Themistocles (born about 524 BC - death 459 BC) - Athenian politician and strategist, one of the “founding fathers” of Athenian democracy, commander of the period of the Greco-Persian wars (500-449 years. BC.). From 493 to 492 repeatedly held the highest positions - archon and strategist. An adherent of a strong fleet, he was able to convince his compatriots that their fates were decided at sea, and as a result he became the savior of the fatherland, the winner of the numerous Persian fleet at Salamis.
What is known about Themistocles
Themistocles' father Neokles belonged to a noble family. He married the citizen of Halicarnassus, from which Themistocles was born. To the chagrin of the parents, the son led a riotous lifestyle and squandered family property, which is why his father deprived him of his inheritance. This shame did not break, but brought the young man to his senses. Realizing how much effort he must put in to wash away the dishonor, he plunged into public affairs, working hard for the benefit of friends and for the sake of glory. All the time he took part in private litigation, often attended popular gatherings. Not a single matter of any importance could do without him: he quickly found a solution, presented it briefly and clearly. He was dexterous both in deeds and in intentions, because, as Thucydides notes, he judged current events with sufficient accuracy and no less shrewdly guessed the future. Thanks to such merits, he quickly became famous.
His political reforms 487-486. BC e. contributed to the further democratization of the Athenian state system. He introduced the election of archons by lot, made it possible for the horsemen to occupy this position, freed the college of strategists from the control of the Areopagus, and since 493 he held the highest positions of archon and strategist more than once.
Themistocles was able to achieve the decision of the popular assembly not to divide the income from the silver mines among the Athenians, but to send it to the construction of hundreds of triremes, which became the basis of the fleet. Over time, he taught his fellow citizens that sea power is capable of giving power to Athens over Hellas, and was able to succeed in this. Faced with the threat of a Persian invasion, he called for reconciliation between the warring Greek states and their unification in the struggle against Persia.
Themistocles achieved the expulsion of Aristides, a supporter of the land struggle. As the leader of the naval party, which expressed the interests of the trade and craft layers, but tried to strengthen the sea power of Athens. In 483-482 Themistocles turned the harbor of Piraeus into one of the best in the Mediterranean by fortifying it with walls and building a powerful fleet. About 200 triremes were built, and crews were trained for them. After convincing the Athenians that only the wooden walls of ships could save them from an attack by the Persians, Themistocles secured the nearby islands and straits.
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The situation in Athens before Themistocles
Before Themistocles, Attica was divided into 48 navcrarias, each of which was charged with the responsibility of keeping one warship constantly on alert. Themistocles was able to achieve that the fleet began to be created centrally under the supervision of the Council of Five Hundred - the highest government body of Athens. The council oversaw the constructed triremes and the construction of new ones, looked after the boathouses for the storage and repair of ships.
The decision on the construction of ships, their type and the appointment of shipbuilders was taken by the people by voting. He also chose the naval commander, who had to lead the fleet into battle or sailing. The post of the trirarch, who was engaged in the construction of triremes, was honorable, although it required a lot of effort and expense. Thanks to this system, each composition of the Council since the time of Themistocles left two dozen new triremes. The construction of warships was classified, shipyards covered the sheds and guarded by detachments of guards, who did not allow strangers.
Persian invasion
480 BC e. - the Persian king Xerxes gathered a huge army and navy. Having ferried the army across the Hellespont (Dardanelles) across the bridge and leading the fleet past the dangerous place at Cape Athos along the dug channel, he moved into the interior of Greece. However, in 481, when Xerxes was preparing to invade, an alliance of Athens and Sparta was created to oppose it, to which other Greek city-states joined. Therefore, when the Persians launched an offensive, they were opposed by the combined forces of the Greeks. Since Thessaly went over to the side of Xerxes, the Greek troops took up a position at Thermopylae, where it was possible to hold back a huge army in a narrow passage.
