Ancient Leadership: Themistocles and Salamis

1195 Words3 Pages

Some say Themistocles was the most successful general in ancient and some say he was just another one of those successful public figures. All in all he had many, many successful events in his life. Now you might be wondering who this Themistocles really is? Well let’s start with his background.
Themistocles was a man like any other man in ancient Greece, power hungry, strong, and a lover of life. Themistocles was a powerful general and politician who fought in the battles of Marathon, Thermopylae, and Salamis. Themistocles showed true leadership during his lifetime. He was from Ancient Athens, Greece, and lived from “524 BC to 459 BC” . He was born in Athens, Greece and finally ended up dying in Persia, the country that he defeated years earlier. Interestingly enough he only ended up in Persia because he was ostracized by his own people. But before I give too much away, let’s start at the very beginning.
Once there was a man named Themistocles. “Over the years he became very popular in the political field. He was one of the first to be in the new Athenian Democracy founded by Clisthenes”. “He was mostly influenced to politics by his father, Neocles, and in 493 Themistocles was elected Archon in Athens.” “Themistocles came from a rich family but even though they were rich, he didn’t really have mother, Neocles married a concubine that supposedly wasn’t even from Athens. Her name was Abrotonon. ” But later he became a general in the Athenian army. Themistocles was most popular for his strategy, and ability to form a good plan when needed. The first battle that Themistocles fought in was the battle of Marathon one of the three battle of the Persian wars. In that war there was a man by the name of Pheidippides who...

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.... Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. .

Modified sentence, paraphrased from:
"The Internet Classics Archive | Themistocles by Plutarch." The Internet Classics Archive | Themistocles by Plutarch. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Nov. 2013. .

Modified sentence, paraphrased from:
Themistocles." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Nov. 2013. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Themistocles
All information from Dr. Heckel unless indicated
Heckel, Dr.. "Notes on Themistocles." Humanities Class. N/A. Heritage Classical Christian Academy, St. Louis. 13 Nov. 2011. Class lecture.

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