Eurybiades held the supreme command of the fleet, could by his single-handed efforts have deprived Sparta of that glory? Of what other man have we learned from history that by a single act he caused himself to surpass all the commanders, his city all the other Greek states, and the Greeks the barbarians? In whose term as general have the resources been more inferior and the dangers they faced greater? Who, facing the united might of all Asia, has found himself at the side of his city when its inhabitants had been driven from their homes, and still won the victory?Modern scholars have endorsed this view seeing Themistocles as a quintessential leader and strategist able to transform the very polity of its city in pursuit of a naval theory of victory. In 1851, botanist Johann Friedrich Klotzsch published Themistoclesia, which is a genus of flowering plants from South America belonging to the family Ericaceae and the name honours Themistocles. In popular culture Temistocle (1718), opera by Nicola Porpora Temistocle (1772), opera by Johann Christian Bach based on the life of Themistocles Thémistocle (1785), opera by François-André Danican Philidor based on the life of Themistocles. In the movie The 300 Spartans (1962), Themistocles is portrayed by the actor Ralph Richardson. In the movie Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Themistocles was cited by T.E. Lawrence in the quotation "I cannot fiddle, but I can make a great state out of a small city". The film 300: Rise of an Empire (2014) largely centers around Themistocles's command of the Greek allied fleet against the second Persian invasion of Greece (portrayed by actor Sullivan Stapleton). References Bibliography Ancient sources Cornelius Nepos, Themistocles via Tertullian.org Diodorus Siculus, Biblioteca Historica via Perseus Project Herodotus, The Histories via Perseus Project Libanius, Declamationes. Plutarch, Themistocles via Perseus Project Plutarch, Moralia. Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War via Perseus Project Modern sources . External links Livius.org, Themistocles by Jona Lendering Lexicon of Greek Personal Names, Θεμιστοκλῆς 520s BC births 459 BC deaths 5th-century BC Greek people Achaemenid satraps of Lydia Ancient Athenian admirals Ancient Greek emigrants to the Achaemenid Empire Ancient Thracian Greeks People of the Greco-Persian Wars Medism Ostracized Athenians Battle of Salamis Battle of Artemisium 5th-century BC Ancient Greek statesmen