In the same account, Themistocles is said to have rejected an attempt by the poet to bribe him, then likened himself as an honest magistrate to a good poet, since an honest magistrate keeps the laws and a good poet keeps in tune.

* The earliest recorded attempt at hip replacement is carried out by Themistocles Gluck in Berlin, using ivory to replace the femoral head.

However, Themistocles argued in favour of an offensive strategy, aimed at decisively destroying the Persians ' naval superiority.

The Peloponnesians were in favour of evacuating, and it was at this point that Themistocles attempted his ruse with Xerxes.

In some accounts, Themistocles also ended up visiting the Persian king, following his ostracism and spectacular fall from public favour in Athens.

As a politician, Themistocles was a populist, having the support of lower class Athenians, and generally being at odds with the Athenian nobility.

However, in an early example of his cunning, Themistocles persuaded " well-born " children to exercise with him in Cynosarges, thus breaking down the distinction between " alien and legitimate ".

Plutarch further reports that Themistocles was preoccupied, even as a child, with preparing for public life.

After the death of Themistocles, his nephew, Phrasicles, went to Magnesia, and married, with her brothers ' consent, another daughter, Nicomache, and took charge of her sister Asia, the youngest of all ten children.

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.

Themistocles sent a servant, Sicinnus, to Xerxes, with a message proclaiming that Themistocles was " on king's side and prefers that your affairs prevail, not the Hellenes ".

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.

Furthermore, Plutarch reports that at the next Olympic Games: " Themistocles entered the stadium, the audience neglected the contestants all day long to gaze on him, and pointed him out with admiring applause to visiting strangers, so that he too was delighted, and confessed to his friends that he was now reaping in full measure the harvest of his toils in behalf of Hellas.

Ostracon with inscription: " Themistocles, son of Neocles "

The Spartans sent ambassadors to Admetus, threatening that the whole of Greece would go to war with the Molossians unless they surrendered Themistocles.

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.

" Themistocles advised the king on his dealings with the Greeks, though it seems that for a long period, the king was distracted by events elsewhere in the empire, and thus Themistocles " lived on for a long time without concern ".

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.

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.

Themistocles died with his reputation in tatters, a traitor to the Athenian people ; the " saviour of Greece " had turned into the enemy of liberty.

Plutarch offers a more nuanced view of Themistocles, with more of a critique of Themistocles's character.

Themistocles seems to have deliberately set Athens up as a rival to Sparta in the aftermath of Xerxes's invasion, basing this strategy on Athenian naval power ( contrasted with the power of the Spartan army ).

In order to counter this, and possibly with an eye already at the mounting Persian preparations, in 483 / 2 BC the Athenian statesman Themistocles used his political skills and influence to persuade the Athenian assembly to start the construction of 200 triremes, using the income of the newly discovered silver mines at Laurion.

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.

Furthermore, although the admirals all voted for Themistocles in second place, they all voted for themselves in first place, so that no-one won the prize for individual achievement.

Around the same time, due to encouragement from influential speaker Themistocles, the Athenians also constructed the Long Walls connecting their city to the Piraeus, its port, making it effectively invulnerable to attack by land.

This inference is supported by the date of the building of the 200 triremes for the war against Aegina on the advice of Themistocles, which is given in the Constitution of Athens as 483-482 BC.

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.

From the handwriting they appear to have been written by fourteen individuals and bear the name of Themistocles, ostracised before 471 BC and were evidently meant for distribution to voters.

Due to subterfuge on the part of Themistocles, the Allies lured the Persian fleet into the Straits of Salamis, and the decisive Greek victory there was the turning point in the invasion, which was ended the following year by the defeat of the Persians at the Battle of Plataea.

Themistocles left three sons by Archippe, daughter to Lysander of Alopece ,-Archeptolis, Polyeuctus, and Cleophantus.

Themistocles had many daughters, of whom Mnesiptolema, whom he had by a second marriage, was wife to Archeptolis, her brother by another mother, she became priestess of Cybele ; Italia was married to Panthoides, of the island of Chios ; Sybaris to Nicomedes the Athenian.

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.

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.

Themistocles urged the citizens to build the fortifications as quickly as possible, then went to Sparta as an ambassador to answer the charges levelled by the Spartans.

Plutarch reports that Themistocles also proposed in secret to destroy the beached ships of the other Allied navies, in order to ensure complete naval dominance, but was overruled by Aristides and the council of Athens.

" 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.

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.

However, his reputation in Athens was rehabilitated by Pericles in the 450s BC, and by the time Herodotus wrote his history, Themistocles was once again seen as a hero.

* In the movie The 300 Spartans ( 1962 ), Themistocles is portrayed by the actor Ralph Richardson

* 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.