Arimnestos (; early 5th century BCE) was the commander of the Plataean contingent at the battles of

Marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

and Plataea during the

Greco-Persian Wars The Greco-Persian Wars (also often called the Persian Wars) were a series of conflicts between the Achaemenid Empire and Polis, Greek city-states that started in 499 BC and lasted until 449 BC. The collision between the fractious political world ...

Battle of Plataea

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'', ...

relates that Arimnestos was responsible for selecting the location of the Battle of Plataea, after receiving guidance from

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

Soter in a dream. He shared this insight with the Athenian general

Aristides 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. ...

, who in turn showed the site to the

Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...

n regent Pausanias, the overall commander of the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

forces. He was present at the death of Callicrates later during the battle. He was depicted by painted portrait in the Temple of Athena Areia built on the site of the battlefield by the Athenians, beneath a statue of the goddess made by Pheidias to commemorate the victory.

In fiction

Arimnestos is the protagonist and narrator in the ''Long War'' series by Christian Cameron.

References

{{reflist, 30em 5th-century BC Greek people Ancient Boeotians Ancient Greek generals Greek people of the Greco-Persian Wars Battle of Plataea