Warrior-Aristides

This trackable has the goal to survive more than five years and be dropped by at least 25 cachers. I maintain records on all my trackables. In the years 2010-22, I released 5,223 trackables. Of these, a total of 4,268 were released only in North America (NAO, meaning chiefly the United States) and never left the region, which includes Canada, Mexico and the islands of the Caribbean. Another 304 trackables were released outside North America (EUO, meaning chiefly Europe) and were never dropped in North America. Still another collection of 651 trackables had drops both in and outside North America. Statistics for the two former cohorts are as follows: % Missing; NAO-71.0, EUO-48.0; Maximum Drops; NAO-55.0, EUO-67.0; Average Total Drops, NAO-5.3, EUO-12.5; Average Drop Rate per Year, NAO-4.6, EUO-7.2. As of 1-Nov-25 this trackable has survived for 1.2 years and had been moved by 14 cachers, for an average drop every 32 days, or 11.5 drops per year. Please keep it moving, then drop it in a safe place!

No permission is needed to leave the U.S. While in the U.S., please drop it at an event, in a Premium Member only OR a rural cache near a busy trail or road. Do not place it in an urban, non-premium cache. Transport the bug in the original plastic bag for as long as the bag lasts; the bag keeps the trackable clean and dry, protects the number and prevents tangling with other items. Otherwise, take the trackable anywhere you wish.

I am always watching for things to convert to travel bugs. This item displays the headgear of a warrior from the classical period. The ancient Greek historians collected and different accounts from different sources, mostly oral tales. They compiled them into detailed narratives, sometimes in poetic form. Clearly in the retellings, some of the stories reached outrageous proportions. Each trackable in this series is named for a warrior named in the accounts of these writers, notably Virgil, Homer and Herodotus. Following are some brief anecdotes about the named individual.

Aristides was an ancient Athenian statesman. Nicknamed "the Just", he flourished at the beginning of Athens' Classical period and is remembered for his generalship in the Persian War. The ancient historian Herodotus cited him as "the best and most honorable man in Athens", and he received similarly reverent treatment in Plato's Socratic dialogues. He probably first came to notice as strategos in command of his native tribe Antiochis at the Battle of Marathon of 490 BC. In consequence of the distinction which he then achieved he is said to have won the election as archon eponymos for the ensuing year (489–488). Pursuing a conservative policy to maintain Athens as a land power, he was one of the chief opponents of the naval policy proposed by Themistocles. Early in 480, Aristides profited by the decree recalling exiles to help in the defense of Athens against Persian invaders, and was elected strategos for the year 480–479 BC. In the Battle of Salamis of September 480 BC, he gave loyal support to Themistocles, and crowned the victory by landing Athenian infantry on the island of Psyttaleia and annihilating the Persian garrison stationed there.