Themistocles

Resumen del libro

A portrait of the Athenian politician and general Themistocles, tracing his political development, his victory at the Battle of Salamis, and his exile in Persia Themistocles (524 459 BC) came of age just as a newly democratic and empowered Athens was emerging. He would become an instrumental political and military figure, fighting in the Battle of Marathon; persuading Athenians to expand their fleet; and engineering the Athenians' defeat of the Persians at the Battle of Salamis. However, as Michael Scott demonstrates in this biography, Themistocles failed as much as he succeeded.

Scott offers a fully human picture of Themistocles, a man who could be both decisive and heroic as well as uncertain and unprepared. He was loved and hated in Athens, his plans and ideas ignored as often as they were respected. Eventually he was exiled as a traitor, ultimately settling in Persia as an adviser to Artaxerxes, the son of Xerxes, his foe at Salamis.

And yet, in the aftermath of his death, he emerged as one of Greece's historical heroes. In this portrait of a man Thucydides deemed one of the most illustrious Greeks of his time, Scott reveals one man's struggle to navigate the turbulent world of Athenian politics, and the crucial role of historians and biographers in shaping, and distorting, the image of Themistocles that has come down to us through the centuries.

Biografía del autor

Michael Scott empezó a interesarse por la flora de las regiones montañosas y subárticas de Gran Bretaña mientras estudiaba botánica en la Universidad de Aberdeen. Ha recorrido muchas de las colinas de Escocia, Gales y el norte de Inglaterra en busca de flores silvestres en paisajes magníficos, y también ha realizado estudios botánicos en el Ártico. Autor de libros como Mountain Flowers y Scottish Wild Flowers, en 2005 se le concedió la Orden del Imperio Británico por sus servicios a la conservación de la biodiversidad en Escocia.