Читать книгу The Herodotus Encyclopedia - Группа авторов - Страница 147

CHRISTOPHER BARON

University of Notre Dame

Herodotus credits the “renowned” (logimos) Spartan Aeimnestus with killing the Persian general MARDONIUS during the Battle of PLATAEA in 479 BCE, which fulfills an ironic and unintended PROPHECY delivered earlier by XERXES (see 8.114). Herodotus also notes that, later, Aeimnestus and 300 men under his command were annihilated by the MESSENIANS at STENYCLERUS (9.64.2). This occurred during the HELOT revolt of 465–462 (Thuc. 1.101–3), thus marking one of the handful of references Herodotus makes (clustered especially in Book 9) to events after the PERSIAN WARS.

The major MANUSCRIPTS of the Histories read Arimnēstos or Aimnēstos, but the most recent editors believe the variant reading Aeimnēstos is more likely correct (Wilson 2015, 183). In 427 BCE, a man named Lacon, son of Aeimnestus, was the Spartan PROXENOS at Plataea (Thuc. 3.52.5); it is possible that the father was named for the renowned Spartan warrior (Herman 1989, 93). But the situation is muddied by the existence of an ARIMNESTUS of Plataea who also fought in 479 (Hdt. 9.72.2).

SEE ALSO: Fame; Narratology; Peloponnesian War; Sparta; Time