Themistocles
As a result of the measures that were taken by Themistocles, by the beginning of the invasion of the Persian troops, which, according to Herodotus, had 1207 triremes and up to 3000 auxiliary ships, the Athenians and their allies had 271 triremes and 9 penteconters. But the training of the Greek sailors was higher, which led to the defeat of the Persians.
Taking the post of strategist, Themistocles tried to convince his fellow citizens to meet the barbarians on ships as far as possible from Hellas, but to no avail. Only the approach of the Persians prompted the Athenians to send Themistocles to Cape Artemisium to guard the strait. Themistocles, despite the fact that Athens had more triremes, ceded command to the Spartan Eurybiades; he consoled the other Athenians that if they proved their bravery in war, he would compel all Hellenes to obey them. The strategist was able to convince Eurybiades not to go to the shores of the Peloponnese.
A fleet of Athenian and Spartan ships, led by Eurybiades, was stationed at Cape Artemisius. Eurybiades, on the way to the goal, met 10 advanced Persian ships and, without engaging in battle, retreated to Chalcis. But the next day, the Persian fleet at Cape Sunius lost a third of the ships during a storm, and the Greeks returned to Artemisium.
The Persians corrected their ships and decided to fight, because the occupation of the island of Euboea provided them with an important intermediate base. Despite the losses, they still had 800 ships left and sent 200 of them around the island of Euboea in order to encircle and destroy the entire Greek fleet. But the Greeks learned from the prisoners taken during the skirmishes about the roundabout movement. Themistocles saw that it was necessary to defeat one of the enemy units. No matter how tempting the attack on 200 bypassing ships was, the naval commander understood that when moving towards them, the main forces of the Persians would follow him, and thus the enemy's plan would be realized faster.
Themistocles used original tactics. Shortly before sunset, the Greek triremes headed for the enemy's parking area. The Persians also began to weave and form. Persian ships were larger than triremes, which, however, surpassed them in speed and maneuverability. The Greeks waited until the sun began to set, at a signal from the Eurybiades triremes (raised shield), they resolutely attacked one of the flanks with a closed mass and were able to destroy 30 enemy ships. The rest of the Persian forces from all sides hurried to the attacked flank, but darkness had already come, and the opponents dispersed.
Naval battle between the Persian and Greek fleets
The next day, Themistocles repeated the maneuver with the same success, because the Persians could not attack until the roundabout was completed. They were forced to come to terms with the loss of dozens of ships. Meanwhile, the Greeks received news that the enemy had managed to pass Thermopylae, and the fleet had no choice but to retreat to the Isthmus of Corinth, where the Greek troops were concentrated. The Athenian ships, whose crews distinguished themselves for their bravery, went last.
On the way, in places convenient for parking, Themistocles left inscriptions on the stones that called on the Ionian Greeks, who were in the fleet of Xerxes, to betray the Persians, or at least harm them. He hoped with these inscriptions, if not to win over the Ionians, then at least to arouse the suspicion of Xerxes. The Trieres retreated to the island of Salamis, where the population of Athens gathered. Realizing that the life of his fellow citizens depends on the fleet, Themistocles decided to achieve victory in a battle with the numerically superior Persian fleet.
Battle of Salamis
The narrow entrance to the Salamis Bay, where the Greek fleet was concentrated, did not allow the enemy to deploy all forces. Despite the demands of Themistocles to maintain this advantageous position, the council of the leaders of the Greek fleet decided to retreat. Then Themistocles secretly informed Xerxes of the intentions of the Greeks and advised him to cut off the path of retreat, which the Persian king did. The strategist continued to convince the Greeks of the need for resistance. When the Greek military authorities learned that the situation was hopeless, it was decided to take the battle.
The battle began in the early morning of September 27, 480 BC. e. in the strait between the island of Salamis and Attica. The advantage of the Greeks, in addition to the maneuverability of their ships, was a good knowledge of the narrow strait, replete with pitfalls and shoals. Themistocles placed 370 triremes in two lines along the coast of Salamis with his nose towards the enemy at one o'clock, when the wind from the sea was driving a wave into the strait. The wave did not harm the flat-bottomed low Greek ships, but knocked the heavy Persian ships off course, exposing their sides to the blows of the rams of the Greeks.
