Eurybiades

Spartan admiral appointed by the League as overall fleet commander — the allies refused to serve under any Athenian, and Themistocles, who had the largest contingent, preserved unity by conceding the top command to Sparta. At the council before Salamis, when Eurybiades was persuaded by the Peloponnesian strategoi to withdraw to the Isthmus, Themistocles's famous retort — strike, but hear — won him over (the scene is the locus classicus for the image of the wise Spartan listening to the clever Athenian). After Salamis the Greek fleet offered him the naval prize of valour, but the captains by secret vote gave the first place to Themistocles.

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