Ameinias or Aminias () was a younger brother of the playwright

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; ; /524 – /455 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek tragedy, tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is large ...

and of a hero of the

battle of Marathon The Battle of Marathon took place in 490 BC during the first Persian invasion of Greece. It was fought between the citizens of Athens (polis), Athens, aided by Plataea, and a Achaemenid Empire, Persian force commanded by Datis and Artaph ...

named Cynaegirus. He also had a sister, named Philopatho, who was the mother of the Athenian tragic poet Philocles. His father was Euphorion. Ameinias was from the

Attica Attica (, ''Attikḗ'' (Ancient Greek) or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the entire Athens metropolitan area, which consists of the city of Athens, the capital city, capital of Greece and the core cit ...

deme In Ancient Greece, a deme or (, plural: ''demoi'', δήμοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Classical Athens, Athens and other city-states. Demes as simple subdivisions of land in the countryside existed in the 6th century BC and earlier, bu ...

of Pallene according to

Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...

, or of that of Decelea according to

Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...

. He distinguished himself at the battle of Salamis as a

trireme A trireme ( ; ; cf. ) was an ancient navies and vessels, ancient vessel and a type of galley that was used by the ancient maritime civilizations of the Mediterranean Sea, especially the Phoenicians, ancient Greece, ancient Greeks and ancient R ...

commander. His brother Aeschylus also fought at the battle. According to

Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus or Diodorus of Sicily (; 1st century BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek historian from Sicily. He is known for writing the monumental Universal history (genre), universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty ...

, Ameinias was the first to ram the flagship of the Persians, sinking it and killing the admiral. Herodotus writes that Athenians said that Ameinias charged one of the enemy vessels and his ship was entangled in combat and his men were not being able to get away, so the other Greek ships joined in the fight to assist Ameinias and this is how the battle started, but the Aeginetans say that one of their ships was the first to attack the Persian fleet. He also pursued the ship of Artemisia, and she escaped by ramming and sinking the ship of her ally Damasithymos. When Ameinias saw that he thought that her ship was Greek and he changed the direction of his Trireme to chase other Persian ships. Herodotus believed that Ameinias didn't know that Artemisia was on the ship because otherwise he would not have ceased his pursuit until either he had captured her or had been captured himself because orders had been given to the Athenian captains. Moreover, a prize had been offered of ten thousand

drachmas Drachma may refer to: * Ancient drachma, an ancient Greek currency * Modern drachma, a modern Greek currency (1833...2002) * Cretan drachma, currency of the former Cretan State * Drachma proctocomys, moth species, the only species in the Genus '' ...

for the man who should take her alive, since they thought it intolerable that a woman should lead an expedition against Athens. In addition, according to Plutarch, Ameinias and the Socles of Pallene were the men who killed Ariamenes (Herodotus says that his name was Ariabignes), brother of Xerxes and admiral of the Persian navy. When Ariamenes attempted to board their ship, they hit him with their spears and thrust him into the sea. Ameinias and Eumenes of Anagyrus were judged to have been the bravest on this occasion among all the Athenians. Aelian mentions that Ameinias prevented the condemnation of his brother Aeschylus by the

Areopagus The Areopagus () is a prominent rock outcropping located northwest of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. Its English name is the Late Latin composite form of the Greek name Areios Pagos, translated "Hill of Ares" (). The name ''Areopagus'' also r ...

Claudius Aelianus Claudius Aelianus (; ), commonly Aelian (), born at Praeneste, was a Roman author and teacher of rhetoric who flourished under Septimius Severus and probably outlived Elagabalus, who died in 222. He spoke Greek so fluently that he was called "h ...

, ''Varia Historia'' v. 19

References

Sources

* {{authority control Athenians of the Greco-Persian Wars Battle of Salamis 5th-century BC Athenians Ancient Greek military personnel

See also

References

Sources