As Holland has it: " What precise heights of oratory he attained, what stirring and memorable phrases he pronounced, we have no way of knowing ... only by the effect it had on the assembly can we gauge what surely must have been its electric and vivifying quality-for Themistocles ' audacious proposals, when put to the vote, were ratified.

* In the film Lawrence of Arabia ( 1962 ) T. E. Lawrence, played by actor Peter O ' Toole, quotes Themistocles saying, " I cannot fiddle, but I can make a great state from a little city.

The relationship between bedding and law in ancient Persia can be guessed, because according to Phanias of Eresus, Artaxerxes I of Persia had given to Themistocles the city of Percote with bedding for his house.

The Magnesians built a " splendid tomb " in their market place for Themistocles, which still stood during the time of Plutarch, and continued to dedicate part of their revenues to the family of Themistocles.

Plutarch indicates that he met in Athens a lineal descendant of Themistocles ( also called Themistocles ) who was still paid these revenues, 600 years after the events in question.

Still earlier than these, in the times of the Medes and Persians, there were Solon, Themistocles, Miltiades, and Cimon, Myronides, and Pericles and certain others in Athens, and in Sicily Gelon, son of Deinomenes, and still others.

Miltiades ordered the two tribes that were forming the center of the Greek formation, the Leontis tribe led by Themistocles and the Antiochis tribe led by Aristides, to be arranged in the depth of four ranks while the rest of the tribes at their flanks were in ranks of eight.

After the conflict ended, Themistocles continued to be pre-eminent amongst Athenian politicians.

Themistocles seems to have realised that for the Greeks to survive the coming onslaught required there to be a Greek navy which could hope to face up to the Persian navy, and he therefore attempted to persuade the Athenians to build such a fleet.

Themistocles proposed that the silver should be used to build a new fleet of 200 triremes, whilst Aristides suggested it should instead be distributed amongst the Athenian citizens.

Aristides refused to countenance this ; conversely Themistocles was not pleased that only 100 ships would be built.

The Spartans claimed the command of land forces, and since the Greek ( hereafter referred to as " Allied ") fleet would be dominated by Athens, Themistocles tried to claim command of the naval forces.

It is clear from Herodotus, however, that Themistocles would be the real leader of the fleet.

" His proposals accepted, Themistocles issued orders for the women and children of Athens to be sent to the city of Troezen, safely inside the Peloponnesus.

Aristides had been recalled from exile along with the other ostracised Athenians on the order of Themistocles, so that Athens might be united against the Persians.

For the Athenians, and Themistocles personally, the winter would be a testing one.

However, this episode may be seen as the beginning of the Spartan mistrust of Themistocles which would return to haunt him.

It should be noted that both Diodorus and Plutarch considered that the charges were false, and made solely for the purposes of destroying Themistocles.

The Athenians had also been preparing for war with the Persians since the mid-480s BC, and in 482 BC the decision was taken, under the guidance of the Athenian politician Themistocles, to build a massive fleet of triremes that would be necessary for the Greeks to fight the Persians.

The origins of this sport is claimed to be derived from the Athenians when Themistocles, marching his army against the Persians, chanced upon two cocks fighting and charged his army saying “ Behold, these do not fight for their household gods, for the monuments of their ancestors, for glory, for liberty or the safety of their children, but only because one will not give way to the other .” Inspired, his army defeated the Persians and after ordained by law, cockfighting was annually practiced as " an institution partly religious and partly political at Athens, and continued there for the purpose of improving the seeds of valour in the minds of the Athenian youth ".

* The Athenian archon Themistocles realises that the Greeks need to be able to beat the Persians at sea.

His work started to be published in literary anthologies, notably Zero, which was edited by his friend Themistocles Hoetis and which had already published essays by Richard Wright.

Themistocles of Athens estimated that the Greeks would be outnumbered by the Persians on land, but that Athens could protect itself by building a fleet ( the famous " wooden walls "), using the profits of the silver mines at Laurium to finance them.

Themistocles proposed that the silver should be used to build a new fleet of triremes, ostensibly to assist in a long running war with Aegina.

If Xerxes could destroy the Allied navy, he would be in a strong position to force an Allied surrender ; conversely by avoiding destruction, or as Themistocles hoped, by destroying the Persian fleet, the Allies could prevent conquest from being completed.

