CYNEGEIRUS ~ THE SYMBOL OF SELF- SACRIFICE IN THE BATTLE OF MARATHON

 

Cynegeirus or Cynaegeirus was an ancient Greek hero of Athens and brother of the famous playwright Aeschylus.

He was the son of Euphorion from Eleusis and member of the Eupatridae, the ancient nobility of Attica.In 490 BCE, Cynegeirus and his brother Aeschylus, fought to defend Athens against Darius's invading Persian army at the Battle of Marathon. Despite the numerical superiority of the Persians, they were routed and fled to their ships. 

The Athenians pursued the Persians back to their ships, and Cynegeirus, in his attempt to detain a Persian ship with his bare hands, had his hand cut off at the wrist.When Cynaegyrus lost his right hand, he grasped the enemy's vessel with his left. Here the hero, having successively lost both his hands, hangs on by his teeth, and even in his mutilated state fought desperately with the last mentioned weapons, " like a rabid wild beast!"

The incident of the heroic death of Cynegeirus became an emblem of cultural memory in ancient Greece and was described in literature in order to inspire patriotic feelings to future generations.It was also painted by Polygnotus on the Stoa Poikile in Athens in 460 BCE, while the ancient traveler and geographer Pausanias described the painting in his 2nd century CE work.

The following video is a short narrative of Cynegeirus' accomplishments . It is in the Greek language. 

The heroic actions of Cynegeirus still inspire  to this day. An example of this is the Greek Taekwondo Club called Cynegeirus, which bears the image of the fearless Greek hero in  the act that made him immortal throughout Greek and global history. 

Source : YouTube ( Yiorgos Konstantinopoulos Channel )