Miltiades the Elder and the Younger: Two Early Biographies

Abstract

Claims that Herodotus reveals himself as a proto-biographer are not yet widely accepted. To advance this claim, I have selected two men, Miltiades the Elder and his nephew, Miltiades the Younger whose activities are recounted in the Histories. It is the latter, one of only a few Athenians with any battle experience, who taking refuge back in Athens, finds himself in a leadership role during the first Persian invasion of Greece. It is to a near contemporary to whom we attribute the maxim—character is human destiny. It is the truth of this maxim—which implies effective human agency—that makes Herodotus’ creation of historical narrative possible. He is often read for his off-topic vignettes, which color-in the character of the individuals depicted without necessarily advancing his narrative. But by leap frogging through two of the nine books of the Histories, we can assemble a largely continuous narrative for these two remarkable individuals. This narrative permits us to attribute both credit and moral responsibility for their actions. Arguably, this implied causation demonstrates that Herodotus’ writings include much that amounts to proto-biography.