The Athenians had also been preparing for war with the Persians since the mid-480s BC, and in 482 BC the decision was taken, under the guidance of the Athenian politician Themistocles, to build a massive fleet of triremes that would be necessary for the Greeks to fight the Persians.

The Euboeans, not wanting to be abandoned to the Persians, bribed Themistocles to try to ensure that the Allied fleet remained.

Greek shipping magnate Themistocles Kriakos learns of Mark's belief in reincarnation and offers to finance a study of the events of Melinda's life in exchange for Mark's help in discovering who he will be in his next life, which will allow him to leave his fortune to his future self.

Touring the taverns, the markets, the docks, canvassing where no politician had thought to canvas before, making sure never to forget a single voter's name, Themistocles had set his eyes on a radical new constituency " However, he took care to ensure that he did not alienate the nobility of Athens.

In advancing naval power, Themistocles was probably advocating a course of action he thought essential for the long-term prospects of Athens.

Since it was his long-standing advocacy of Athenian naval power which enabled the Allied fleet to fight at all, and it was his stratagem that brought about the Battle of Salamis, it is probably not an exaggeration to say, as Plutarch does, that Themistocles " is thought to have been the man most instrumental in achieving the salvation of Hellas ".

It was Thucydides's judgement that Themistocles was " a man who exhibited the most indubitable signs of genius ; indeed, in this particular he has a claim on our admiration quite extraordinary and unparalleled ".

Themistocles was born in Athens around 524 BC, the son of Neocles, who was, in the words of Plutarch " no very conspicuous man ".

Plutarch provides the most evocative version of this story: But when Egypt revolted with Athenian aid ... and Cimon's mastery of the sea forced the King to resist the efforts of the Hellenes and to hinder their hostile growth ... messages came down to Themistocles saying that the King commanded him to make good his promises by applying himself to the Hellenic problem ; then, neither embittered by anything like anger against his former fellow-citizens, nor lifted up by the great honor and power he was to have in the war, but possibly thinking his task not even approachable, both because Hellas had other great generals at the time, and especially because Cimon was so marvelously successful in his campaigns ; yet most of all out of regard for the reputation of his own achievements and the trophies of those early days ; having decided that his best course was to put a fitting end to his life, he made a sacrifice to the gods, then called his friends together, gave them a farewell clasp of his hand, and, as the current story goes, drank bull's blood, or as some say, took a quick poison, and so died in Magnesia, in the sixty-fifth year of his life ... They say that the King, on learning the cause and the manner of his death, admired the man yet more, and continued to treat his friends and kindred with kindness.

:" Themistocles was a man who exhibited the most indubitable signs of genius ; indeed, in this particular he has a claim on our admiration quite extraordinary and unparalleled.

Both Herodotus and Plato record variations of an anecdote in which Themistocles responded with subtle sarcasm to an undistinguished man who complained that the great politician owed his fame merely to the fact that he came from Athens.

:" Timodemus of Aphidnae, who was one of Themistocles ' enemies but not a man of note, was crazed with envy and spoke bitterly to Themistocles of his visit to Lacedaemon, saying that the honors he had from the Lacedaemonians were paid him for Athens ' sake and not for his own.

This he kept saying until Themistocles replied, ' This is the truth of the matter: if I had been a man of Belbina I would not have been honored in this way by the Spartans, nor would you, sir, for all you are a man of Athens.

" Indeed, Diodorus goes so far as to say that " But if any man, putting envy aside, will estimate closely not only the man's natural gifts but also his achievements, he will find that on both counts Themistocles holds first place among all of whom we have record.

Themistocles, with his power-base firmly established amongst the poor, moved naturally to fill the vacuum left by Miltiades's death, and in that decade became the most influential politician in Athens.

The politician Themistocles, with a power base firmly established amongst the poor, filled the vacuum left by Miltiades's death, and in the following decade became the most influential politician in Athens.

Sailing away with the poet's money in his coffers but minus the poet himself, Themistocles soon arrived at the Corinthian Isthmus, where the Greek commanders met to decide who most deserved the prize for valour in their recent victory at Salamis.

Themistocles hosted a banquet in an attempt to curry favour with his colleagues but won nothing by it since each of the commanders subsequently voted himself the most deserving of the prize ( Histories 8. 123-4 ).