Aeimnestus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Aeimnestus (Gr. Ἀείμνηστος) was the Spartan soldier who killed the Persian general Mardonius by hurling a boulder onto Mardonius' head during the Battle of Plataea in 479 BC, as told in book 9 of the Histories of Herodotus[1].
Plutarch calls the same man "Arimnestus" (Ἀρίμνηστος).[2] - Another Spartan by the same name had led three hundred men against the whole Messenian army in the Messenian Wars; both he and his company were killed to the last man.[3].
- Arimnestus was also the name of the Plataean general who led his city's host in the battles of Marathon and Plataea.
In Greek, the words aeímnēstos and arímnēstos both mean "unforgettable", literally "of everlasting memory".
[edit] Notes
- ^ Herodotus, Histories, ix. 64
- ^ Plutarch, Aristides 19
- ^ Smith, William (1867), "Aeimnestus", in Smith, William, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, 1, Boston, pp. 27, http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0036.html
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology by William Smith (1870).
