Plutarch's Lives, Vol. 1

Themistocles was born into a non-aristocratic family in Athens. Despite his humble origins, he demonstrates remarkable intelligence and ambition from an early age. Plutarch highlights his cunning and erratic nature and his determination to make a lasting mark on Athens.

When Themistocles enters public life, his main rival is Aristides. In many ways, Aristides is the opposite of Themistocles: He is aristocratic, gentle, and well-educated. After the Greeks win the First Persian War in 490 BCE, Themistocles knows that the Persians will come back and resolves to prepare Athens, despite Aristides’s resistance. A key moment comes when the Athenians find silver in Laurium and Themistocles succeeds in convincing them to use the wealth from the new mines to build warships. As the fleet is built, Themistocles’s influence grows. He sponsors musicians and poets and makes a point of knowing every Athenian citizen by name. Eventually, he gets his rival Aristides ostracized (banished from the city for a period of 10 years).

When the Persian king Xerxes finally invades Greece in 480 BCE, Themistocles tries to convince the people of Athens to abandon the city and put their trust in their fleet, but nobody approves this plan. Eventually, as the Persians sweep through Greece, Themistocles is sent to meet the Persian fleet at Artemisium. The Greek states who have not surrendered to Persia agree to unite under Spartan leadership. The Athenians, who have the most ships, are reluctant to listen to the Spartans, but Themistocles is able to maintain order by surrendering his own command to Eurybiades, the Spartan admiral. The sea battle at Artemisium is not decisive, but the Greeks gain some valuable experience against their foe. After a Spartan-led land force is wiped out at Thermopylae, the Greeks at Artemisium are forced to return home.

Back in Athens, Themistocles uses manipulation and superstition to convince the Athenians to leave their city and make a stand against the Persians at Salamis, an island just south of the city. Women and children are sent to Troezen while all men of fighting age prepare to face the Persians. The Athenians also call back their exiles, including Aristides, to help them in this time of emergency. Themistocles struggles to persuade the other Greeks to stay in Salamis rather than meet the Persians further south.

Finally, Themistocles forces an engagement at Salamis by sending Xerxes a message that the Greeks are trying to run away and that he should attack while they are disorganized. Xerxes falls for the trap. In the ensuing battle, the Greeks lure the larger Persian fleet into the narrows around Salamis and defeat them. The Persians slowly retreat from Greece. Themistocles’s role in the Greek victory is widely recognized.

Plutarch underscores Themistocles’s often-problematic desire for fame and honor. After the Persian Wars, Themistocles emerges as one of Athens’ most influential statesmen, playing a key role in shaping the city’s post-war policies. He works hard to strengthen Athens’ naval supremacy and fortify its defenses, recognizing the ongoing threat posed by Persia and other potential adversaries.

Eventually, however, Themistocles’s political fortunes take a downturn. Plutarch recounts how he became increasingly mixed up in accusations of corruption and treason, leading to his ostracism from Athens in 471 BCE. Not content with sending him into exile, the Athenians try to put Themistocles on trial for treason. Themistocles finally flees to Asia, where he eventually enters the service of the Persian king Artaxerxes. He is given land in Magnesia.

Themistocles quickly rises to a position of high honor and importance in Persia as a trusted advisor of the king. Years later, however, when hostilities between the Greeks and Persians start brewing again and the Persian king asks for Themistocles’s help, Themistocles decides to die by suicide. Themistocles is buried in Magnesia; according to Plutarch, the story that the Athenians stole his body and buried it in Attica is untrue.