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Aristides( 530–468) was an
Athenian statesman. Nicknamed "the Just", he flourished in the early
quarter of Athens' Classical period and is remembered for his generalship in
the Persian War. The ancient historian Herodotus cited him as "the best
and most honourable man in Athens", and he received similarly reverent
treatment in Plato's Socratic dialogues. He is also listed with his biography
by Cornelius Nepos.
Aristides was the son of Lysimachus, and a member of a family of moderate
fortune. Of his early life, it is only told that he became a follower of the
statesman Cleisthenes and sided with the aristocratic party in Athenian
politics. He first came to notice as strategos in command of his native tribe
Antiochis at the Battle of
Marathon, and it
was no doubt in consequence of the distinction which he then achieved that he
was elected archon eponymos for the ensuing year (489–488). Pursuing a
conservative policy to maintain Athens as a land power, he was one of the chief
opponents of the naval policy proposed by Themistocles. According to Plutarch,
the rivalry between Aristides and Themistocles began in their youth, when they
competed for the love of a beautiful boy called Stesilaüs from Ceos. The
conflict between the two leaders ended in the ostracism of Aristides at a date
variously given between 485 and 482. It is said that, on this occasion, an
illiterate voter who did not recognise Aristides approached the statesman and
requested that he write the name of Aristides on his voting shard to ostracize
him. The latter asked if Aristides had wronged him. "No," was the
reply, "and I do not even know him, but it irritates me to hear him
everywhere called 'the Just'." Aristides then wrote his own name on the
ballot.
Early in 480, Aristides profited by the decree recalling exiles to help in the
defence of Athens against Persian invaders, and was elected strategos for the
year 480–479. In the Battle of Salamis, he gave
loyal support to Themistocles, and crowned the victory by landing Athenian
infantry on the island of Psyttaleia and annihilating the Persian garrison
stationed there.
In 479, he was re-elected strategos, and given special powers as commander of
the Athenian forces at the Battle of
Plataea; he is
also said to have suppressed a conspiracy among some in the army. He so won the
confidence of the Ionian allies that, after revolting from the Spartan admiral
Pausanias, they gave him the chief command and left him with absolute
discretion in fixing the contributions of the newly formed confederacy, the Delian League. His
assessment was universally accepted as equitable, and continued as the basis of
taxation for the greater part of the league's duration. He continued to hold a
predominant position in Athens. At first he seems to have remained on good
terms with Themistocles, whom he is said to have helped in outwitting the
Spartans over the rebuilding of the walls of Athens. He is said by some
authorities to have died at Athens, by others on a journey to the Black Sea.
The date of his death is given by Nepos as 468. He lived to witness the
ostracism of Themistocles, towards whom he always displayed generosity, but he
died before the rise of Pericles. His estate seems to have suffered severely
from the Persian invasions, for apparently he did not leave enough money to
defray the expenses of his burial, and it is known that his descendants even in
the 4th century received state pensions.
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