See Also: Theramenes(encyclopedia)

Theramenes (sh)




died 404/403 BC, Athens

Athenian politician.

In 411 he helped install the Council of the Four Hundred. Sent to quell an insurrection at Piraeus, he instead led the mutineers in deposing the Council. In 410 he helped Alcibiades defeat the Peloponnesian navy at Cyzicus (see Peloponnesian War). Under Alcibiades he taxed shipping from the Black Sea, helping the economy of Athens to recover and helping restore full constitutional government. During the siege of Athens (405/404) he was sent to deal with Lysander and negotiated terms of capitulation as Athens underwent three months of starvation. A leader of the Thirty Tyrants installed by Lysander, he fell out with Critias and was forced to drink hemlock.