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Themistocles

The Rise and Fall of Athens's Naval Mastermind

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Themistocles

By: Michael Scott
Narrated by: Antony Ferguson
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Themistocles (524–459 BC) came of age just as a newly democratic and empowered Athens was emerging. He would become an instrumental political and military figure, fighting in the Battle of Marathon; persuading Athenians to expand their fleet; and engineering the Athenians' defeat of the Persians at the Battle of Salamis. However, as Michael Scott demonstrates in this biography, Themistocles failed as much as he succeeded.

Scott offers a fully human picture of Themistocles, a man who could be both decisive and heroic as well as uncertain and unprepared. He was loved and hated in Athens, his plans and ideas ignored as often as they were respected. Eventually he was exiled as a traitor, ultimately settling in Persia as an adviser to Artaxerxes, the son of Xerxes, his foe at Salamis. And yet, in the aftermath of his death, he emerged as one of Greece's historical heroes.

In this portrait of a man Thucydides deemed one of the most illustrious Greeks of his time, Scott reveals one man's struggle to navigate the turbulent world of Athenian politics, and the crucial role of historians and biographers in shaping, and distorting, the image of Themistocles that has come down to us through the centuries.

©2026 Michael Scott Ancient Europe Greece Military Military & War Ancient Greece Ancient History Greek Mythology Mythology
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Livia By: Caitlin C. Gillespie
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This is a very illuminating story. It tells of the man, but it also highlights the birth of people power/democracy. This could have been a great book, but the narrator’s delivery and the still, slightly too academic prose lets it down. Facts were well presented and the opinion was clear, so as a reference it is good but as a story it is not like Robert Harris. Now that is very unfair as they are both intentionally very different ways to tell a story. But given there is so much here, I kept hoping it would move more in the other direction.

Michael Scott would have done his own book a favour if he had narrated it like he did with X Marks the Spot. I recommend that book over this one. Or better still see Michael talk in person. He has a wonderful deliver style.

Imperium it is not

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The book itself is really good, wonderful summary of the fascinating life of Themistocles. The narration, however, is all over the place, especially the name pronunciation changes all the time, even in case of Themistocles himself - sometimes pronounced Themistocles, a few sentences later Themosteclis. Makes me almost think the narrator is AI…

Good book, weird narrator

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