Themistocles was the son of Neocles, an Athenian of no distinction and moderate means, his mother being a
Carian or a
Thracian, Abrotonum by some accounts. Little is known of his early years, but many authors resort to the myth that he was badly behaved as a child and disowned by his father (e.g.
Libanius Declamations 9 and 10;
Aelian; Cornelius Nepos "Themistocles"). He may have been
strategos of his tribe at
Marathon and it is said that he was jealous of the victories of
Miltiades, repeating to himself, "Miltiades' trophy does not let me sleep" (in Greek: ).
Thucydides, a well-respected historian who was born around the time of Themistocles' death, described him in the following terms: "Themistocles was a man who most clearly presents the phenomenon of natural genius...to a quite extraordinary and exceptional degree by sheer personal intelligence, without either previous study or special briefing, he showed both the best grasp of an emergency situation at the shortest notice, and the most far-reaching appreciation of probable future developments."
Plutarch, more disparagingly, remarks that he was power-hungry and willing to use any means to gain both personal and national prestige.
The death of Miltiades, the hero of Marathon, left a political void filled by Themistocles and
Aristides "the Just", with whom he had previously competed over the love of a boy. As Plutarch recounts, "... they were rivals for the affection of the beautiful Stesilaus of Ceos, and were passionate beyond all moderation."
<bgref>Plutarch, <i>The Lives, "Themistocles"</bgref>
Themistocles prevailed in
483-82 by arranging the
ostracism of Aristides. Themistocles advocated a policy of naval expansion while Aristides represented the interests of the "hoplite" or traditional land-based military establishment. Athens' traditional enemy,
Aegina, had a powerful navy while the danger of a renewed
Persian invasion was well known. The Persians had recently subjugated the Ionian Greeks who were known for developing a new three level warship known as the "Trireme" which was destined to change naval warfare for years to come. Themistocles successfully persuaded the Athenian Assembly to build either 100 or 200 Triremes and to continue his work of fortifying the harbours of
Piraeus largely facilitated by a fortuitous newly-discovered rich vein of silver at
Laureion.
Themistocles may have been
archon in 483-82 at the time when this naval programme began.
Dionysius of Halicarnassus places his archonship in 493-92, which may be more likely: in 487 the office lost much of its importance owing to the substitution of the
lot for election: the chance that the lot would at the particular crisis of 483 fall on Themistocles was remote. In any case, at the year prior to the invasion of
Xerxes Themistocles was the most influential politician in Athens, if not in Greece. Though the Greek fleet was nominally under the control of the
Spartan Eurybiades, Themistocles caused the Greeks to fight the indecisive
Battle of Artemisium, and more, it was he who brought about the
Battle of Salamis, by his threat that he would lead the Athenian army to found a new home in the West, and by his seemingly treacherous message to Xerxes, whose fleet was lured into the channel between Salamis and the mainland and crushed.
This left the Athenians free to restore their ruined city. Sparta, on the ground that it was dangerous to Greece that there should be any citadel north of the
Isthmus of Corinth which an invader might hold, urged against this, but Themistocles forstalled Spartan action by means of a visit to Sparta that allowed diplomatic delays and subterfuges and enabled the work to be carried sufficiently near to completion to make the walls defensible. He also carried out his original plan of making Piraeus a real harbour and fortress for Athens. Athens thus became the finest trade centre in Greece, and this, along with Themistocles' remission of the alien's tax, induced many foreign business men to settle in Athens.
After the crisis of the Persian invasion Themistocles and Aristides appear to have made up their differences. But Themistocles soon began to lose the confidence of the people, partly due to his arrogance (it is said that he built near his own house a sanctuary to
Artemis Aristoboulë ["of good counsel"]) and partly due to his alleged readiness to take bribes.
Diodorus and Plutarch both refer to some accusation levelled against him, and at some point between 476 and 471 he was ostracised. He retired to
Argos, but the Spartans further accused him of treasonable intrigues with Persia, and he fled to
Corcyra, thence to
Admetus, king of
Molossia, and finally to Asia Minor. He was proclaimed a traitor at Athens and his property was confiscated, though his friends saved him some portion of it.
Eventually,
Artaxerxes I, successor of
Xerxes I, offered Themistocles
asylum.
He was well received by the Persians and was made governor of Magnesia on the Maeander River in Asia Minor (modern Turkey). The revenues (50 talents) of this town were assigned to him for bread, those of
Myus for condiments, and those of
Lampsacus for wine. His death at Magnesia, at the age of sixty-five, was due to illness according to
Thucydides, although Thucydides also tells us of a rumor that Themistocles, finding that he could not keep the promises that he had made to
Xerxes, may have taken poison (book I, 138). It was said that his bones were secretly transferred to Attica. He was worshiped by the Magnesians as a god, as depicted on a coin on which he is shown with a
patera in his hand and a slain bull at his feet (hence perhaps the legend that he died from drinking bull’s blood).
Though his end was discreditable, and his great wealth can hardly have been obtained by loyal public service, there is no doubt that his services to Athens and to Greece were great. He created the Athenian fleet and with it the possibility of the
Delian League, which became the
Athenian empire, and there are indications (e.g. his plan of expansion in the west) that the later imperialist ideal originated with him.
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