Page "Themistocles" Paragraph 34

From Molossia, Themistocles apparently fled to Pydna, from where he took a ship for Asia Minor.

This ship was blown off course by a storm, and ended up at Naxos, which an Athenian fleet was in the process of besieging.

Desperate to avoid identification, Themistocles cajoled the captain of the ship to continue the journey immediately.

According to Thucydides, who wrote within living memory of the events, the ship eventually landed safely at Ephesus, where Themistocles disembarked.

Plutarch has the ship docking at Cyme in Aeolia, and Diodorus has Themistocles making his way to Asia in an undefined manner.

Diodorus and Plutarch next recount a similar tale, namely that Themistocles stayed briefly with an acquaintance ( Lysitheides or Nicogenes ) who was also acquainted with the Persian king, Artaxerxes I.

Since there was a bounty on Themistocles's head, this acquaintance devised a plan to safely convey Themistocles to the Persian king in the type of covered wagon that the King's concubines travelled in.

All three chroniclers agree that Themistocles's next move was to contact the Persian king ; in Thucydides, this is by letter, while Plutarch and Diodorus have a face-to-face meeting with the king.

The spirit is the same in all three however: Themistocles introduces himself to the king and seeks to enter his service.

" I, Themistocles, am come to you, who did your house more harm than any of the Hellenes, when I was compelled to defend myself against your father's invasion-harm, however, far surpassed by the good that I did him during his retreat, which brought no danger for me but much for him.

" ( Thucydides )