It is quite certain that Herodotus is mistaken in this view; but it is not easy to say how the mistake arose. The most probable explanation is that he was trying to account for the prominent part played by Miltiades in the version of the battle which he followed, by assigning him a much higher official position in the army than he actually held. Herodotus’ account of the events at Marathon is obviously taken from a source wholly different to that of his defence of the Alkmæonidæ. The former is a current tradition, relating the story from an aristocratic point of view. The other is an Alkmæonid (and therefore, in a sense, democratic) denial of a charge preserved in the “aristocratic” tradition. Herodotus had more difficulty in understanding the position of Miltiades than we have at the present day. His mistake with regard to Miltiades precludes him from giving any definite account of the position of the polemarch Kallimachos. He does not make any positive, direct statement as to his military rank, though he represents him (chap. 109) as a sort of chairman of the council of the strategi. He evidently _supposes_ that he is not commander-in-chief, though he mentions that he commanded the right wing, the post of honour, in the battle. He further speaks of the polemarch as an official “chosen by lot.” ◆Arist. Ath. Pol. 22.◆ We know from the “Constitution of Athens” this choice of lot was not introduced into the selections for the archonship till 487. Herodotus’ statement is therefore an anachronism. So far, then, as Herodotus’ meaning can be unravelled from the confused account which he gives of the system of command at this time, he seems to have supposed it to have been constituted on the following lines:— 1. Supreme Control—Board or Council of War. Composed of—10 strategi + 1 polemarch (chosen, like the other archons, by lot), who is apparently President of the Board. 2. Command in the field—Held by each of the strategi in rotation for one day at a time. 3. Post of honour in the battle—Held by polemarch, as commanding the right wing. It may be doubted whether Herodotus took any very great interest in the question of organization. It is quite certain that he had great difficulty in getting reliable information about the matter. It would, in fact, seem as if he had deduced the general system of command in 490 from— (1) The system of command prevalent in later times. (2) Two circumstances in his own narrative— (_а_) The prominent part played by Miltiades; (_b_) His belief that the polemarch and other archons were selected by lot as early as 490. From (1) he drew the conclusion that the supreme control lay with the board of strategi, as it did in his own time.