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MILTIADES
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MILTIADES , the name of two Athenian statesmen and generals of a See also:family (the Philaidae) of Aeginetan origin, which claimed descent from See also:Aeacus. 1. MILTIADES (6th See also:century B.C.), the son of Cypselus, a prominent opponent of See also:Peisistratus. According to See also:Herodotus (vi. 36, 37) he led a See also:colony to the Thracian See also:Chersonese at the See also:request of the Doloncians, who, hard pressed by the Absinthians (or Apsinthians), were advised by the Delphian See also:oracle to invite to their See also:country the See also:man who should first show them hospitality after leaving the See also:temple. Since, however, the Athenians had from c. 600—590 B.C. held Sigeum in the See also:Troad, whence they had fought against Mitylene, it is probable that the Doloncians appealed for help to See also:Athens, and that Peisistratus took the opportunity of getting rid of one of his See also:chief opponents by sending Miltiades. He became " See also:tyrant " of the Chersonesus, which he fortified by a See also:wall across the See also:isthmus from Cardia to Pactya. He was captured by the See also:people of See also:Lampsacus, but released on the intercession of See also:Croesus of See also:Lydia. He was succeeded by Stesagoras, son of his See also:half-See also:brother, See also:Cimon. 2. MILTIADES (died c. 488 B.C.), the See also:victor of See also:Marathon, was another son of Cimon. On the See also:death of Stesagoras, he was sent to the Chersonese (? about 518–516) by Hippias—no doubt to support Hegesistratus at Sigeum (see PEISISTRATUS). He entrapped and imprisoned the chief men of Chersonesus, which was then in a turbulent See also:condition, and strengthened himself by an See also:alliance with Hegesipyle, daughter of the Thracian See also:prince Olorus (See also:Herod. vi. 39). He led a contingent in the Scythian expedition of See also:Darius Hystaspis and, according to Herodotus, advised the leaders who were See also:left at the See also:Danube See also:bridge to destroy it and leave Darius to his See also:fate. This See also:story is improbable, as Darius left Miltiades in See also:possession of the Chersonese for some twenty years longer, though See also:Persian forces 'were frequently in the neighbourhood. Miltiades was, according to Herodotus, expelled by Scythian invaders, but was brought back by the Doloncians, and subsequently captured See also:Lemnos and See also:Imbros for Athens from the so-called Pelasgian inhabitants, who were Persian dependents. Having thus (probably) incurred the enmity of Darius, Miltiades fled to Athens on the approach of the Persians under Datis and See also:Artaphernes, leaving his son Metiochus a prisoner in Persian hands, and was at once impeached unsuccessfully on the See also:charge of tyranny in the Chersonese.' Possibly the story of his having tried to destroy the Danube bridge was invented or exaggerated at this See also:time as an See also:argument in his favour (see See also:Grote, See also:History of See also:Greece, 1 vol., ed. 1907, p. 119 See also:note). Since, however, Herodotus almost certainly relied on Alcmaeonid tradition, which was hostile to Miltiades, the whole story is uncertain; the statement that he fled before a Scythian invasion is especially improbable. If Miltiades really recommended the destruction of the bridge, we may infer that the Herodotean story of his See also:flight before the Scythians is a misunderstanding of the fact that his See also:residence in Chersonese after the Scythian invasion was insecure and not continuous. On the approach of the Persians Miltiades was made one of the ten Athenian generals, and it was on his See also:advice that the polemarch See also:Callimachus decided to give See also:battle at Marathon (q.v.). Subsequently he used his See also:influence with the Athenians to induce them to give him a See also:fleet of seventy See also:ships without any indication of his See also:object (Herod. vi. 132–136). See also:Cornelius See also:Nepos (Miltiades, c. vii.), probably on See also:good authority (? See also:Ephorus), states that he had a See also:commission to regain See also:control over the See also:Aegean. No doubt his object was to establish an See also:outer See also:line of See also:defence against future Persian aggression. Herodotus says that, having besieged See also:Paros vainly for nearly a See also:month, he made a See also:secret visit to Timo, a priestess of See also:Demeter in Paros, with a view to the betrayal of the See also:island, and being compelled to flee wounded himself severely in attempting to leap a fence (but see Ephorus in Fragm. Kist. gr. 107). , On his return to Athens he was impeached by Xanthippus, who was allied by See also:marriage to the Alcmaeonids, on the ground that he had " deceived the people," and only escaped on the strength of his past services with a See also:fine of 50 talents. The facts of the trial and the charge are difficult to recover, nor do we know why the See also:siege was raised. Some authorities hold that he was bribed to this course, and hence that the charge was one of See also:treason; others suggest that he. retired in the belief that a Persian fleet was approaching. All that is known is that he died of his See also:wound (489-488), without paying the fine, which was paid subsequently by his son Cimon (q.v.). He appears to have been a man of strong determination and See also:great See also:personal courage, of a type characteristic of the pre-Cleisthenic constitution. His See also:absence in the Chersonese during the first years of the new See also:democracy (508–493?) and his patrician line-See also:age See also:account naturally for the difference which existed between him and the popular leaders—See also:Themistocles and See also:Aristides. See the passages of Herodotus and Cornelius Nepos, quoted above, and histories of Greece. On the Parian expedition and the trial, R. W. Macan, Herodotus iv.–vi., vol. 2, appendix xi.; on the See also:foreign policy of Miltiades see THEMISTOCLES. (J. M. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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