Miltiades

Miltiades (/mɪlˈtaɪəˌdiːz/; Ancient Greek: Μιλτιάδης Κίμωνος; c. 550 – 489 BC), also known as Miltiades the Younger, was an Athenian general and statesman known mostly for his role in the Battle of Marathon, as well as for his downfall afterwards. He was the son of Cimon Coalemos, a renowned Olympic chariot-racer, and the father of Cimon, the noted Athenian statesman. Miltiades was a well-born Athenian, and was accounted a member of the Aeacidae, as well as a member of the prominent Philaid clan. He came of age during the tyranny of the Peisistratids. His family was prominent, due in good part to their success with Olympic chariot-racing. Plutarch claimed that Cimon, Miltiades's father, was known as "Coalemos", meaning "simpleton", because he had a reputation for being rough around the edges, but whose three successive chariot-racing victories at the Olympics made him popular, so popular in fact that, Herodotus claims, the sons of Peisistratos murdered him out of jealousy. Miltiades was named after his father's maternal half-brother, Miltiades the Elder, who was also a victor at Olympic chariot-racing. Miltiades's son Cimon was a major Athenian figure of the 470s and 460s BC. His daughter Elpinice is remembered for her confrontations with Pericles, as recorded by Plutarch. Around 555 BC, Miltiades the Elder left Athens to establish a colony on the Thracian Chersonese (now the Gallipoli Peninsula), setting himself up as a semi-autonomous tyrant under the protection of Athens.