Shortly before the decisive battle of Salamis (480 BC), the Hellenic army was in danger of falling apart: the conquest and burning of Athens by the Persians had, in fact, caused great concern among the Greeks. The Peloponnesians wanted to head towards the Isthmus of Corinth where a protective wall had been built in the meantime, while the Athenians, Aeginetans and Megarians pushed for the battle to take place in the narrow straits between the mainland and Salamis. The Peloponnesians’ opinion prevailed, but once again it was Themistocles who changed boldly the course of events. He secretly sent to the Persians a trusted servant (οἰκέτης) called Sicinnus, announcing the disagreement between the Greeks and their imminent flight. The next day the Greeks awoke surrounded by enemies. At that point, they were forced to fight and managed to triumph over the Barbarians.
An important role in this story was played by this servant of Themistocles, who was also the tutor of his children, and who was generously rewarded for his services by the Athenian commander: in addition to receiving many riches, he was granted Thespian citizenship. Herodotus adds that at that time the Boeotian city welcomed new citizens (ὡς ἐπεδέκοντο οἱ Θεσπιέες πολιήτας). Although the historian does not specify the reason, the motive for such willingness is easy to guess when looking back at the latest events narrated in the work: 700 men from Thespiae fought and died at Thermopylae (VII, 202; 222) and shortly afterwards the city was set on fire by the Persian army (VIII, 50). The welcoming of new citizens therefore arose from the need to repopulate the city after the recent devastation (Schachter 1996). It was Themistocles who guaranteed the granting of citizenship; he had probably considerable room for manoeuvre as the leader of the Athenian contingent and as a highly influential politician throughout the Hellenic world (and beyond).
Although the event is reported by several sources, no other author mentions the granting of citizenship to Sicinnus as a reward for his services. Aeschylus, in his Persians, already speaks of a Greek messenger, an Athenian who deceived Xerxes, and even considers him a daimon, but adds nothing further (Pers. 354 ff.). The episode is reported by many later authors (see Hofstetter 1978, 163) in order to highlight above all the military stratagem of Themistocles, but none of these refers to the granting of citizenship to Sicinnus (Aristod. FGrHist 104 F 1, 1, 1; Nep. Them. 4, 3; Diod. 11, 17, 1; Front. Strat. 2, 2, 14; Polyaen. 1, 30, 3; Ael. Arist. 2, 258-259; Iustin. 2, 12, 19-20).
The name Sicinno, perhaps linked to Sicinnis, a nymph of the Phrygian goddess Cybele, suggests that he was probably Phrygian, but there is no certainty about this (Asheri 2003, 273-274). Plutarch, on the other hand, refers that he was a prisoner of war of Persian origin (Scardigli 2013, 273 n. 97). A later tradition even attributed to him the origin of the satirical dance sikinnis (Bowie 2007, 164). Sicinnus was,one of the trusted messengers sent by Themistocles to Xerxes after the victory at Salamis, on a second deceptive mission aimed at putting the Athenian commander in a good light before the Persian king. Although the Athenian had suggested a further rapid attack to destroy the Persian bridges at the Hellespont, Sicinnus was ordered to say the opposite: it was Themistocles himself who was holding back the other Greeks (Hdt. VIII, 110; see Marr 1995).
8, 75, 1: ἐνθαῦτα Θεμιστοκλέης ὡς ἑσσοῦτο τῇ γνώμῃ ὑπὸ τῶν Πελοποννησίων, λαθὼν ἐξέρχεται ἐκ τοῦ συνεδρίου, ἐξελθὼν δὲ πέμπει ἐς τὸ στρατόπεδον τὸ Μήδων ἄνδρα πλοίῳ ἐντειλάμενος τὰ λέγειν χρεόν, τῷ οὔνομα μὲν ἦν Σίκιννος, οἰκέτης δὲ καὶ παιδαγωγὸς ἦν τῶν Θεμιστοκλέος παίδων· τὸν δὴ ὕστερον τούτων τῶν πρηγμάτων Θεμιστοκλέης Θεσπιέα τε ἐποίησε, ὡς ἐπεδέκοντο οἱ Θεσπιέες πολιήτας, καὶ χρήμασι ὄλβιον. [2] ὃς τότε πλοίῳ ἀπικόμενος ἔλεγε πρὸς τοὺς στρατηγοὺς τῶν βαρβάρων τάδε. ‘ἔπεμψέ με στρατηγὸς ὁ Ἀθηναίων λάθρῃ τῶν ἄλλων Ἑλλήνων (τυγχάνει γὰρ φρονέων τὰ βασιλέος καὶ βουλόμενος μᾶλλον τὰ ὑμέτερα κατύπερθε γίνεσθαι ἢ τὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων πρήγματα) φράσοντα ὅτι οἱ Ἕλληνες δρησμὸν βουλεύονται καταρρωδηκότες, καὶ νῦν παρέχει κάλλιστον ὑμέας ἔργων ἁπάντων ἐξεργάσασθαι, ἢν μὴ περιίδητε διαδράντας αὐτούς. [3] οὔτε γὰρ ἀλλήλοισι ὁμοφρονέουσι οὔτε ἀντιστήσονται ὑμῖν, πρὸς ἑωυτούς τε σφέας ὄψεσθε ναυμαχέοντας τοὺς τὰ ὑμέτερα φρονέοντας καὶ τοὺς μή.’
[8, 75, 1] In this debate, Themistocles was being beaten by the Peloponnesians. He quietly slipped away from the meeting, briefed one of his men (a house-slave of his – his children’s attendant, to be precise – whose name was Sicinnus), and sent him over to the Persian camp in a boat. Subsequently, when the war was over, Themistocles had him enrolled as a citizen of Thespiae, which was accepting new citizens, and made him a wealthy man too. [2] At the time in question, Sicinnus sailed over, and said to the Persian commanders, ‘I am on a secret mission for the Athenian commander, who is in fact sympathetic to Xerxes’ cause and would prefer you to gain the upper hand in the war rather than the Greeks. None of the other Greeks know that I am here. The message from my master is that the Greeks are in a state of panic and are planning to retreat. Unless you just stand by and let them escape, you have an opportunity here to achieve a glorious victory. [3] They are disunited, in no position to offer you resistance; in fact you’ll see them pitting their ships against one another, those who are on your side fighting those who are not’ (tr. by R. Waterfield, Oxford 1998).
- D. Asheri (a cura di), Erodoto. Le Storie. Libro VIII. La vittoria di Temistocle, Milano 2003.
- A.M. Bowie (ed.), Herodotus Histories Book VIII, Oxford 2007.
- J. Hofstetter, Die Griechen in Persien. Prosopographie der Griechen im Persischen Reich vor Alexander, Berlin 1978.
- J. Marr, Themistocles and the Supposed Second Message to Xerxes: the Anatomy of a Legend, Acta Classica, 1995, 38, 57-69.
- B. Scardigli (a cura di), Plutarco. Temistocle e Camillo, Milano 2013.
- A. Schachter, Recostructing Thespiai, in A. Hurst, A. Schachter (Éd.), La montagne des Muses. Études publiées par A. Hurst et A. Schachter, Genève 1996, 99-126.