Ancient Athenian generals

Thucydides ( ; ; BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His History of the Peloponnesian War recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of "scientific history" by those who accept his claims to have applied strict standards of impartiality and evidence-gathering and analysis of cause and effect, without reference to intervention by the gods, as outlined in his introduction to his work.

Xenophon of Athens (; ; 355/354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian. At the age of 30, he was elected as one of the leaders of the retreating Greek mercenaries, the Ten Thousand, who had been part of Cyrus the Younger's attempt to seize control of the Achaemenid Empire. As the military historian Theodore Ayrault Dodge wrote, "the centuries since have devised nothing to surpass the genius of this warrior".

Pericles (; ; –429 BC) was a Greek statesman and general during the Golden Age of Athens. He was prominent and influential in Ancient Athenian politics, particularly between the Greco-Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War, and was acclaimed by Thucydides, a contemporary historian, as "the first citizen of Athens". Pericles turned the Delian League into an Athenian empire and led his countrymen during the first two years of the Peloponnesian War. The period during which he led Athens as its preeminent orator and statesman, roughly from 461 to 429 BC, is sometimes known as the "Age of Pericles

Alcibiades (; ; 450 – 404 BC) was an Athenian statesman and general. The last of the Alcmaeonidae, he played a major role in the second half of the Peloponnesian War as a strategic advisor, military commander, and politician, but subsequently fell from prominence.

Miltiades (; ; c. 550 – 489 BC), also known as Miltiades the Younger, was a Greek Athenian statesman known mostly for his role in the Battle of Marathon, as well as for his downfall afterwards. He was the son of Cimon Coalemos, a renowned Olympic chariot-racer, and the father of Cimon, the noted Athenian statesman.

thumb|An [[ostrakon bearing the name "Aristeides [son] of Lysimachus", displayed in the Ancient Agora Museum in Athens]] Aristides ( ; , ; 530–468 BC) was an ancient Athenian statesman. Nicknamed "the Just" (δίκαιος, díkaios), he flourished at the beginning of Athens' Classical period and is remembered for his generalship in the Persian War. The ancient historian Herodotus cited him as "the best and most honourable man in Athens", and he received similarly reverent treatment in Plato's Socratic dialogues.

Cimon or Kimon (; – 450BC) was an Athenian strategos (general and admiral) and politician.

Nicias (; ; 470–413 BCE) was an Athenian politician and general, who was prominent during the Peloponnesian War. A member of the Athenian aristocracy, he inherited a large fortune from his father, and had investments in the silver mines around Laurion, in south-east Attica.

Thrasybulus (; ; 440 – 388 BC) was a Greek general and democratic leader. In 411 BC, in the wake of an oligarchic coup at Athens, the pro-democracy sailors at Samos elected him as a general, making him a primary leader of the ultimately successful democratic resistance to the coup. As general, he was responsible for recalling the controversial nobleman Alcibiades from exile, and the two worked together extensively over the next several years. In 411 and 410, Thrasybulus was in command along with Alcibiades and others at several critical Athenian naval victories.

Theramenes (; ; died 404/403 BC) was an Athenian military leader and statesman, prominent in the final decade of the Peloponnesian War. He was active during the two periods of oligarchic government at Athens, the 400 and later the Thirty Tyrants, as well as in the trial of the generals who had commanded at Arginusae in 406 BC. A moderate oligarch, he often found himself caught between the democrats on the one hand and the extremist oligarchs on the other. Successful in replacing a narrow oligarchy with a broader one in 411 BC, he failed to achieve the same end in 404 BC, and was executed by th

thumb|Imaginary drawing of Iphicrates thumb|Peltasts on the [[Tomb of Payava (circa 360 BC), around the time of Iphicrates. They are equipped with the exomis, the pilos with crest and cheekpiece, and the round pelte shield, and are depicted thrusting overarm with a long spear.]]

Ephialtes (, Ephialtēs) was an ancient Athenian politician and an early leader of the democratic movement there. In the late 460s BC, he oversaw reforms that diminished the power of the Areopagus, a traditional bastion of conservatism, and which are considered by many modern historians to mark the beginning of the radical democracy for which Athens would become famous. These powers included the scrutiny and control of office holders, and the judicial functions in state trials. He reduced the property qualifications for holding a public office, and created a new definition of citizenship. In 46

Chabrias (; bef. 420–357 BC) was an Athenian general active in the first half of the 4th century BC. During his career he was involved in several battles, both on land and sea.  The orator Demosthenes described him as one of the most successful commanders Athens ever had:To sum up the whole: he is the only general who never lost a single city or post or ship or soldier, when he commanded you: none of your enemies has any trophy over you and him, while you have many over many enemies under his command.

