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Miltiades
By
Nathan Benjamin aka I_Would_Say
Miltiades was born sometime in the 550’s BC, when a tyrant Pisistratus ruled Athens and later Pisistratus’s son, Hippias. The actual date of Miltiades’s birth is unknown. Miltiades is credited for his victory at the Battle of Marathon against the Persians, lead by Darius I, in 490 BC.
Miltiades was the ruler of Chersonese, a peninsula north of Troy. Herodotus tells us that Miltiades’s uncle, Miltiades the Elder, was offered Chersonese by the Chersonesians in the 430’s BC and the oracle of Delphi advised him to take it. Miltiades the Elder and some Athenian settlers took over the peninsula. Miltiades the Elder was succeeded by his nephew, Stesagoras. Stesagoras died without children, making Miltiades, Stesagoras’s brother, inherit Chersonese in 520 BC. When Miltiades inherited Chersonese, he was mourning of his brother. When the leaders of Chersonese came to weep for Stesagoras, Miltiades arrested them. To strengthen his position, Miltiades married Hegesyple, the daughter of Olorus, the King of Thrace. Their son, Cimon, became an important person during the 470’s and 460’s BC.
In 514 or 513 BC, Miltiades accompanied King Darius I, the same person he later fought against in the Battle of Marathon, to fight the Scythians, though we do not know why he did so. In 507 BC, Hippias, the son of the tyrant Pisistratus, was overthrown from Athens and Miltiades’s family was then registered as living in Athens. Miltiades, along with the other Ionian Greeks, revolted against King Darius I in 499 BC. In 494 or 493 BC, Persian ships approached and Miltiades fled from Chersonese back to Athens. After the revolt, the Persians realized that they had to destroy the Greeks in order to keep their lands safe. They conquered Macedonia, Naxos (the largest island in the Aegean Sea), Delos, and Eretria. Then the Persians went to Marathon, which was the land on the other side of Eretria.
In 490 BC, Miltiades was elected as one of the ten generals, or strategoi, against the Persians. Miltiades commanded the Greek army against the Persians. He had about 10,000 men from Athens and 100 from Platai. Miltiades charged his infantry against the Persian cavalry about two kilometers away. Herodotus says the Persians considered this “suicidal madness”. But the Athenians won this charge. According to Herodotus, the Athenians lost 192 men in the charge and the Persians lost 6400, but this is most likely exaggerated.
The Persians retreated to the sea and attempted to attack Athens by sea. Miltiades took his infantry back to Athens just in time to defend against the Persians. Miltiades had a fleet of 70 ships and he used them to retake the Aegean Sea. He then attacked the Persian island of Paros, but he failed in conquering it and broke his leg. Miltiades went back to Athens. He was charged with treason and was impeached. Miltiades was originally sentenced to death, then that changed to a huge fine. Miltiades could not possibly pay it, so he was sent to prison where he died in 489 BC from the leg wound he received.
During 1884 and 1885, Hauptmann Eschenburg, a German officer, visited Marathon and found a huge pile of bones belonging to hundreds of people, indicating a burial. The hundreds of bones buried were Persians. The Athenians received tombs in the middle of the plain, and the Plataeans, allies of the Athenians, were buried near the small village of Vrana.
Bibliography
Largent, Kimberly J. Leaders and Battles: Miltiades. Leaders and Battles. 30 Dec. 2004 < http://www.lbdb.com/TMDisplayLeader.cfm?PID=5634 >.
Lendering, Jona. Miltiades. 16 Jan. 2005 < http://www.livius.org/mi-mn/miltiades/miltiades.html >.
Miltiades, Greece, ancient history. 31 Dec. 2004 < http://www.in2greece.com/english/historymy...t/miltiades.htm >.
Miltiades. Wikipedia. 30 Dec. 2004 < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miltiades >.
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User Comments:
| friendly jas
:: January 25 2005 |
| hmm...wait, Miltiades was charged with treason for failing to conquer Paros? |
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| Titus Ultor
:: January 26 2005 |
| I believe it was a common practice for leaders who had had catastrophic campaigns to lose blame, and, as in this case, be charged with crime for such an outstanding failure. |
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| Mythos_Ruler
:: January 26 2005 |
| The Athenians were famously cruel to their leaders when they failed. Something we should institute in modern times, eh? |
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| Paal_101
:: January 28 2005 |
I could think of a few Prime Ministers who should be banished >:)
Great article Nathan!  |
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| Phoenix-TheRealDeal
:: February 2 2005 |
Yea, a fine article, Nathan.
The Carthaginians were also noted for the killing of thier generals who had failed to win in battle. |
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