Themistocles

Themistocles persuaded Athens to build the fleet that saved Greece and died in the service of the Persian king. Born around 524 BC, he was not from the old aristocracy — his mother may have been a foreigner — and he made his career through the assembly and the courts. He was archon around 493 BC and began fortifying the harbour at Piraeus, and he fought at Marathon in 490 BC. His decisive act came in 483 BC, when a rich new vein of silver was struck at Laurium. The customary course was to distribute the windfall to the citizens. Themistocles argued instead for spending it on two hundred triremes, ostensibly for the war with Aegina, and won the vote — which is why Athens had a navy when Xerxes invaded three years later. He had Aristides ostracised over the argument. When the Persians came in 480 BC he interpreted the Delphic oracle's wooden wall as meaning ships, organised the evacuation of Attica, and after Thermopylae drew the Persian fleet into the narrow strait at Salamis, where numbers counted against it. He is said to have sent a false message to Xerxes to provoke the attack. The Greek victory there ended the invasion's prospects. He then had the walls of Athens rebuilt by stalling a Spartan embassy while the work was done. He was ostracised around 471 BC, accused of medism, and condemned in absentia. He fled across Greece and reached Artaxerxes, who gave him three cities to govern in Asia Minor. He died there around 459 BC.

• Lived: 524 BCE – 459 BCE
• Nationality: Greek
• Roles: general, ruler