THEMISTOCLES

born c. 524 BC died c. 460 Athenian politician and naval strategist who was the creator of Athenian sea power and the chief saviour of Greece from subjection to the Persian Empire at the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC. Additional reading The histories by Herodotus and Thucydides are primary. The Life by Plutarch is based on sources of various quality and must be used critically. Full discussions and a bibliography may be found in Peter Green, The Year of Salamis, 480479 B.C. (1970), who uses and often disagrees with A.R. Burn, Persia and the Greeks (1962).