Ancient & Medieval Military Leaders Codexery

Miltiades

Athenian general who defeated Persians at Marathon.

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He served as a general who defeated the Persians at the Battle of Marathon.[1] His life spanned from 550 to 489 BC.[1] Miltiades was considered part of the Aeacidae and the Philaid clan, and he was a well-born Athenian.[2]

Last updated 2026-10-07 from the source article.

Life and work

Around 555 BC, Miltiades the Elder left Athens to establish a colony on the Thracian Chersonese.[3] Miltiades the Younger became eponymous archon under the Peisistratid tyrant Hippias in 524/23 BC.[3] Miltiades joined the Ionian Revolt of 499 BC and later captured Lemnos and Imbros for Athens.[4] He convinced the polemarch Callimachus to attack the Persians immediately at Marathon.[5]

Miltiades devised tactics that defeated the Persians, then marched his men overnight to block their escape.[6][7] Cimon Colelamos, Miltiades's father, was a champion in three Olympic chariot races.[1] Through marriage to Hegesipyle, the daughter of King Olorus of Thrace, Miltiades formed an alliance.[8] Around 513 BC, the Persian king Darius I subdued the Thracian Chersonese, compelling Miltiades to become a Persian vassal.[2]

What the cited sources add

The Greek Reporter account states that Miltiades believed in preserving the democratic city-state of Athens.[1] The helmet of Miltiades, bearing an inscription dedicating it to Zeus, was discovered and is held at the Archaeological Museum of Olympia.[9][1] Some historians believe Miltiades offered the helmet to Zeus after returning victorious from Marathon.[1] Aeschines reports that the Athenians declined to inscribe Miltiades's name in the Stoa Poikile.[10][11]

References

  1. Chrysopoulos, "The Awe-Inspiring Helmet of Legendary Ancient Greek Warrior Miltiades", Greek Reporter, 2 June 2020. facts only, no text reused. greece.greekreporter.com
  2. Wikipedia, "Miltiades" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Creasy (1880) (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Miltiades" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Debra Hamel (2012) "Reading Herodotus: A Guided Tour Through the Wild Boars, Dancing Suitors, and Crazy Tyrants of 'The History'" JHU Press, p.182; C.W.J.Elliot and Malcolm F. McGregor (1960) "Kleisthenes: Eponymous Archon 525/4 BC" Phoenix, Vol 14, No. 1 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Miltiades" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Rice, "The Battle of Marathon", Mitchell Lane Publishers, Inc., 15 September 2011; Burn, "The Pelican History of Greece", Penguin, 1982, p. 160; Hammond, "Oxford Classical Dictionary (Second ed.)", Oxford University Press, 1970, p. 688; J. A. S. Evans (1963) "Notes on Miltiades' Capture of Lemnos" Classical Philology, Vol. 58, No. 3, pp.168–170; Creasy (1880) pg. 10 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Miltiades" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Herodotus vi.109.; Herodotus vi.109. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Miltiades" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Creasy (1880) pg. 23; Plutarch, Aristides, V; Herodotus VI, 111; Creasy (1880) pg. 23 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Miltiades" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Creasy (1880) pg. 26 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Miltiades" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Herodotus, lib vi. c. 39 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Miltiades" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Chrysopoulos, "The Awe-Inspiring Helmet of Legendary Ancient Greek Warrior Miltiades", Greek Reporter, 2 June 2020 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Miltiades" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Aeschines, Against Ctesiphon, section 186", www.perseus.tufts.edu; Wycherley, "Literary and Epigraphical Testimonia", The Athenian Agora, 1957, p. iii–259 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Richard Ernest Wycherley, "Literary and Epigraphical Testimonia", The Athenian Agora (1957), doi:10.2307/3601955. OpenAlex metadata CC0; paper not read. doi.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Miltiades (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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