leaders library

 

The Ancient Greek Military Leaders section provides facts on notable military and Greek political leaders. Learn about Spartan heroes and Athenian idealists.

Featured Article:  Lysias

Lysias (459-380 B.C.), an Athenian orator. Those speeches of Lysias that are still in existence provide valuable material on the customs and politics of the age. See more »

Aristides

Aristides,(530-468 B.C.), an Athenian statesman and military leader. He was called "the Just" because of his complete honesty in an era when corruption was common.

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Cimon

Cimon, (507-449 B.C.), an Athenian general and statesman. He was the son of Miltiades, the general who won fame at the Battle of Marathon.

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Cleisthenes

Cleisthenes, or Clisthenes (latter part of the sixth century B.C.), an Athenian statesman and reformer credited with establishing democratic government in the Athenian city-state.

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Dionysius

Dionysius, the name of two rulers, father and son, of ancient Syracuse, a Greek city in Sicily.

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Draco

Draco, an Athenian statesman of the seventh century B.C. He is remembered mainly for the severity of his laws, which, according to tradition, formed Athens' first written code.

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Epaminondas

Epaminondas (418-362 B.C.), a Greek general of ancient Thebes. His genius gave his native city a brief period of glory, and under him Thebes displaced Sparta as the strongest power in Greece, as Sparta had previously displaced Athens.

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Lycurgus

Lycurgus, in ancient Greece, the traditional lawgiver of Sparta. Most historians believe he was purely mythological while some believe he actually lived, sometime between 1100 B.C.

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Lysander

Lysander (died 395 B.C.), a Spartan naval and military commander. By defeating the Athenian fleet at Aegospotami in 405 B.C., and then capturing Athens in 404, Lysander ended the Peloponnesian War.

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Lysias

Lysias (459-380 B.C.), an Athenian orator. Those speeches of Lysias that are still in existence provide valuable material on the customs and politics of the age.

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Nicias

Nicias (? -413 B.C.), an Athenian general and statesman. Nicias was leader of the conservative, pro-Spartan party in Athens.

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Pausanias

Pausanias, a Greek traveler and geographer of the second century A.D. Pausanias was probably a native of Lydia, in Asia Minor.

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Pelopidas

Pelopidas (? -364 B.C.), a Theban statesman and general. In 382 B.C. Pelopidas went into exile at Athens when Spartan troops seized control of Thebes.

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Pericles

Pericles, (490-429 B.C.), an Athenian statesman. Pericles ruled Athens from 461 until his death in 429.

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Pisistratus

Pisistratus, or Peisistratus (605- B.C.), the first Athenian tyrant (illegal ruler).

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Pittacus

Pittacus (650-570 B.C.), a Greek statesman who was called one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece.

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Pyrrhus

Pyrrhus, (318?-272 B.C.), a king of Epirus, an ancient country that adjoined Macedonia to the west.

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Solon

Solon, (died about 559 B.C.), an Athenian statesman known as one of the Seven Sages of Greece.

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Themistocles

Themistocles, (582-460 B.C.), an Athenian statesman. He was the leader most responsible for the Greek victory in the Persian Wars and for establishing Athens as a great power among the Greek city-states.

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