Editing Themistocles (section)

== Later life in the Achaemenid Empire, death, and descendants ==
[[File:He stoods silent before King.jpg|thumb|Illustration by [[Walter Crane]] showing Themistocles standing silently before King [[Artaxerxes I|Artaxerxes]]]]
{{Location map+
|Aegean
|float      = right
|width      = 220px
|caption    = Location of [[Magnesia on the Meander]], where Themistocles ruled as Governor under the [[Achaemenid Empire]], as well as [[Lampsacus]] and [[Myus]] from which he also obtained his revenues.
|nodiv      = 1
|mini       = 1
|relief=yes
|places     =
{{location map~ |Aegean  |lat=40.346667|N |long=26.699167|E |label='''[[Lampsacus]]''' |position=right |label_size=70 }}
{{location map~ |Aegean  |lat=37.595556|N |long=27.429444|E |label='''[[Myus]]'''|position=bottom |label_size=70}}
{{location map~ |Aegean |lat=37.852778|N |long=27.527222|E |label='''[[Magnesia on the Meander|Magnesia]]'''|position=right |label_size=70|mark=Capital mark.svg}}
}}
From Molossia, Themistocles apparently fled to [[Pydna]], from where he took a ship for [[Asia Minor]].<ref name = PT25 /><ref name = TI137 /> This ship was blown off course by a storm, and ended up at [[Naxos (island)|Naxos]], which an Athenian fleet was in the process of besieging.<ref name = PT25 /><ref name = TI137 /> Desperate to avoid the legal authorities, Themistocles, who had been traveling under an assumed identity, revealed himself to the captain and said that if he did not reach safety he would tell the Athenians that he'd bribed the ship to take him.<ref name = PT25 /><ref name = TI137 /> According to Thucydides, who wrote within living memory of the events, the ship eventually landed safely at Ephesus, where Themistocles disembarked.<ref name = TI137 /> Plutarch has the ship docking at [[Cyme (Aeolis)|Cyme]] in [[Aeolis|Aeolia]],<ref name = PT26>Plutarch, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0182;query=chapter%3D%23242;layout=;loc=Them.%2027.1 Themistocles 26]</ref> and Diodorus has Themistocles making his way to Asia in an undefined manner.<ref name = DSXI56 /> Diodorus and Plutarch next recount a similar tale, namely that Themistocles stayed briefly with an acquaintance (Lysitheides or Nicogenes) who was also acquainted with the Persian king, [[Artaxerxes I]].<ref name = DSXI56 /><ref name = PT26 /> Since there was a bounty on Themistocles's head, this acquaintance devised a plan to safely convey Themistocles to the Persian king in the type of covered wagon that the King's concubines travelled in.<ref name = DSXI56 /><ref name = PT26 /> All three chroniclers agree that Themistocles's next move was to contact the Persian king; in Thucydides, this is by letter,<ref name = TI137 /> while Plutarch and Diodorus have a face-to-face meeting with the king.<ref name = DSXI56 /><ref name = PT26 /> The spirit is, however, the same in all three: Themistocles introduces himself to the king and seeks to enter his service:<ref name = TI137 /><ref name = PT27>Plutarch, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0182;query=chapter%3D%23243;layout=;loc=Them.%2026.1 Themistocles 27]</ref>
<blockquote>I, Themistocles, am come to you, who did your house more harm than any of the Hellenes, when I was compelled to defend myself against your father's invasion—harm, however, far surpassed by the good that I did him during his retreat, which brought no danger for me but much for him. (Thucydides)</blockquote>

