Theramenes
Athenian statesman (died 404 BC) · Politicians · Died 403 BC
Theramenes was an Athenian military leader and statesman, prominent in the final decade of the Peloponnesian War. He was active during the two periods of oligarchic government at Athens, the 400 and later the Thirty Tyrants, as well as in the trial of the generals who had commanded at Arginusae in 406 BC.
Theramenes is read about 53 times a day, in 25 languages.
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Photos 6
The Pnyx with speaker's platform in Athens, upon which Theramenes and other politicians stood while speaking.
Alcibiades, shown here in this detail of a 1776 painting by François-André Vincent, incited the oligarchic coup by promising Persian support to Athens if the democracy was overthrown.
A Greek hoplite.
In 411 BC, Theramenes argued for a government in which all men of hoplite status or higher would be enfranchised.
An ancient Greek trireme. Twenty-five Athenian triremes were disabled or sunk at Arginusae, and Theramenes was detailed to rescue the survivors.
The historian Xenophon wrote a scathing account of Theramenes' actions after Arginusae, but portrayed his resistance to the Thirty Tyrants favorably.About this person
A moderate oligarch, he often found himself caught between the democrats on the one hand and the extremist oligarchs on the other. Successful in replacing a narrow oligarchy with a broader one in 411 BC, he failed to achieve the same end in 404 BC, and was executed by the extremists whose policies he had opposed.
