Ancient Greece was never one country but a world of rival cities, and yet its commanders shaped the whole course of Western history. These are the generals and admirals who turned back the Persian invasions, forged the Macedonian war machine and carried Greek arms to the ends of the known world, each linked to the battle that made their name.
Miltiades. The Athenian general whose victory at Marathon in 490 BC turned back the first Persian invasion.
Miltiades leads the Athenians against the Persians at Marathon, a detail of Carl Robert's 19th century reconstruction of the lost battle painting in the Stoa Poikile at Athens. Public domain
Themistocles. The Athenian who built the fleet and won the decisive sea battle at Salamis in 480 BC.
Leonidas. The Spartan king whose stand at Thermopylae became the most famous last stand in history.
Leonidas at Thermopylae, painted by Jacques-Louis David in 1814, now in the Louvre. Public domain
Pericles. The statesman and general who led Athens at the height of its golden age.
Philip II of Macedon. The king who forged the Macedonian phalanx and united most of Greece (Sparta apart), laying the ground for his son.
Alexander the Great. The Macedonian king who conquered the Persian Empire and was never beaten in a pitched battle.
The Macedonian Empire of Alexander, 336 to 323 BC, a map from William R. Shepherd's Historical Atlas. Public domain
From Marathon to the ends of the earth
Greece's commanders belonged to a world of feuding city-states, yet together they changed history. Miltiades and Themistocles saved Greece from Persia at Marathon and Salamis; Leonidas made Thermopylae immortal; Pericles led Athens in its golden age; and Philip II built the army his son Alexander the Great would take to the ends of the known world.
Bust of Pericles inscribed with his name, a Roman copy of a Greek original of about 430 BC, in the Vatican Museums. Public domain
Who were the greatest commanders of ancient Greece?
Among the most celebrated are Miltiades, Themistocles, Leonidas, Pericles, Philip II of Macedon and Alexander the Great, spanning the Persian Wars to the conquests of Alexander.
Who was the greatest Greek general?
Alexander the Great, who conquered the Persian Empire without losing a battle, is the most common choice; among the classical Greeks, Themistocles and Miltiades, the victors over Persia, are often named.
Who won the Battle of Marathon?
Miltiades led the Athenians to victory over the first Persian invasion at Marathon in 490 BC, one of the most celebrated battles of the ancient world.
Who defeated the Persian navy at Salamis?
Themistocles, who had built up the Athenian fleet, engineered the decisive Greek naval victory over Persia at Salamis in 480 BC.
Was Alexander the Great Greek?
He was king of Macedon, a kingdom on the northern edge of the Greek world; he spread Greek culture across his empire and is counted among the greatest of Greek commanders, though some ancient Greeks saw the Macedonians as outsiders.
Where can I read about their battles?
Each commander links to their key battles, and the guide to the greatest battles of ancient Greece collects them, from Marathon and Thermopylae to Salamis and Gaugamela.
Command the armies of Greece
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