step in Athens becoming an empire, and it enabled her to eventually dominate the Aegean. On the downside, Athens' future empire would put her at odds with the Greek city-state of Sparta, and the two of them would be locked in a three-decade war known as the Peloponnesian Wars - but we're getting ahead of ourselves, and far ahead of Themistocles!

Fame, however, is a fickle mistress; with the Persians gone, Themistocles' fame began to wane. His aristocratic colleagues despised how he catered to working-class people and advocated for commoners over against aristocratic interests. As his rivals gained influence, they called for him to be ostracized. Athens had a law that if a certain majority of the Assembly voted for someone to be expelled from the city, for whatever reason (or even no reason at all!), then that person had no choice but to leave the city within ten days and to return no earlier than ten years. They retained their property in Athens, but they weren't allowed to enjoy it until (and if) they returned. Themistocles was ostracized and kicked out of Athens around 471 BC.

Themistocles first went to the Greek city of Argos, but his Spartan detractors began spreading rumors that he was secretly collaborating with Persia against Greece. It was a ridiculous accusation, but one that could warrant a death sentence. As the accusations intensified, Themistocles had no option but to leave Greece. He first traveled to Macedon just north of Greece (the Macedonians considered themselves Greeks, but most other Greeks viewed them as northern barbarians, and their way of life was much more rustic and battle-hardened than those of their southern 'pure' Greek neighbors).

From Macedon Themistocles continued traveling east until he reached the court of King Artaxerxes of Persia, the son of Xerxes and grandson of Darius. The Persians granted him asylum and protection from his Greek accusers, likely because they respected him and wanted to capitalize on his invaluable knowledge of Greek affairs. Themistocles learned Persian customs and language, and the king appointed him governor of the Greek city of Magnesia, which was in modern-day Turkey and under Persian control. 

Themistocles lived out the rest of his days as governor of Magnesia, dying around 460 BC. No one knows for sure how he died; some ancient historians argue he died of natural causes, but others have argued that he died by suicide by way of drinking bull's blood to avoid betraying Greece. During his latter days, Themistocles was all but hated by the Greeks; they believed that his seeking sanctuary in Persia was proof of his collaboration with them all along! But decades following his death, as tempers cooled and no evidence of collaboration ever came forth, the Greeks softened towards him. Eventually he became an Athenian hero, the chief savior of Greece, who did not betray Greece to the Persians but who was betrayed by Greece instead.