Editing Themistocles (section)

=== Second Persian invasion of Greece ===
{{Main|Second Persian invasion of Greece|Battle of Artemisium|Battle of Salamis}}
[[File:Busto di temistocle, da originale greco del V secolo ac, dal decumano presso il casamento del temistocle.JPG|thumb|A Roman-era bust of Themistocles in "[[Severe style]]",<ref name="HC19" /> based on a Greek original, in the [[Museo Archeologico Ostiense]], [[Ostia (Rome)|Ostia, Rome]], Italy. The lost original of this bust, dated to {{circa|470&nbsp;BC|lk=no}}, has been described as "the first true portrait of an individual European".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tanner |first1=Jeremy |title=The Invention of Art History in Ancient Greece: Religion, Society and Artistic Rationalisation |year=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-84614-1 |page=97 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qmbctV2X-sEC&pg=PA97}}</ref>]]
In 481&nbsp;BC a congress of Greek city-states was held, during which 30 or so{{Citation needed|date=November 2011}} states agreed to ally themselves against the forthcoming invasion.<ref name="vii-145">Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126&layout=&loc=7.145.1 VII, 145]</ref> The Spartans and Athenians were foremost in this alliance, being sworn enemies of the Persians.<ref name="vii-160">Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126&layout=&loc=7.161.1 VII, 161]</ref>
The Spartans claimed the command of land forces, and since the Greek (hereafter referred to as "Allied") fleet would be dominated by Athens, Themistocles tried to claim command of the naval forces.<ref name = h226 /> However, the other naval powers, including [[Ancient Corinth|Corinth]] and Aegina, refused to give command to the Athenians, and Themistocles pragmatically backed down.<ref name = h226>Holland, p. 226</ref> Instead, as a compromise, the Spartans (an insignificant naval power), in the person of [[Eurybiades]], were to command the naval forces.<ref>Holland, p. 258</ref> [[Histories (Herodotus)|Herodotus]] is clear, however, that Themistocles commanded the fleet in all but name.<ref name = VIII4 />

The congress met again in the spring of 480&nbsp;BC. A [[Thessaly|Thessalian]] delegation suggested that the allies could muster in the narrow [[Vale of Tempe]], on the borders of Thessaly, and thereby block Xerxes' advance.<ref name = h248>Holland, pp. 248–249</ref> A force of 10,000 [[hoplite]]s was dispatched under the command of the Spartan polemarch Euenetus and Themistocles to the Vale of Tempe, which they believed the Persian army would have to pass through. However, once there, [[Alexander I of Macedon]] warned them that the vale could be bypassed in several ways and that the army of Xerxes was overwhelmingly large, and the Greeks retreated.<ref name=VII173>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126&layout=&loc=7.173.1 VII,173]</ref> Shortly afterwards, they received the news that Xerxes had crossed the Hellespont.<ref name = h248 />

[[File:EPMA-13330-Themistocle decree-2.JPG|thumb|left|upright=0.8|[[Decree of Themistocles]], [[National Archaeological Museum of Athens]], 13330]]
Themistocles now developed a second strategy. The route to southern Greece (Boeotia, Attica and the Peloponnesus) would require the army of Xerxes to travel through the very narrow pass of [[Thermopylae]].<ref name = h255 /> This could easily be blocked by the Greek [[hoplite]]s, despite the overwhelming numbers of Persians; furthermore, to prevent the Persians bypassing Thermopylae by sea, the Athenian and allied navies could block the straits of [[Artemisium]].<ref name = h255>Holland, pp. 255–257</ref> However, after the Tempe debacle, it was uncertain whether the Spartans would be willing to march out from the Peloponnesus again.<ref name = h251>Holland, pp. 251–255</ref> To persuade the Spartans to defend [[Attica]], Themistocles had to show them that the Athenians were willing to do everything necessary for the success of the alliance. In short, the entire Athenian fleet must be dispatched to Artemisium.

