Themistocles masterminded the defeat of the Persian navy, yet died as a wealthy governor in Persian-ruled Magnesia. This episode traces his rise from an outsider with a foreign mother to a pioneer of populist politics in newly democratic Athens, and his push to build a port at Piraeus.

We explore how he persuaded Athens to spend the Laurion silver strike on 200 triremes, the evacuation of the city, the Sicinnus deception that forced the Battle of Salamis, and how arrogance led to his ostracism. Finally, we follow his flight across Greece and his bold offer of service to Artaxerxes I.

• How ostracism worked as a pressure valve in Athenian democracy
• Why the trireme was effectively a human-powered ramming weapon
• How funding a navy put Themistocles’ working-class supporters on the state payroll
• The blackmail and deception he used to hold the Greek alliance together at Salamis
• Why Thucydides viewed him as a man of raw, intuitive genius