From the second half of 1990s BC to the early 1970s, Temistocles was a man of the hour in Athens politics. For Greece, it was a stormy time, and the decisive stage was the Greek-Persian War (500-449 BC).
Although his father Nicholas is rich, he does not belong to the most prominent family in Athens. His mother is not descended from Athenian citizens, and there are different opinions about whether she was born in Thrace or Caria. Because his mother came from a foreign country, Temistoks was discriminated against by aristocratic children in his youth.
Since he was a child, he was smart and eloquent, and tried to shape himself into a figure who was good at solving practical problems and calculating. It is often found that he is either thinking hard after class or appealing in the driving range. He takes a perfunctory attitude towards subjects that he thinks are of little use. Therefore, his teacher repeatedly said to him, "You are a child, and you must be a great person in the future, whether it is good or bad."
In 493 BC, Temistocles was elected as the consul of that year. His election was related to his initiative to stage the tragedy Occupy Miletus written by Fragni Hawes in 494 BC. The description of the atrocities in Miletus and the tragic experience of the defeated people in the play greatly shocked the audience. Although the playwright was severely punished, Temistocles won a reputation as a fighter against Persian aggression. Considering the importance of strengthening the navy to Athens, he began to build more defense facilities in Piraeus port.
Temistocles's great historical achievement lies in his correct understanding of the domestic and international situation in Athens after the Marathon Battle (490 BC), and his skillful use of various favorable factors to promote policies conducive to the development of democratic politics and the enhancement of national strength in the complicated struggle, thus making Athens a maritime power with a powerful navy. It is said that after the marathon, when all the Athenians were intoxicated by this unprecedented great victory and praised Mearti Addis's fighting strategy, he could not sleep at night and was immersed in foresight.
Athens, with a land area of about 2,500 square kilometers, is a Greek city-state in the Balkans, second only to Sparta in area. Because of barren land, large population, long coastline and natural harbor, it gradually embarked on the road of overseas expansion as early as the seventh century BC. However, until the early 1980s BC, its naval power was still pitifully small. In 487 BC, Athens clashed with Ekina, and Athens had to borrow 20 warships from Corinth. Temistos, who fought bravely in the marathon, was keenly aware that Persia's failure in the marathon was not the end of the Greek-Persian war, but the beginning of a more serious battle. In order to save Athens, we must vigorously develop the navy. But to develop the navy, we must raise a large sum of money and overcome the traditional habit of attaching importance to the army. The brilliant victory of the marathon has made people who value the army more eloquent.
The details of the struggles of various political forces in Athens in the 5th century BC and 1980s are unknown due to the lack of historical materials. But the general trend is clear, that is, political factions represented by Temistocles have won one after another. In 487 BC, he promoted the reform of the election method of consuls, that is, from voting to drawing lots, so that not only the citizens of the first grade could be elected, but also the citizens of the second grade could serve. This reform is conducive to promoting the change of the composition of the parliament of the God of War Mountain, strengthening the position of the Committee of Ten Generals, democratizing the political life of the country and strengthening the preparations for war.
The development of naval forces has a great influence on the economic and political life of Athens and the relations between all walks of life. Since 487 BC, his political opponents, including Ariste Ides, the main representative of the opposition, have been exiled one after another because of the exile law of pottery films. Temistocles skillfully took advantage of the hostile relationship between Athenians and neighbor Ekina, who has a strong navy, and persuaded the general public to use the income from Maroni's newly discovered rich silver mine to build warships instead of giving money to every citizen as usual. He gave the 100 Tarant (1) thus obtained to the richest 100 citizens in Athens, each with a Tarant, and instructed them to build a three-row paddle warship, and the insufficient funds were subsidized by themselves. On the eve of the Persian invasion again, the Athenians had the largest number of new warships in Greek cities at that time, totaling about 200.