To do this, every able-bodied Athenian male would be required to man the ships. This in turn meant that the Athenians must prepare to abandon Athens.<ref name = h251 /> Persuading the Athenians to take this course was one of the highlights of Themistocles's career.<ref name = PT11>Plutarch, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0182;query=chapter%3D%23227;layout=;loc=Them.%2010.1 Themistocles, 11]</ref> As Holland has it: <blockquote>What precise heights of oratory he attained, what stirring and memorable phrases he pronounced, we have no way of knowing...only by the effect it had on the assembly can we gauge what surely must have been its electric and vivifying quality—for Themistocles's audacious proposals, when put to the vote, were ratified. The Athenian people, facing the gravest moment of peril in their history, committed themselves once and for all to the alien element of the sea, and put their faith in a man whose ambitions many had long profoundly dreaded.<ref name = h251 /></blockquote>
His proposals accepted, Themistocles issued orders for the women and children of Athens to be sent to the city of [[Troezen]], safely inside the Peloponnesus.<ref>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231343;layout=;loc=8.39.1 VIII, 40]</ref> He was then able to travel to a meeting of the Allies, at which he proposed his strategy; with the Athenian fleet fully committed to the defence of Greece, the other Allies accepted his proposals.<ref name="h255" />

==== Battle of Artemisium ====
Thus, in August 480&nbsp;BC, when the Persian army was approaching Thessaly, the Allied fleet sailed to Artemisium, and the Allied army marched to Thermopylae.<ref name = h257>Holland, pp. 257–258</ref> Themistocles himself took command of the Athenian contingent of the fleet and went to Artemisium. When the Persian fleet finally arrived at Artemisium after a significant delay, Eurybiades, who both Herodotus and Plutarch suggest was not the most inspiring commander, wished to sail away without fighting.<ref name = VIII4>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231307;layout=;loc=8.3.1 VIII, 4]</ref><ref name = PT7>Plutarch, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0182;query=chapter%3D%23223;layout=;loc=Them.%206.1 Themistocles, 7]</ref> At this point Themistocles accepted a large bribe from the local people for the fleet to remain at Artemisium, and he used some of it to bribe Eurybiades to remain, while pocketing the rest.<ref name = h276>Holland, p. 276</ref> From this point on, Themistocles appears to have been more or less in charge of the [[Battle of Artemisium|Allied effort]] at Artemisium.<ref name = PT7 /> Over three days of battle, the Allies held their own against the much larger Persian fleet, but sustained significant losses.<ref>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231314;layout=;loc=8.10.1 VIII, 11–19]</ref> However, the loss of the simultaneous [[Battle of Thermopylae]] to the Persians made their continued presence at Artemisium irrelevant, and the Allies thus evacuated.<ref name = VIII21>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231324;layout=;loc=8.20.1 VIII, 21]</ref> According to Herodotus, Themistocles left messages at every place where the Persian fleet might stop for drinking water, asking the Ionians in the Persian fleet to defect, or at least fight badly.<ref name = VIII22>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231325;layout=;loc=8.23.1 VIII, 22]</ref> Even if this did not work, Themistocles apparently intended that Xerxes would at least begin to suspect the Ionians, thereby sowing dissension in the Persian ranks.<ref name = VIII22 />

==== Battle of Salamis ====
In the aftermath of Thermopylae, Boeotia fell to the Persians, who then began to advance on Athens.<ref>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231353;layout=;loc=8.49.1 VIII, 50]</ref> The Peloponnesian Allies prepared to now defend the [[Isthmus of Corinth]], thus abandoning Athens to the Persians.<ref>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231380;layout=;loc=8.72.1 VIII, 71]</ref> From Artemisium, the Allied fleet sailed to the island of [[Salamis Island|Salamis]], where the Athenian ships helped with the final evacuation of Athens. The Peloponnesian contingents wanted to sail to the coast of the Isthmus to concentrate forces with the army.<ref name = h302>Holland, pp. 302–303</ref> However, Themistocles tried to convince them to remain in the Straits of Salamis, invoking the lessons of Artemisium; "battle in close conditions works to our advantage".<ref name = h302 /> After threatening to sail with the whole Athenian people into exile in Sicily, he eventually persuaded the other Allies, whose security after all relied on the Athenian navy, to accept his plan.<ref>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231368;layout=;loc=8.63.1 VIII, 62]</ref> Therefore, even after Athens had fallen to the Persians, and the Persian navy had arrived off the coast of Salamis, the Allied navy remained in the Straits. Themistocles appears to have been aiming to fight a battle that would cripple the Persian navy, and thus guarantee the security of the Peloponnesus.<ref name = h302 />

[[File:Battle of salamis.png|thumb|right|upright=1.5|Events of the Battle of Salamis]]

