Aristides

Aristides was an Athenian statesman and general of the early fifth century BC, remembered by later writers for exceptional honesty and therefore called “the Just.” He was ostracised during a political rivalry with Themistocles but returned when Persia invaded Greece, fought at Salamis and commanded Athenian forces at Plataea. He later helped organise the Delian League and was trusted to assess the contributions of its member states.

Aristides appears in historical novels about the Persian Wars, usually as a moral and political counterweight to the brilliant but controversial Themistocles. Christian Cameron’s Long War series places Athenian leaders within the military and civic struggles of the period, while other Marathon and Salamis narratives use Aristides to represent disciplined public service. Fiction often depends on Plutarch’s idealised portrait, so his famous incorruptibility should be read as both historical reputation and literary tradition.