[[File:IONIA, Magnesia ad Maeandrum. Themistokles. Circa 465-459 BC.jpg|thumb|left|Coin of Themistocles as Governor of Magnesia. ''Obv'': Head of Zeus. ''Rev'': Letters ΘΕ, initials of ''Themistocles''. {{circa|465|lk=no}}{{snd}}459&nbsp;BC]]
[[File:IONIA, Magnesia ad Maeandrum. Themistokles reverse. Circa 465-459 BC.jpg|thumb|left|Coin of Themistocles as Governor of Magnesia. ''Obv'': Barley grain. ΘE to left. ''Rev'': Possible portrait of Themistocles. {{circa|465|lk=no}}{{snd}}459 BC.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=308695 |title=CNG}}</ref>]]
Thucydides and Plutarch say that Themistocles asked for a year's grace to learn the Persian language and customs, after which he would serve the king, and Artaxerxes granted this.<ref name = TI137 /><ref name = PT29>Plutarch, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0182;query=chapter%3D%23245;layout=;loc=Them.%2028.1 Themistocles, 29]</ref> Plutarch reports that, as might be imagined, Artaxerxes was elated that such a dangerous and illustrious foe had come to serve him.<ref name = PT28>Plutarch, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0182;query=chapter%3D%23244;layout=;loc=Them.%2027.1 Themistocles 28]</ref>

At some point in his travels, Themistocles's wife and children were extricated from Athens by a friend, and joined him in exile.<ref name = PT24 /> His friends also managed to send him many of his belongings, although up to 100 talents worth of his goods were confiscated by the Athenians.<ref name = PT25 /> When, after a year, Themistocles returned to the king's court, he appears to have made an immediate impact, and "he attained&nbsp;... very high consideration there, such as no Hellene has ever possessed before or since".<ref name = TI138 /> Plutarch recounts that "honors he enjoyed were far beyond those paid to other foreigners; nay, he actually took part in the King's hunts and in his household diversions".<ref name = PT29 /> Themistocles advised the king on his dealings with the Greeks, although it seems that for a long period, the king was distracted by events elsewhere in the empire, and thus Themistocles "lived on for a long time without concern".<ref name = TI138 /><ref name = PT31>Plutarch [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0182;query=chapter%3D%23247;layout=;loc=Them.%2030.1 Themistocles, 31]</ref> He was made governor of the district of [[Magnesia on the Maeander|Magnesia]] on the [[Büyük Menderes River|Maeander River]] in [[Asia Minor]], and assigned the revenues of three cities: Magnesia (about 50 talents per year—"for bread"); [[Myus]] ("for [[opson]]"); and [[Lampsacus]] ("for wine").<ref name = PT29 /><ref name = TI138>Thucydides [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0200&layout=&loc=1.138 I, 138]</ref><ref name = DSXI57>Diodorus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0084&layout=&loc=11.57 XI, 57]</ref> According to [[Plutarch]], Neanthes of Cyzicus and Phanias reported two more, the city of [[Skepsis|Palaescepsis]] ("for clothes") and the city of [[Percote]] ("for bedding and furniture for his house"), both near [[Lampsacus]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Plutarch's Lives |year=1866 |publisher=Applegate & Co. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C7BGAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA104}}</ref>

=== Greek exiles in the Achaemenid Empire ===
Themistocles was one of the several Greek aristocrats who took refuge in the [[Achaemenid Empire]] following reversals at home, other famous ones being [[Hippias (tyrant)|Hippias]], [[Demaratos]], [[Gongylos]] or later [[Alcibiades]].<ref name="MM">{{cite book |last1=Miller |first1=Margaret C. |title=Athens and Persia in the Fifth Century BC: A Study in Cultural Receptivity |year=2004 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-60758-2 |page=98 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oGXMMD5rXBQC&pg=PA98}}</ref> In general, those were generously welcomed by the Achaemenid kings, received land grants to support them, and ruled over cities throughout [[Asia Minor]].<ref name="MM" /> Conversely, some Achaemenid satraps were welcomed as exiles in western courts, such as [[Artabazos II]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Howe |first1=Timothy |last2=Brice |first2=Lee L. |title=Brill's Companion to Insurgency and Terrorism in the Ancient Mediterranean |year=2015 |publisher=Brill |isbn=9789004284739 |page=170 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=248DCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA170}}</ref><ref name="EDC">{{cite book |last1=Carney |first1=Elizabeth Donnelly |title=Women and Monarchy in Macedonia |year=2000 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=978-0-8061-3212-9 |page=101 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZbI2hZBy_EkC&pg=PA101}}</ref>