To bring about this battle, Themistocles used a cunning mix of subterfuge and misinformation, psychologically exploiting Xerxes' desire to finish the invasion.<ref name = h310 /> Xerxes' actions indicate that he was keen to finish the conquest of Greece in 480&nbsp;BC, and to do this, he needed a decisive victory over the Allied fleet.<ref>Holland, pp. 307–309</ref> Themistocles sent a servant, [[Sicinnus]], to Xerxes, with a message proclaiming that Themistocles was "on the king's side, and prefers that your affairs prevail, not the Hellenes'."<ref name = VIII75>{{cite book |author=Herodotus |title=Histories |page=8.75 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+8.75}}</ref> Themistocles claimed that the Allied commanders were infighting, that the Peloponnesians were planning to evacuate that very night, and that to gain victory all the Persians needed to do was to block the straits.<ref name = VIII75 /> In performing this subterfuge, Themistocles seems to have been trying to lure the Persian fleet into the Straits.<ref name = h310>Holland, pp. 310–315</ref> The message also had a secondary purpose: In the event of an Allied defeat, the Athenians might receive some degree of mercy from Xerxes (having indicated their readiness to submit).<ref name = h310 /> At any rate, this was exactly the kind of news that Xerxes wanted to hear.<ref name = h310 /> Xerxes evidently took the bait, and the Persian fleet was sent out to effect the block.<ref name = VIII76>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126&layout=&loc=8.76 VIII, 76]</ref> Perhaps overconfident and expecting no resistance, the Persian navy sailed into the Straits,<ref>Lazenby, p. 255</ref> only to find that, far from disintegrating, the Allied navy was ready for battle.<ref>Holland, p. 321</ref>

[[File:Kaulbach, Wilhelm von - Die Seeschlacht bei Salamis - 1868.JPG|thumb|upright=1.5|Romantic interpretation of the Battle of Salamis by [[Wilhelm von Kaulbach]]. [[Artemisia I of Caria|Artemisia of Caria]] is seen shooting arrows in the direction of the Greeks led by Themistocles.<ref name="WVK">On the identification with Artemisia: "...Above the ships of the victorious Greeks, against which Artemisia, the Xerxes' ally, sends fleeing arrows...". Original German description of the painting: "Die neue Erfindung, welche Kaulbach für den neuen hohen Beschützer zu zeichnen gedachte, war wahrscheinlich „die Schlacht von Salamis". Ueber den Schiffen der siegreichen Griechen, gegen welche Artemisia, des Xerxes Bundesgenossin, fliehend Pfeile sendet, sieht man in Wolken die beiden Ajaxe" in [https://books.google.com/books?id=DYpgAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA300 Altpreussische Monatsschrift Nene Folge p. 300]</ref>]]

According to Herodotus, after the Persian navy began its maneuvers, Aristides arrived at the Allied camp from Aegina.<ref name = VIII79 /> Aristides had been recalled from exile along with the other ostracised Athenians on the order of Themistocles, so that Athens might be united against the Persians.<ref name = VIII79>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231388;layout=;loc=8.78.1 VIII, 79]</ref> Aristides told Themistocles that the Persian fleet had encircled the Allies, which greatly pleased Themistocles, as he now knew that the Persians had walked into his trap.<ref name = VIII80>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231389;layout=;loc=8.79.1 VIII, 80]</ref> The Allied commanders seem to have taken this news rather uncomplainingly, and Holland therefore suggests that they were party to Themistocles's ruse all along.<ref>Holland, p. 316</ref> Either way, the Allies prepared for battle, and Themistocles delivered a speech to the marines before they embarked on the ships.<ref>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231392;layout=;loc=8.82.1 VIII 83]</ref> In the ensuing [[Battle of Salamis|battle]], the cramped conditions in the Straits hindered the much larger Persian navy, which became disarrayed, and the Allies took advantage to win a famous victory.<ref>Lazenby, p.  190</ref>

Salamis was the turning point in the second Persian invasion, and indeed the [[Greco-Persian Wars]] in general.<ref>Lazenby, p. 197</ref> While the battle did not end the Persian invasion, it effectively ensured that all Greece would not be conquered, and allowed the Allies to go on the offensive in 479&nbsp;BC. A number of historians believe that Salamis is one of the most significant battles in human history.<ref name = hanson>Hanson, pp. 12–60</ref><ref name = Strauss>Strauss, pp. 1–294</ref><ref>Holland, p. 399</ref> Since Themistocles's long-standing advocacy of Athenian naval power enabled the Allied fleet to fight, and his stratagem brought about the Battle of Salamis, it is probably not an exaggeration to say, as Plutarch does, that Themistocles, "...is thought to have been the man most instrumental in achieving the salvation of Hellas."<ref name="PT7" />

