Editing Themistocles (section)

=== 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>