Themistocles Sentence Examples

At first, joining to Cimon's antiPersian ambitions and Themistocles' schemes of Western expansion a new policy of aggression on the mainland, he endeavoured to push forward Athenian power in every direction, and engaged himself alike in Greece Proper, in the Levant and in Sicily.

After wavering between various plans, he decided on the 13th of July to cast himself on the generosity of the British government, and dictated a letter to the prince regent in which he compared himself to Themistocles seating himself at the hearth of his enemy.

In view of the ancient law which forbade burial within the city, the tombs within the circuit of the city walls must either be earlier than the time of Themistocles or several centuries later; in the similar rocktombs on the neighbouring slopes of the Acropolis and Areopagus both Mycenaean and Dipylon pottery have been found.

The walls of the city, now built under the direction of Themistocles, embraced a larger area than the previous circuit, with which they seem to have coincided at the Dipylon Gate on the north-west where the Sacred Way to Eleusis was joined by the principal carriage route to the Peiraeus and the roads to the Academy and Colonus.

The design of connecting Athens with the Peiraeus by long parallel walls is ascribed by Plutarch to Themistocles.

The exigencies of the defensive system planned by Themistocles could only have been satisfied by a juncture of the Phaleric wall with that of the Peiraeus.

The great advantages which the Peiraic promontory with its three natural harbours offered for purposes of defence and commerce were first recognized by Themistocles, in whose archonship (493 B.C.) the fortifications of the Peiraeus were begun.

As soon as the building of the city walls had been completed, Themistocles resumed the construction of the Peiraeus defences, which protected the larger harbour of Cantharus on the west and the smaller ports of Zea and Munychia (respectively southwest and south-east of the Munychia heights), terminating in moles at their entrances and enclosing the entire promontory on the land and sea sides except a portion of the south-west shore of the peninsula of Acte.

On either side of the Dipylon the walls of Themistocles, faced on the outside by a later wall, have been traced for a considerable distance.

On the northern side Cimon completed the wall of Themistocles at both ends and added to its height; the ground behind was levelled up on this side also, the platform of the Acropolis thus receiving its present shape and dimensions.

This was the City of Hadrian (Hadrianapolis) or New Athens (Novae Athenae); a handsome suburb with numerous villas, baths and gardens; some traces remain of its walls, which, like those of Themistocles, were fortified with rectangular towers.

In 493 the imminent prospect of a Persian invasion brought into power men like Themistocles and Miltiades (qq.v.), to whose firmness and insight the Athenians largely owed their triumph in the great campaign of 490 against Persia.

In 483 Themistocles overcame the opposition of Aristides, and passed his famous measure providing for a large increase of the Athenian fleet.

In pursuance of his conservative policy which aimed at maintaining Athens as a land power, he was one of the chief opponents of the naval policy of Themistocles.

In the campaign of Salamis he rendered loyal support to Themistocles, and crowned the victory by landing Athenian.

At first he seems to have remained on good terms with Themistocles, whom he is said to have helped in outwitting the Spartans over the rebuilding of the walls of Athens.

The date of his death is given by Nepos as 468; at any rate he lived to witness the ostracism of Themistocles, towards whom he always displayed a generous conduct, but had died before the rise of Pericles.

Themistocles was the first to urge the Athenians to take advantage of these harbours, instead of using the sandy bay of Phaleron; and the fortification of the Peiraeus was begun in 493 B.C. Later on it was connected with Athens by the Long Walls in 460 B.C. The town of Peiraeus was laid out by the architect Hippodamus of Miletus, probably in the time of Pericles.

It was one of the towns assigned by Artaxerxes to Themistocles for support in his exile, and there the latter ended his days.

We know that Peisistratus ruled by controlling the archonship, which was always held by members of his family, and the archonship of Isagoras was clearly an important party victory; we know further the names of three important men who held the office between Cleisthenes' reform and the Persian War (Hipparchus, Themistocles, Aristides) from which we infer that the office was still the prize of party competition.

This policy - which was presumably that of Nicias in opposition to Alcibiades - having failed, the way was cleared for a reassertion of that policy of western conquest which had always had advocates from Themistocles onward in Athens,' and was part of the democratic programme.

Themistocles acted as choragus, and one of the objects of the play was to remind the Athenians of his great deeds.

Herodotus had no Athenian victories to record after the initial success, and the fact that Themistocles was able to carry his proposal to devote the surplus funds of the state to the building of so large a fleet seems to imply that the Athenians were themselves convinced that a supreme effort was necessary.

Themistocles had promised to procure his recall, but was unable to resist the bribes of Timocreon's adversaries and allowed him to remain in exile.

Though the traditional account of this war exaggerates the services of Athens as compared with the other champions of Greek independence, there can be no doubt that the ultimate victory was chiefly due to the numbers and efficiency of the Athenian fleet, and to the wise policy of her great statesman Themistocles (see Salamis, Plataea).

Though Themistocles soon lost his influence, his party eventually found a new leader in Ephialtes and after the failure of Cimon's foreign policy (see Cimon) triumphed over the conservatives.

After the battle of Marathon, Themistocles persuaded the Athenians to devote the revenue derived from the mines to shipbuilding, and thus laid the foundation of the Athenian naval power, and made possible the victory of Salamis.

On the fields of Marathon and Plataea, the Persian archers succumbed to the Greek phalarn of hoplites; but the actual decision was effected by Themistocles who had meanwhile created the Athenian fleet which at Salamis proved its superiority over the Perso-Phoenician armada, anc thus precluded beforehand the success of the land-forces.