Themistocles

Themistocles was an Athenian politician and general, active from the early fifth century BC, who rose from outside Athens's traditional aristocracy to become one of ancient Greece's most consequential military leaders. Elected archon eponymous in 493 BC, he persuaded Athens in 483 BC to spend a newly discovered vein of silver on building a fleet of some 200 triremes rather than distributing it among citizens, a decision that gave Athens the naval power it needed when Persia invaded Greece under Xerxes in 480 BC. Themistocles commanded the Athenian navy at the Battle of Artemisium and then at the Battle of Salamis later that year, where he used deception to lure the much larger Persian fleet into the narrow straits between Salamis and the mainland, a tactical trap that broke Persian naval power and is counted among the most significant battles in history. He was later ostracized from Athens around 472 to 471 BC and spent his final years, from about 465 BC, governing the city of Magnesia under Persian rule, where he died in 459 BC.