=== First portraiture of a ruler on coinage ===
[[File:Coinage of Themistocles Magnesia.jpg|thumb|Didrachm of Themistocles in Magnesia. ''Obv:'' [[Apollo]] standing in [[clamys]], legend around ΘΕΜΙΣΤΟΚ-ΛΕΟΣ ("Themistokles"). ''Rev:'' Eagle with letters Μ-Α ("Magnesia").<ref name="TAM">{{cite journal |last1=Cahn |first1=Herbert A. |last2=Gerin |first2=Dominique |title=Themistocles at Magnesia |journal=The Numismatic Chronicle |volume=148 |pages=13–20 |year=1988 |jstor=42668124}}</ref>]]
[[File:IONIA, Magnesia ad Maeandrum. Themistokles with bonnet. Circa 465-459 BC.jpg|thumb|Hemiobol of Themistocles in Magnesia, where he is seen wearing a tight [[bonnet (headgear)|bonnet]] with [[Olive wreath]] (a similar headdress can be seen on the coinage of [[Kherei]]).<ref name="HC19" /> This possibly reflects the bonnets of Achaemenid [[Satrap]]s, such as seen in the [[Herakleia head]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cahn |first1=Herbert A. |last2=Gerin |first2=Dominique |title=Themistocles at Magnesia |journal=The Numismatic Chronicle |volume=148 |year=1988 |page=20 |jstor=42668124}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Stieber |first1=Mary |title=The Poetics of Appearance in the Attic Korai |year=2010 |publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn=978-0-292-77349-3 |page=98 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DaIAAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA98}}</ref> Initials Θ-Ε around portrait and on reverse.<ref name="HC19">{{cite journal |last1=Cahn |first1=Herbert A. |last2=Gerin |first2=Dominique |title=Themistocles at Magnesia |journal=The Numismatic Chronicle |volume=148 |year=1988 |page=19 |jstor=42668124}}</ref> c. 465–459 BC]]
Coins are the only contemporary documents remaining from the time of Themistocles.<ref name="TAM" /> Although many coins in antiquity illustrated the images of various gods or symbols, the first [[portrait]]ure of actual rulers only appears in the 5th century&nbsp;BC. Themistocles was probably the first ruler ever to issue coinage with his personal portrait, as he became Achaemenid Governor of [[Magnesia on the Maeander|Magnesia]] in 465–459 BC.<ref>"A rare silver fraction recently identified as a coin of Themistocles from Magnesia even has a bearded portrait of the great man, making it by far the earliest datable portrait coin. Other early portraits can be seen on the coins of Lycian dynasts." {{cite book |last1=Carradice |first1=Ian |last2=Price |first2=Martin |title=Coinage in the Greek World |year=1988 |publisher=Seaby |isbn=978-0-900652-82-0 |page=84 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OVZmAAAAMAAJ}}</ref> Themistocles may have been in a unique position in which he could transfer the notion of individual portraiture, already current in the Greek world, and at the same time wield the dynastic power of an Achaemenid dynast who could issue his own coins and illustrate them as he wished.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Howgego |first1=Christopher |title=Ancient History from Coins |year=2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-87784-3 |page=64 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DCC3l5kS5O8C&pg=PA64}}</ref> Still, there is some doubt that his coins may have represented [[Zeus]] rather than himself.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rhodes |first1=P. J. |title=A History of the Classical Greek World: 478–323 BC |year=2011 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-4443-5858-2 |page=58 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5fkjzwJxCA4C&pg=PP58}}</ref>

