Mnesiphilos

Mnesiphilos ( Greek Μνησίφιλος ) was probably the teacher of Themistocles .

Mnesiphilos came from the Athenian Demos Phearrhioi . He influenced the Battle of Salamis by advising Themistocles shortly before the battle to use his influence and prevent the planned retreat of the Greeks to the Isthmus of Corinth and the dissolution of the Greek fleet. Themistocles followed the suggestion and dissuaded the commander-in-chief Eurybiades from withdrawing. Thus, not Themistocles, but actually Mnesiphilus would be the father of the tactics of the sea battle of Salamis. All this led later ancient authors to see Mnesiphilos as a friend and advisor to Themistocles. More generally, he was viewed as a teacher of practical wisdom in the tradition of Solon . In his biography of Themistocles , Plutarch describes him primarily as his teacher in questions of politics and practical life. All in all it does not seem to have been without a certain influence on the day-to-day politics of the democratic Athens, among the ostraka found so far for the shard court of the year 487/486 BC. There are also 14 with the name of Mnesiphilos ( Greek Μνησίφιλος Φρεάρριος ). It is not clear from the few sources whether he was an active politician himself or merely an adviser to Themistocles .

Especially the passage in Herodotus (8.56–52), in which Mnesiphilus advises Themistocles before the battle of Salamis, has often been the target of modern scientific interpretation. On the one hand, there is the opinion that the anecdote was invented to discredit Themistocles. According to these researchers, the passage is to be understood in such a way that Themistocles himself was not the master of his great deeds, but that other people guided him with their advice. On the other hand, there are the researchers who believe that this point shows a development in a larger picture. It shows the desperation of the Greeks, especially the Athenians, and their fear of defeat against the Persians and their downfall, leading to a grandiose victory led by a great statesman and general. The episode with Mnesiphilos is supposed to show how much the Athenians were behind their leader and supported him at all times. In addition, it is unbelievable that Themistocles could have adapted a thought taken over from someone else within such a short time and put it into practice with historically proven verve. Herodotus' statements support the first possibility. With him, Mnesiphilus is cheated out of his fame as the man behind the victorious naval battle by Themistocles. But he tells the episode more because he saw himself as a conscientious chronicler who recorded all the episodes in conversation.

literature

• Ivo Bruns : The literary portrait of the Greeks in the fifth and fourth centuries before the birth of Christ. The personality in the historiography of the ancients. Studies on the technique of ancient historiography. W. Hertz, Berlin 1896, pp. 87-89.
• Frank J. Frost: Themistocles and Mnesiphilos. In: Historia 20 (1971), pp. 20-25.
• Hartmut Erbse : Studies to Understand Herodotus. (= Studies on Ancient Literature and History, Volume 38), de Gruyter, Berlin 1992, ISBN 3-11-013621-X , pp. 193–194.
• Wolfgang Blösel : Themistocles with Herodotus: Mirror of Athens in the fifth century. Studies on the history and historiographical construction of the Greek struggle for freedom 480 BC Chr. (= Historia-Einzelschriften , Volume 183), Steiner, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 978-3-515-08533-5 , pp. 193-194.
• Elke Stein-Hölkeskamp : Mnesiphilos. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 8, Metzler, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-476-01478-9 , Sp. 307.