Callimachus (polemarch)

Callimachus or Callimachos  (Καλλίμαχος) was the Athenian polemarch at the Battle of Marathon at 490 BC. According to Herodotus he was from the Attica deme of Afidnes.

The Battle of Marathon
As polemarch, Callimachus had a vote in military affairs along with the 10 strategoi, the generals, such as Miltiades. Miltiades convinced Callimachus to vote in favour of a battle when the strategoi were split evenly on the matter.

At the battle, Callimachus commanded the right wing of the Athenian army, since the Athenians had a custom at that time that the polemarch should command the right wing. The right and left wings (the left wing commanded by the Plataeans) surrounded the Persians after a seemingly suicidal charge by the centre line.

Although the Greeks were victorious, Callimachus was killed. He was killed during the retreat of the Persians while he was chasing them to their ships.

There was a custom at Athens that the father of the man who had the most valorous death in a battle should pronounce the funerary oration in public. So, after the battle of Marathon, the father of Callimachus and the father of Cynaegirus had an argue about who of their sons were the bravest. Polemon of Laodicea declaimed first on behalf of Cynaegirus and then on behalf of Callimachus.

In addition, he was portrayed among the Athenian gods and heroes at the wall‐paintings on the Stoa Poikile and, also, Athenians erected a statue in honor of Callimachus, the "Nike of Callimachus".

The statue of the "Nike of Callimachus"
After the battle of Marathon, Athenians created a statue in honor of Callimachus. The statue was the "Nike (Victory) of Callimachus" and it was erected next to the Parthenon (not the Parthenon that we can see today, but the previous temple which destroyed by the Persians) on the Acropolis of Athens.

The statue has been severely damaged by the Persians when a decade later conquered Athens and burned and destroyed the city. The statue depicts Nike (Victory), in the form of a woman with wings, on top of an inscribed column. Its height is 4.68 meters and was built in marble. The head of the statue and parts of the torso and hands were never recovered.

On October 26, 2010 after the "Nike of Callimachus" was restored, it displayed to the public for the first time as a complete monument at the Acropolis Museum. The unveiling of the Nike monument was among a series of events scheduled by the culture and tourism ministry of Greece to celebrate the 2,500th anniversary since the Battle of Marathon.