{{multiple image
| align    = left
| caption_align = center
| direction = vertical
| image1   = Antoninus Pius Themistocles.jpg
| width1   = 200
| caption1 = The statue which Themistocles erected to himself in Magnesia, on a coin of [[Antoninus Pius]]. The name of Themistocles (ΘΕΜ/ΙϹΤΟΚΛΗ/Ϲ) appears around the forearm of the statue.<ref name="TAM19" /> Themistocles is holding a [[patera]] over a lighted altar, with scabbard of sword in sheath at waist; at feet to left, forepart of humpbacked bull lying left.<ref name="Classical Numismatic Group">{{cite web |url=https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=228112 |title=Classical Numismatic Group}}</ref>
| image2   = IONIA, Magnesia ad Maeandrum. Antoninus Pius. AD 138-161.jpg
| width2   = 210
| caption2 = Type of the coin of [[Antoninus Pius]] minted in Magnesia, on which appears the statue of Themistocles (138–161 AD).<ref name="TAM19" /><ref name="Classical Numismatic Group" />
}}
During his lifetime, Themistocles is known to have erected two statues to himself, one in Athens, and the other in Magnesia, which would lend credence to the possibility that he also illustrated himself on his coins.<ref name="TAM19" /> The Themistocles statue in Magnesia was illustrated on the reverse of some of the Magnesian coins of Roman Emperor [[Antoninus Pius]] in the 2nd century.<ref name="TAM19">{{cite journal |last1=Cahn |first1=Herbert A. |last2=Gerin |first2=Dominique |title=Themistocles at Magnesia |journal=The Numismatic Chronicle |volume=148 |year=1988 |page=19 |jstor=42668124}}</ref>

The rulers of [[Lycia]] followed towards the end of the 5th century as the most prolific and unambiguous producers of coins displaying the portrait of their rulers.<ref>"The earliest attempts at portraiture appear to have taken place in Lycia. The heads of various dynasts appear on coins of the fifth century" {{cite book |last1=Carradice |first1=Ian |title=Ancient Greek Portrait Coins |year=1978 |publisher=British Museum Publications |isbn=978-0-7141-0849-0 |page=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4FdmAAAAMAAJ}}</ref><ref name="SW">{{cite book |last1=West |first1=Shearer |last2=Birmingham |first2=Shearer |title=Portraiture |year=2004 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-284258-9 |page=68 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q3sRDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA68}}</ref> From the time of [[Alexander the Great]], portraiture of the issuing ruler would then become a standard, generalized, feature of coinage.<ref name="SW" />

=== Death ===
Themistocles died at Magnesia in 459&nbsp;BC aged 65, according to [[Thucydides]], from natural causes.<ref name="BS">"Legend says that Themistocles poisoned himself rather than follow the Great King's order to make war on Athens. But he probably died of natural causes." in {{cite book |last1=Strauss |first1=Barry |title=The Battle of Salamis: The Naval Encounter That Saved Greece – and Western Civilization |year=2005 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-0-7432-7453-1 |page=249 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nQFtMcD5dOsC&pg=PA249}}</ref><ref name = TI138 /> However, perhaps inevitably, there were also rumours surrounding his death, saying that unwilling to follow the Great King's order to make war on Athens, he committed suicide by taking poison, or drinking [[Realgar|bull's blood]].<ref name="BS" /><ref name = TI138 /><ref name = PT31 /><ref name = DSXI58>Diodorus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0084;query=chapter%3D%23134;layout=;loc=11.59.1 XI, 58]</ref> Plutarch provides the most evocative version of this story:

[[File:Karaburun Elmali dignitary 470 BCE.jpg|thumb|A dignitary of [[Asia Minor]] in Achaemenid style, c. 475 BC. Karaburun tomb near [[Elmalı]], Lycia.<ref>{{cite book |last1=André-Salvini |first1=Béatrice |title=Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient Persia |year=2005 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-24731-4 |page=46 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kJnaKu9DdNEC&pg=PA46}}</ref>]]
<blockquote>But when Egypt revolted with Athenian aid...and Cimon's mastery of the sea forced the King to resist the efforts of the Hellenes and to hinder their hostile growth...messages came down to Themistocles saying that the King commanded him to make good his promises by applying himself to the Hellenic problem; then, neither embittered by anything like anger against his former fellow-citizens, nor lifted up by the great honor and power he was to have in the war, but possibly thinking his task not even approachable, both because Hellas had other great generals at the time, and especially because Cimon was so marvelously successful in his campaigns; yet most of all out of regard for the reputation of his own achievements and the trophies of those early days; having decided that his best course was to put a fitting end to his life, he made a sacrifice to the gods, then called his friends together, gave them a farewell clasp of his hand, and, as the current story goes, drank bull's blood, or as some say, took a quick poison, and so died in Magnesia, in the sixty-fifth year of his life...They say that the King, on learning the cause and the manner of his death, admired the man yet more, and continued to treat his friends and kindred with kindness.<ref name = PT31 /></blockquote>

It was rumored that after his death, Themistocles's bones were transported to Attica in accordance with his wishes, and buried in his native soil in secret, it being illegal to bury an Athenian traitor in Attica.<ref name = TI138 /> The Magnesians built a "splendid tomb" in their marketplace for Themistocles, which still stood during the time of Plutarch, and continued to dedicate part of their revenues to the family of Themistocles.<ref name = PT32 /> [[Cornelius Nepos|Nepos]] in the 1st century&nbsp;BC wrote about a statue of Themistocles visible in the forum of Magnesia.<ref name="DH" /><ref>Nepos (Them. 10.3)</ref> The statue also appears on a coin type of Roman emperor [[Antoninus Pius]] minted in Magnesia in the 2nd century CE.<ref name="TAM19" /><ref name="Classical Numismatic Group">{{cite web |url=https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=228112 |title=Classical Numismatic Group}}</ref>

=== Succession and descendants ===
[[File:Archeptolis portrait from his coinage.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|left|Portrait of a ruler with [[olive wreath]] on the Magnesian coinage of [[Archeptolis]], son of Themistocles, {{Circa|459&nbsp;BC|lk=no}}. The portraits on the coinage of Archeptolis could also represent Themistocles himself.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=201575 |title=CNG}}</ref>]]
[[Archeptolis]], son of Themistocles, became a Governor of Magnesia after his father's death {{Circa|459&nbsp;BCE|lk=no}}.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Clough |first1=Arthur Hugh |title=Plutarch's Lives of Themistocles, Pericles, Aristides, Alcibiades, and Coriolanus, Demosthenes, and Cicero, Caesar and Antony: In the Translation Called Dryden's |year=1909 |publisher=P. F. Collier & Son |pages=[https://archive.org/details/plutarchslivesof00plut/page/33 33]–34 |url=https://archive.org/details/plutarchslivesof00plut}}</ref><ref name="JH">{{cite book |last1=Hyland |first1=John O. |title=Persian Interventions: The Achaemenid Empire, Athens, and Sparta, 450–386 BCE |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=978-1-4214-2370-8 |page=22 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QwFDDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA22 |year=2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=K. G. |first1=Fritz Rudolf Künker |title=Künker Auktion 158 – Münzen aus der Welt der Antike |publisher=Numismatischer Verlag Künker |page=49 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E-1hlTPEbmAC&pg=PA49 |language=de}}</ref><ref name="ANS">"The history and coinage of Themistokles as lord of Ionian Magnesia ad Maeandrum and of his son and successor, Archepolis, is illustrated by among other things, coins of Magnesia." in {{cite book |title=Numismatic Literature |year=2005 |publisher=American Numismatic Society |page=5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-13gAAAAMAAJ}}</ref> Archeptolis also minted his own silver coinage as he ruled Magnesia, and it is probable that part of his revenues continued to be handed over to the [[Achaemenid]]s in exchange for the maintenance of their territorial grant.<ref name="JH" /><ref name="ANS" /> Themistocles and his son formed what some authors have called "a Greek dynasty in the Persian Empire".<ref>"Eine griechishe Dynastie im Perserreich" in {{cite book |last1=Nollé |first1=Johannes |title=Themistokles und Archepolis: Eine griechische Dynastie im Perserreich und ihre Münzprägung, JNG 48/49, 1998/1999, 29–70. (zusammen mit A. Wenninger) |year=1998 |url=https://www.academia.edu/8316787 |language=de}}</ref>