The Persian fleet of 800 ships under the command of Xerxes himself blocked the strait on the night of September 27: about 200 ships occupied the exits, and the rest formed a battle formation against the Greek formation in three lines. In the morning, the right flank of the Persians attacked. Crowded in the narrow Salamis Strait, rich in pitfalls and shoals, the Persians with their heavy ships did not have the opportunity to use their numerical superiority.
Battle of Salamis
In battle, they jumped on stones, collided due to a very close formation, interfered with each other. Both sides acted decisively. The left flank of the Persians, led by Xerxes' brother Ariomenes, who was on the most powerful ship, pressed the Greeks. But the opposing ships of Themistocles, who commanded the right flank, swiftly attacked, damaged and boarded the flagship. Ariomenes was killed in the battle. After his death, the left Persian flank fled, pursued by the Greeks.
Throwing it back, Themistocles went to the aid of his left flank, which was retreating in front of the enemy. With his arrival, the advantage was on the side of the Greeks. The Perskid fleet was defeated and fled to Falernian Bay. Their losses amounted to about 200 ships, from the Greeks - about 40.
Xerxes wanted to invade Salamis along the embankment. But Themistocles, still acting as an ally of the king, conveyed to him that the Greeks intended to lead the fleet to the Dardanelles and destroy the bridge between Europe and Asia. Xerxes decided to retreat, leaving Mardonius in Greece. The following year, Mardonius was defeated, as was the Persian fleet at the Dardanelles. The war with the Persians continued for another 30 years, but the Greeks were already acting offensively, relying on the fleet, the center of which was Athens. The foundation of these successes was laid by Themistocles' maritime policy.
After the victory
After the victory, Themistocles proceeded to restore the city and build a wall around it, although this aroused the discontent of the Spartans. Then he turned his attention to Piraeus, noticing the convenient location of the port's marinas. He tried, according to Plutarch, "to adapt the whole city to the sea." Themistocles supported the demos, because from aristocrats - horsemen and hoplites - power passed to rowers and helmsmen. He, according to Plutarch, was ready to burn the fleets of other Hellenic states in order to ensure the supremacy of Athens, but this plan did not receive the approval of Aristides, as although useful, but dishonorable.
Maritime Union of the Greek States
Themistocles was able to do a lot to ensure navigation in the Black Sea straits and the Black Sea. 478 - the naval commander became one of the founders of the maritime union of the Greek states. An alliance was concluded between Athens and the Asia Minor and insular Greek cities to fight the Persians. From 478 to 454 the union is known as the Delos Union, because it was on Delos that the council of the union met and the treasury was kept.
The Allies pledged to maintain a fleet of 100 triremes and an army of 10,000 infantry and 1,000 horsemen. Large cities fielded troops and ships, small cities paid tax to the treasury - foros. At the head of the fleet and troops were the Athenians. Thanks to the unification of forces, the maritime union liberated the city of Byzantium and in the early 60s defeated the Persian fleet and army at the Eurymedon River on the southern coast of Asia Minor. But the last victory was no longer associated with Themistocles himself.
Exile
In the course of time, the burden of taxes for maintaining the fleet seemed prohibitive to the Athenians. 471 BC e. by the intrigues of the aristocrats, Themistocles was sentenced to ostracism by a general decision of the Greek states. After long wanderings, the exiled naval commander fled to the Persian king Artaxerxes I, and received control over a number of cities in Asia Minor. Themistocles committed suicide after 460 due to the fact that he did not want to carry out the command of the Persian king to act against the Hellenes. He died and was buried in Magnesia, where a magnificent tomb was placed for him.
The life of Themistocles was described by the historians Plutarch, Herodotus, Thucydides. Thanks to their labors, information about the first creator of the regular fleet in Greece has been preserved.
N. Skritsky