ARISTIDES THE JUST, an Athenian statesman: b. near the middle of the 6th cen B.C. ; d. about 468 B.C. He was the son of Lysimachus and belonged to one of the great Athenian families. He was one of the 10 generals of the Athenians when they fought against the Persians at Marathon, 490 B.C. Ac cording to the usual arrangement the command of the army was held by each of the generals in rotation for one day. But Aristides pre vailed on his colleagues each to give up his day to Miltiades; and to this, in a great meas ure, must be ascribed the victory of the Greeks. In the following year he was elected chief archon. His policy aimed at constituting Athens as a land power and this brought him into direct conflict with Themistocles who ad vocated a naval policy. The conflict ended in the ostracism of Aristides about 485 B.C. A story is told that on the day of the voting, an ignorant voter asked Aristides himself to write the name °Aristides° upon his ostrakon. The latter asked him if Aristides had wronged him; to which the voter replied that he did not even know Aristides, but was irritated to hear him everywhere called "the Just.D In 480 a general amnesty was decreed at Athens because of the threatening Persian invasion and Aristides re turned to Athens and was elected strategus for 480-79. He loyally supported Themistocles in the Salamis campaign and annihilated the Per sian garrison on the island of Psyttaleia. In
the following year he commanded the Athenian forces at Platza and arranged for the celebra tion of the victory over the Persians. About 477 Aristides commanded the Athenian fleet off Byzantium and, after the Ionian allies revolted from Pausanias, was offered the chief command and given full powers to fix the contributions of the newly-founded Delian League. His assessment was deemed most equitable and it is probably from this that he gained the title of "the Just?" Soon afterward he yielded his com mand to his friend Cimon and returned to Athens where he continued to occupy a prom inent place. Many ancient writers have repre sented Aristides as a democratic reformer, but there appears little justification for this as the period during which he shaped the national policy was one of conservative tendency. His estate suffered during the Persian invasions and he died poor, not leaving enough money to pay the expenses of his burial. A son and two daughters survived him and received state pen sions. He was buried at Phalerum. Consult Herodotus VIII, 79-81, 95; IX, 28 Plutarch, 'Aristides' (translated by B. Perrin, New York 1901) ; Nepos, Cornelius, 'Vita Aristidis'; Meyer, E., (Geschichte des Altertums' (Stutt gart 1901).