# Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Timotheus (1.)

See also Timotheus on Wikipedia; Timotheus in the 11th edition; and the disclaimer.
TIMOTHEUS, a distinguished Athenian general, was a son of Conon, who restored the walls of Athens. To the military qualities of his father he added a love of letters, which found scope in his friendship with Isocrates. The considerable fortune which he inherited from his father seems to have been exhausted by him in the public service. In 375 B.C. the Athenians, then at war with Sparta, sent Timotheus with a fleet to the Ionian Sea, where he gained over Cephalonia and secured the friendship of the Acarnanians and of Alcetas, king of the Molossians. He also made himself master of Corcyra, but used his victory with a moderation which won the goodwill of the conquered. At the same time he defeated a Spartan fleet at Alyzia on the Acarnanian coast. In 373 he was appointed to the command of a fleet destined for the relief of Corcyra, then beleaguered by the Spartans. But his ships were not fully manned, and to recruit their strength he first cruised in the Ægean. The delay excited the indignation of the Athenians, who brought him to trial; but, thanks to the exertions of his friends, Jason, tyrant of Pherae, and Alcetas, king of the Molossians, both of whom came to Athens personally to plead his cause, he was acquitted, but removed from the command, Iphicrates being appointed in his room. Being reduced to great poverty for he had pledged his private property in order to put the fleet in an efficient state he left Athens and took service with the king of Persia. We next hear of him in 367 or 366, when he was sent by the Athenians with an armament to support Ariobarzanes, satrap of Phrygia. But, finding that the satrap was in open revolt against Persia, Timotheus ab stained from helping him and turned his arms against Samos, which was occupied by a Persian garrison. He took it after a ten months siege (365 B.C.). Sailing north, he then captured Sestus, Crithote, Torone, Potidsea, Methone, Pydna, and many more cities. In 358 or 357, when Eubcea was in danger of falling into the hands of Thebes, the Athenians, in response to a spirited appeal of Timotheus, crossed over into the island and expelled the Thebans in three days. In the course of the Social War, which broke out shortly afterwards, Timotheus was despatched with Iphicrates, Menestheus, son of Iphicrates, and Chares to put down the revolt. The hostile fleets sighted each other in the Hellespont; but a gale was blow ing, and Iphicrates and Timotheus decided not to engage. Chares, disregarding their opposition, lost many ships, and in his despatches he incriminated his colleagues so bitterly that the Athenians recalled them and put them on their trial for having taken bribes from the enemy to betray the fleet. The accusers were Chares and Aristophon. The former was an officer of notoriously bad character; the latter had himself stood in the dock no less than seventy-five times. Iphicrates was not above browbeating the jury, who accordingly acquitted him and his son. Timotheus, who condescended to no such means of securing an acquittal, was condemned to pay a very heavy fine. Being unable to pay, he withdrew to Chalcis. The time and place of his death are not mentioned by ancient writers. The Athenians afterwards did what they could to repair the wrong they had done to Timotheus by remitting the greater part of the fine to his son Conon, by burying his remains in the Ceramicus, and by raising statues to his memory in the agora and the acropolis.
Our materials for the life of Timotheus are very imperfect, and the chronology is in some points uncertain. The chief authorities are Isocrates, Or., xv.; Xenophon, Hellenica, v. and vi.; Diodorus, xv. and xvi.; Cornelius Nepos, Vit. Tim.; and Polyseuus, Slrat., iii. 10. Other scraps are to be gleaned from the orators, Plutarch, &c. The speech Against Timotheus which has come down to us ​under the name of Demosthenes is probably not by the orator. It is chiefly interesting as illustrating the straits to which Timotheus was reduced by his sacrifices in the public cause.