Lives of Greek Statesmen
- Length
- 8 h 52 min
- Chapters
- 27
- Language
- English
- First published
- 1885
In the darkest days of the Persian War when the armies of Xerxes were overrunning northern Greece, Athens faced destruction. The desperate Athenians consulted the oracle at Delphi, who answered, "For thus saith Zeus, that when all else within the land of Cecrops is wasted, the wooden wall alone shall not be taken." The British historian, George Cox agrees with many other authorities that the Greek statesman, Themistocles, bribed the oracle. Realizing that their survival depended upon a strong navy, he declared that the prophesy meant that the Persians would be defeated, not by fortifying Athens, but by "the fight at sea, for the fleet is your wooden wall." This book is a short history of the founding fathers of Athens, its lawgivers, tyrants, and generals: Solon, Peisistratos, Kleisthenes, Miltiades, Aristeides, and, above all, Themistocles. (Summary by Pamela Nagami, M.D.)
Chapters
From LibriVox, read by volunteers and in the public domain. LibriVox page (opens librivox.org), the text (opens archive.org), all files on the Internet Archive (opens archive.org).