From a second wife, Themistocles also had a daughter named Mnesiptolema, whom he appointed as priestess of the Temple of [[Dindymene]] in Magnesia, with the title of "Mother of the Gods".<ref name="DH" /> Mnesiptolema would eventually marry her half-brother Archeptolis, homopatric (but not homometric) marriages being permitted in Athens.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cox |first1=Cheryl Anne |title=Household Interests: Property, Marriage Strategies, and Family Dynamics in Ancient Athens |year=2014 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1-4008-6469-0 |page=218 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iFMABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA218}}</ref>

Themistocles also had several other daughters, named Nicomache, Asia, Italia, Sybaris, and probably Hellas, who married the Greek exile in Persia [[Gongylos]] and still had a fief in Persian Anatolia in 400/399&nbsp;BC as his widow.<ref name="DH">{{cite book |last1=Harvey |first1=David |last2=Wilkins |first2=John |title=The Rivals of Aristophanes: Studies in Athenian Old Comedy |year=2002 |publisher=ISD |isbn=978-1-910589-59-5 |pages=199–201 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NQVPDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA200}}</ref>

Themistocles also had three other sons, Diocles, Polyeucteus and Cleophantus, the latter possibly a ruler of [[Lampsacus]].<ref name="DH" /> One of the descendants of Cleophantus still issued a decree in Lampsacus around 200 BC mentioning a feast for his own father, also named Themistocles, who had greatly benefited the city.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Foster |first1=Edith |last2=Lateiner |first2=Donald |title=Thucydides and Herodotus |year=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-959326-2 |page=227 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TLUuoPELY4kC&pg=PA227}}</ref> Later, [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] wrote that the sons of Themistocles "appear to have returned to Athens", and that they dedicated a painting of Themistocles in the [[Parthenon]] and erected a bronze statue to [[Artemis Leucophryene]], the goddess of Magnesia, on the [[Acropolis]].<ref name="DH200" /><ref>Paus. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.%201.1.2&lang=original 1.1.2], [https://books.google.com/books?id=Wz72pKpgpx8C&pg=PA38 26.4]</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Habicht |first1=Christian |title=Pausanias Guide to Ancient Greece |year=1998 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-06170-5 |page=5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9cJYpYbScEUC&pg=PA5}}</ref> They may have returned from [[Asia Minor]] in old age, after 412&nbsp;BC, when the Achaemenids took again firm control of the Greek cities of Asia, and they may have been expelled by the Achaemenid satrap [[Tissaphernes]] sometime between 412 and 399 BC.<ref name="DH200">{{cite book |last1=Harvey |first1=David |last2=Wilkins |first2=John |title=The Rivals of Aristophanes: Studies in Athenian Old Comedy |year=2002 |publisher=ISD |isbn=978-1-910589-59-5 |page=200 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NQVPDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA200}}</ref> In effect, from 414&nbsp;BC, [[Darius II]] had started to resent increasing Athenian power in the [[Aegean sea|Aegean]] and had Tissaphernes enter into an alliance with [[Sparta]] against [[Athens]], which in 412 BC led to the Persian conquest of the greater part of [[Ionia]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |title=Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology |last=Smith |first=William |publisher=Little & Brown |year=1867 |volume=3 |location=Boston |pages=1154–1156}}</ref>

[[Plutarch]], in the 1st century&nbsp;AD, indicates that he met in Athens a lineal descendant of Themistocles (also called Themistocles) who was still being paid revenues from [[Asia Minor]], 600&nbsp;years after the events in question.<ref name="PT32">Plutarch [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0182;query=chapter%3D%23248;layout=;loc=Them.%2031.1 Themistocles, 32]</ref>