Editing Themistocles (section)

=== Political and military legacy ===
[[File:Map athenian empire 431 BC-en.svg|thumb|upright=1.2|Map of the Athenian Empire in 431&nbsp;BC]]

Undoubtedly the greatest achievement of Themistocles's career was his role in the defeat of Xerxes' invasion of Greece. Against overwhelming odds, Greece survived, and classical Greek culture, so influential in Western civilization, was able to develop unabated.<ref>Holland, pp. xvi–xvii</ref> Moreover, Themistocles's doctrine of Athenian naval power, and the establishment of Athens as a major power in the Greek world, were of enormous consequence during the 5th century BC. In 478&nbsp;BC, the Hellenic alliance was reconstituted without the Peloponnesian states into the [[Delian League]], in which Athens was the dominant power.<ref name = h362>Holland, pp. 362–365</ref> This was essentially a maritime alliance of Athens and her colonies, the Aegean islands, and the Ionian cities. The Delian league took the war to Persia, eventually invading Persian territory and dominating the Aegean.<ref name = h362 /> Under [[Pericles]]' guidance, the Delian league evolved into the [[Athenian Empire]], the zenith of Athenian power and influence.<ref>Butler, p. 195</ref>{{sps|date=November 2024}} Themistocles seems to have deliberately set Athens up as a rival to Sparta in the aftermath of Xerxes' invasion, basing this strategy on Athenian naval power (contrasted with the power of the Spartan army).<ref name = PT19 /> Tension grew throughout the century between Athens and Sparta, as they competed to be the leading state in Greece.<ref name = h371 /> Finally, in 431&nbsp;BC, this tension erupted into the [[Peloponnesian War]], the first of a series of conflicts that tore Greece apart for the next century.<ref name = h371>Holland, p. 371</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Platias |first1=Athanasios |last2=Trigkas |first2=Vasilis |year=2022 |title=Themistocles must be destroyed: Sparta Confronts a Rising Athens |journal=The Historical Review of Sparta |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=129–156}}</ref>

Diodorus provides a rhetorical summary that reflects on Themistocles's achievements:
<blockquote>What other man, while Sparta still had the superior strength and the Spartan Eurybiades held the supreme command of the fleet, could by his single-handed efforts have deprived Sparta of that glory? Of what other man have we learned from history that by a single act he caused himself to surpass all the commanders, his city all the other Greek states, and the Greeks the barbarians? In whose term as general have the resources been more inferior and the dangers they faced greater? Who, facing the united might of all Asia, has found himself at the side of his city when its inhabitants had been driven from their homes, and still won the victory?<ref name = DSXI59 /></blockquote>Modern scholars have endorsed this view, seeing Themistocles as a quintessential leader and strategist able to transform his city in pursuit of his naval doctrine.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Platias |first1=Αthanasios |chapter=Themistocles: Leadership and Grand Strategy |year=2022 |title=Democracy and Salamis |pages=99–129 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-030-98430-4 |last2=Trigkas |first2=Vasillis |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-98431-1_5}}</ref>

The South American plant genus ''[[Themistoclesia]]'' (named by [[Johann Friedrich Klotzsch]], 1851) is named in honour of Themistocles.<ref>{{cite web |title=''Themistoclesia'' Klotzsch |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:30024056-2 |website=Plants of the World Online |access-date=17 March 2021}}</ref>