We have already written about the crisis, now something about the interpretation of signs of future events.
It's true, it's said when someone breaks. It is a good sign if, if you are going somewhere, a bird flies by on your right. Or it thunders unexpectedly. The vast majority of humanity has believed in these and many other things since coming down from the tree, so, like us today, they always try to somehow provide guaranteed good omens.
A certain Tissamenus from Elis, an ancient Greek city in the northwest of the Peloponnese, asked in the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi what was in store for him in life, and received the answer that he would win five great battles. He decided to devote himself to the athletic pentathlon and in 492 AD he competed in Olympia. We know that he won at least two disciplines of the pentathlon, running and long jump - but in the end he was defeated in wrestling and the crown was won by Hieronymus from the island of Andros.
The Spartans were the first to understand that the prophecy refers to war victories, so they tried in every way to make Tisamenes their interpreter of omens. When he saw how much they cared for him and how much they were willing to pay, he "asked for more, declaring to them that he would agree to it if they received him as a citizen and gave him all the civil rights; otherwise they will not agree at any price". Faced with the threat of the Persian invasion of Greece, Tissamenus' importance only grew, so he allowed himself to be persuaded by the Spartans for more than ten years.
The first battle before which Tissamen interpreted omens was when the Persian and Greek armies collided near Plataea in 479 BC, in a decisive battle that marked the end of the Persian invasion that had begun 11 years earlier, and in which the famous battles of Marathon had already taken place. , near Salamis and in Thermopylae. It is interesting that for the Persians, the war healer before the battle was the Greek Hegesistratus, also from Elis, as well as Tissamenus, also from the same priestly family - and that both of them received the same signs: that the battle would be favorable if they did not attack first. Therefore, there was much hesitation on both sides, and a decisive conflict came only after several days of delay.
Apart from Plataea, Tisamen participated in four more Spartan victories, this time against other Greeks: 468-467. in 464 on the Isthmus against the rebellious Spartan helots and in 457 near Tanagra, against allied units of the Argives and Athenians.
We don't know what happened to him after that.