In 480 BC, when the Persian army approached Attica by land and water, Temistocles showed his outstanding ability in running the army and governing the country. According to his proposal, the Athens Citizens' Assembly passed a resolution to let all exiles, including Ariste and Ides, return to China to participate in the battle to defend the motherland. Although the Spartans had only a dozen warships, he voluntarily ceded the supreme command of the navy among the Greek allies to the Spartans to strengthen the unity within the alliance against Persia. In the battle to defend the hot spring pass, he was responsible for commanding the Athenian fleet stationed in Artemis to meet the Persians from the sea. When the hot spring pass fell, he organized the evacuation of Athenian citizens brilliantly.
The retreat of Athens before the Battle of Salamis is worth mentioning. Although the Persian army was under siege, it was still difficult for most Athenians to leave their homes. In this case, Temistocles skillfully used the method of interpreting the Oracle to persuade most Athenian citizens to leave Athens and let them retreat to Salamis and Troy. Herodotus vividly described the debate among Athenians about how to interpret the Oracle in his famous book History. According to Temistocles, the Athenians must believe in the role of the navy and prepare for the naval battle. 1959, a stone tablet was excavated in troy, ancient Greece, engraved with the inscription of the resolution adopted by the Athens citizens' assembly in 480 BC to deal with the Persian invasion. This document shows that the retreat before the battle of Salamis was carried out as planned. The initiator and main executor of this plan is Temistocles.
Temistocles persuaded Eglu Buades, the supreme commander of the Greek allied navy, to fight decisively with the Persian navy near Salamis. He tricked the Persians into starting a naval battle in the most favorable place for the Greeks.
The brilliant victory of the Greeks, first of all the Athenians, in the naval battle of Salamis made the huge Persian fleet almost completely annihilated, and the war situation changed greatly. Herodotus spoke highly of the Athenians' victory in the naval battle of Salamis, and believed that it was the Athenians' tenacious struggle for freedom at sea that made them the saviors of Greece. Although this statement has exaggerated elements, there is no doubt that the Battle of Salamis left a deep impression on the Athenians and other Greeks. The Athenians have long been proud of providing the most warships and the smartest generals in this naval battle, and have shown their fearless courage.
The victory of Salamis naval battle brought great honor to Temistos. He was once the most outstanding figure in Greece. According to Herodotus, at that time, the generals of Greek city-states gathered in the Isthmus of Corinth to vote. In order to determine who made the greatest contribution among them, everyone voted for himself and thought that he made the greatest contribution. However, most of them gave the second place to Temistoks. As a result, each of them got only one vote, while Temistocks, who came in second, got a far-ahead vote. According to Herodotus, when Temistocles visited Sparta, he received a "unique" courtesy. The Spartans gave him an olive crown to praise his wisdom and wit. When he left Sparta, 300 outstanding Spartans were sent to send him abroad.
After the Persians retreated from the Balkans, Temistos did not relax his vigilance against Sparta because of the high honor given to him by Spartans. With his high prestige, with the cooperation of former political enemies such as Ariste and Ides, and with the patriotic enthusiasm of all Athenians, he organized the construction of the acropolis wall in time.
In 480 BC and 479 BC, Persians occupied Athens twice. When they retreated from Athens for the second time, they set fire to the buildings in the city. According to Thucydides, when the Athenians returned to the city, they found that most of the houses were in ruins, and only a small part of the surrounding walls were still preserved. In view of the Spartans' repeated interference in Athens' internal affairs decades ago, and the Spartans' various performances in their struggle with the Persians, Misto Chris thinks it is urgent to build the acropolis wall as soon as possible. Because at that time, with heavy infantry as the main arms, it was very difficult to conquer the fortress with strong walls. Spartans, who had the best heavy infantry in Greece at that time, were not good at siege. The Spartans suggested that Athens should not only build its own fortress, but also destroy all the fortresses except the Peloponnesian Peninsula with Sparta, which made the Athenians more vigilant.