Lamachus () was an Athenian strategos or general in the Peloponnesian War. He commanded as early as 435 BCE, and was prominent by the mid 420s. Aristophanes caricatured him in The Acharnians and subsequently honoured his memory in The Frogs. He was one of the three generals (alongside Nicias and Alcibiades) placed in command of the Sicilian Expedition.

5th-century BC Athenian military general

Greek statesman and general (410–353 B.C.)

Chremonides (), son of Eteokles of Aithalidai, was an Athenian 3rd century BC statesman and general. He issued the Decree of Chremonides in 268 BC, creating an alliance between Sparta, Athens, and Ptolemy II, the Macedonian King of Egypt. This was a defensive alliance against King Antigonus of Macedon which led to the Chremonidean War.

Leosthenes (; died 323 BC) was an Athenian who was commander of the combined Greek army in the Lamian War. Leosthenes was the son of his namesake father Leosthenes who had suffered exile in 362/1 BC and who had fled to the court of Philip II. It is unknown by what means he had obtained the high reputation he had when he first makes his appearance in history. It has been inferred from a passage in Strabo, that he had first served under Alexander the Great in Asia; but it now seems certain that this is a mistake, and rather the reference should have been to Leonnatus.

Athenian aristocrat and general (c. 475–418 BCE)

Anytus (; ; probably before 451 – after 388 BCE), son of Anthemion of the deme Euonymon, was a politician in Classical Athens. Anytus served as a general in the Peloponnesian War of 431 to 404 BCE, and later became a leading supporter of the democratic forces opposed to the Thirty Tyrants who ruled Athens from 404 to 403 BCE. He is best remembered as one of the prosecutors of the philosopher Socrates in 399 BCE; probably because of that role, Plato depicted Anytus as an interlocutor in the dialogue Meno.

Tolmides, (Greek: Τολμίδης), son of Tolmaeus, was a leading Athenian general of the First Peloponnesian War. He rivalled Pericles and Myronides for the military leadership of Athens during the 450s and early 440s BC.

Myronides () was an Athenian general of the First Peloponnesian War. In 458 BC he defeated the Corinthians at Megara and then in 457 BC he defeated the Boeotians at the Battle of Oenophyta using a clever stratagem. Myronides' victory at Oenophyta led to a decade of Athenian domination over Boeotia, Locris and Phocis sometimes called the Athenian 'Land Empire'.

Athenian general

Thrasyllus (; ; died 406 BC) was an Athenian strategos (general) and statesman who rose to prominence in the later years of the Peloponnesian War. First appearing in Athenian politics in 410 BC, in the wake of the Athenian coup of 411 BC, he played a role in organizing democratic resistance in an Athenian fleet at Samos. There, he was elected strategos by the sailors and soldiers of the fleet, and held the position until he was controversially executed several years later after the Battle of Arginusae.

Athenian general (died 413 BC)

late 5th-century BC Athenian general

Athenian general (c. 459 – 424 BC)

5th-century BC Athenian military commander

5th-century BC Athenian general and statesman

Athenian politician and general (died 428 BC)

Athenian politician and general (died 411 BC)

Phrynon of Athens (; Athens; before 657 BC – 606 BC) was a general of ancient Athens, and a winner in ancient Olympic Games.

Athenian military commander (died 338 BC)

Lacedaemonius () was an Athenian general of the Philaid clan. He served Athens, notably in the naval Battle of Sybota against the Corinthians in 433 BC.

5th-century BC Greek general

Agyrrhius/Agyrrhios () of the deme Collytus in Attica, was an Athenian politician in the final years of the 5th and early years of the 4th century BCE. His best-known accomplishment was the establishment of pay for attendance at meetings of the Ekklesia (Assembly), in reward for which (apparently) he was elected general in 390/89. He was also named as one of the proposers of a decree to reduce payments to the comic poets. Harpokration gave him credit for establishing the theorika (festival fund) so the poor could attend theater performances, but this attribution is contested by some scholars.

late 5th century BCE Greek politician and commander

5th-century BC Athenian politician and general

Leocrates (), son of Stroebus (), was a leading Athenian general of the First Peloponnesian War. He led the Athenian forces that conquered the island of Aegina, traditionally a naval rival of Athens.

Erasinides (; died 406 BC) was one of the ten commanders appointed to supersede Alcibiades after the Battle of Notium in 407 BCE.

Athenian military, son of Euripides

Late 5th-century BC Greek general

Axiochus of Scambonidae, son of Alcibiades (II) (Greek: Ἀξίοχος Ἀλκιβιάδου Σκαμβωνίδης, Axíochos Alkibiádou Skambōnídēs; mid-5th century – late 5th century BCE), was an ancient Athenian political figure and aristocrat of the Alcmaeonidae family. He was the uncle and cohort of the famous general and statesman Alcibiades (III), whom he accompanied in domestic and foreign affairs. This association led to his recurrence within ancient literature, including works attributed to Plato and Lysias.

4th-century BC Athenian politician and general

Athenian general (5th-century BC)

military