Aristides

Aristides came up in Athens at the start of its Classical period, around 530 BC, and made his name as a statesman and military commander during the Persian Wars. Herodotus called him "the best and most honourable man in Athens" — high praise from a historian not known for sentiment. That reputation for fairness stuck: contemporaries tagged him "the Just", and the label held through Plato's later dialogues, where Socrates held him up as a model. He died around 468 BC, leaving behind a legacy built less on battlefield glory than on the odd distinction of being trusted in a city that rarely trust…