Persian Refugees in Ancient Greece

It is well known that several Greek leaders, for various reasons, after falling in disgrace in their homeland, found refuge in Persia: typical examples are the Spartan Demaratus and the Athenians Themistocles and Alcibiades. The opposite case, that of Persian leaders who fled to Greece and lived there as refugees, though attested, is much less known. Jakob Seibert’s important study of political refugees in ancient Greece devotes only a brief reference to this issue. This paper will attempt to explore this topic more deeply, by identifying common and different features in the cases examined, focusing on the period between the Persian Wars and the Kingdom of Philip II of Macedonia.