Theseus described in great detail the struggle between the Athenians and Spartans around the issue of building a city in 478 BC. According to Temistocles' proposal, the Athenians sent a delegation from Sparta and suggested not to build a city. Then they elected a delegation, including Temistos, to Sparta to explain Athens' intentions. But Temistocles left the other members of the delegation and went to Sparta first. At first, he took various measures to delay the meeting with the Spartan authorities. When he got the exact information that the Athenians had built the wall to a suitable height as quickly as possible, he told the Spartans that he thought that building the wall was beneficial to Athens and other city-states. Because only on the basis of equal strength can it be possible to discuss the interests of the same group of people equally and fairly. In view of the fait accompli, the Spartans had to hide their unhappiness and let him return home.
The Athenians further built the wall of Piraeus according to Temistocles' suggestion.
During the reign of Temistocles, repeated construction and expansion began. The famous Athens city wall was finally built during the Pericles period, which greatly strengthened Athens' resistance to foreign enemies. Therefore, after the Spartans defeated the Athenians in the Peloponnesian War, one of the important contents of the draft peace treaty was that Athens had to dismantle the walls of the Acropolis and Piraeus Port. In 393 BC, Conon of Samos of Samos rebuilt the famous Athens wall after defeating the Spartan fleet near Knidos.
However, the days when Temistocles shocked the world were not long. After 478 BC, we know little about his deeds. His political opponents, such as Ariste, Ides and Meng Ke, took their place.
In 476 BC, Temistos took part in the Olympic Games. In the same year, he undertook the task of organizing a tragic performance, and his old friend Frunijos arranged the performance of Phoenician women. The theme of the play is to praise the Battle of Salamis.
Five or six years later, Temistocles was exiled because of the pottery exile law. He moved to Argos first. Soon after, he was accused of contacting Payushania of Sparta and being investigated. He decided that he was ill-fated to go back to Athens for trial, so he fled everywhere, went through difficulties and obstacles, and finally arrived in Persia and defected to the king of Persia.
Why did Temistocles, who had resolutely defended the interests of the Athenian city-state, be accused of contacting Persia and finally really took refuge in the Persian king? This is a historical unsolved case worthy of in-depth study. Due to the lack of historical materials, only two reasons can be pointed out here. Politically, he excessively and prematurely pursued the policy against Sparta. His political enemy, pro-Spartan Meng Ke, is on the rise, which shows this from the opposite side. Plutarch mentioned in the biography of Tamistocles that Tamistocles opposed the suggestion put forward by Sparta at the religious alliance meeting, that is, all the city-states that did not participate in the anti-Persian war were expelled from the alliance, which caused the Spartans' jealousy. More importantly, for Athens, while maintaining harmony with Sparta, it is more favorable and popular to implement the policy of resolutely opposing Persia and expanding to the sea in the 1970s BC. The second reason is that some defects in his personal qualities have aroused the dissatisfaction of the masses and become an excuse for his political opponents to make full use of them.
As a political representative of the slave-owning class, Temistos could not correctly understand his historical role. Plutarch pointed out that Timistocles was greedy for money and vain. He constantly flaunts his achievements in various ways, and often narrates his achievements at town meetings, which makes him very boring and makes people want to believe all kinds of rumors that denigrate him. In the 1970s BC, in the consciousness of Athenian citizens, the collective strength of the polis and the principle of equality of citizens played a great role. Excessive self-exaggeration can only cause widespread disgust.
Herodotus said, Tamistocles' selfish wealth-gathering events are endless. He abused his reputation and extorted money from his country and allies, thus amassing a lot of wealth. According to Plutarch's account, when Tamistocles began to enter politics, his property was only three talents, but when he was exiled, his total property reached 80 or even 100 talents. Although the figures here are obviously exaggerated, there is no doubt that he has accumulated wealth by using his authority and reputation.
Temistocles was entertained by the king in Persia. The king gave him three cities, namely magnesium oxide in Asia Minor. Plutarch, his biographer, said that when the king asked him to help attack Greece, he committed suicide by taking poison, which showed that although he was forced to leave Athens, he was not willing to be a sinner against his motherland.