==== Autumn 480 – Winter 479 BC ====
[[File:The triumph of Themistocles after Salamis.jpg|thumb|19th century illustration of the triumph of Themistocles following the Battle of Salamis]]
The Allied victory at Salamis ended the immediate threat to Greece, and Xerxes now returned to Asia with part of the army, leaving his general [[Mardonius (general)|Mardonius]] to attempt to complete the conquest.<ref name = VIII97>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231406;layout=;loc=8.96.1 VIII, 97]</ref> Mardonius wintered in Boeotia and Thessaly, and the Athenians were thus able to return to their city, which had been burnt and razed by the Persians, for the winter.<ref name = h327>Holland, pp. 327–329</ref> For the Athenians, and Themistocles personally, the winter would be a testing one. The Peloponnesians refused to countenance marching north of the Isthmus to fight the Persian army; the Athenians tried to shame them into doing so, with no success.<ref name = h332>Holland, pp. 332–335</ref>

During the winter, the Allies held a meeting at Corinth to celebrate their success, and award prizes for achievement.<ref name = VIII123>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231432;layout=;loc=8.124.1 VIII, 123]</ref> However, perhaps tired of the Athenians pointing out their role at Salamis, and of their demands for the Allies to march north, the Allies awarded the prize for civic achievement to Aegina.<ref name = h332 /><ref name = PT17>Plutarch, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0182;query=chapter%3D%23233;layout=;loc=Them.%2018.1 Themistocles, 17]</ref> Furthermore, although the admirals all voted for Themistocles in second place, they all voted for themselves in first place, so that no-one won the prize for individual achievement. In response, realising the importance of the Athenian fleet to their security, and probably seeking to massage Themistocles's ego, the Spartans brought Themistocles to Sparta.<ref name = h332 /><ref name = PT17 /> There, he was awarded a special prize "for his wisdom and cleverness", and won high praise from all.<ref name = PT17 /><ref name = VIII124>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231433;layout=;loc=8.123.1 VIII, 124]</ref> Furthermore, Plutarch reports that at the next Olympic Games:

[[File:Themistocles honoured at Sparta, illustration from 'Hutchinson's History of the Nations', 1915.jpg|thumb|Themistocles honoured at Sparta.]]
<blockquote>[When] Themistocles entered the stadium, the audience neglected the contestants all day long to gaze on him, and pointed him out with admiring applause to visiting strangers, so that he too was delighted, and confessed to his friends that he was now reaping in full measure the harvest of his toils in behalf of Hellas.<ref name = PT17 /></blockquote>

After returning to Athens in the winter, Plutarch reports that Themistocles made a proposal to the city while the Greek fleet was wintering at [[Pagasae]]:
<blockquote>Themistocles once declared to the people [of Athens] that he had devised a certain measure which could not be revealed to them, though it would be helpful and salutary for the city, and they ordered that Aristides alone should hear what it was and pass judgment on it. So Themistocles told Aristides that his purpose was to burn the naval station of the confederate Hellenes, for that in this way the Athenians would be greatest, and lords of all. Then Aristides came before the people and said of the deed which Themistocles purposed to do, that none other could be more advantageous, and none more unjust. On hearing this, the Athenians ordained that Themistocles cease from his purpose.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Parallel Lives |author=Plutarch |chapter=The Life of Aristides |publisher=Loeb Classical Library |chapter-url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Aristides*.html |access-date=2014-12-12}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Themistocles*.html |title=Plutarch • Life of Themistocles}}</ref></blockquote>

==== Spring–Summer 479 BC ====
However, as happened to many prominent individuals in the Athenian democracy, Themistocles's fellow citizens grew jealous of his success, and possibly tired of his boasting.<ref name = h332 /><ref name = PT22>Plutarch, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0182;query=chapter%3D%23238;layout=;loc=Them.%2021.1 Themistocles, 22]</ref> It is probable that in early 479&nbsp;BC, Themistocles was stripped of his command; instead, [[Xanthippus]] was to command the Athenian fleet, and Aristides the land forces.<ref name = h332 /><ref name = DSXI27>Diodorus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0084&layout=&loc=11.27 XI, 27]</ref> Though Themistocles was no doubt politically and militarily active for the rest of the campaign, no mention of his activities in 479&nbsp;BC is made in the ancient sources.<ref>Lazenby, p. 209</ref> In the summer of that year, after receiving an Athenian ultimatum, the Peloponnesians finally agreed to assemble an army and march to confront Mardonius, who had reoccupied Athens in June.<ref>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231465;layout=;loc=9.10.1 IX, 6–9]</ref> At the decisive [[Battle of Plataea]], the Allies destroyed the Persian army, while apparently on the same day, the Allied navy destroyed the remnants of the Persian fleet at the [[Battle of Mycale]].<ref name = h358 /> These twin victories completed the Allied triumph, and ended the Persian threat to Greece.<ref name =h358>Holland, pp. 358–359</ref>