Callimachus

Callimachus of the deme Aphidnae, polemarch (war-archon) of Athens for the year 490/489 — the last year in which the polemarch still held command authority alongside the ten elected generals. Miltiades addressed him at the moment of crisis: with the ten strategoi split five-to-five on whether to fight or wait, Callimachus's vote would decide the city's fate. He voted for battle, commanded the right wing in the line, and was killed in the heaviest fighting at the ships. The Nike of Callimachus dedication on the Acropolis — an archaic marble statue of Victory on an inscribed column, now in the Acropolis Museum — commemorated his vow to set up a trophy if the Athenians won; his heirs completed the monument after his death.

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