The Great King of Persia commanded the world’s biggest kingdom in the 5th century BC. Between Pakistan and Macedonia lived one-fifth of the world’s population. The Persian Empire was wealthy and powerful. To the west of his huge empire lay Greece, a patchwork of little city-states. He chose to chastise the Greeks for interfering in his business. However, at the straits of Salamis, he would encounter only death and ruin.
The magnificent and amazing exploits of Greeks and barbarians should not go unnoticed. This is mostly based on the writings of Herodotus of Halicarnassus, an ancient Greek colony on the west coast of Turkey. Herodotus started researching the Persian invasion thirty years after the fact. He, like other ancients, believed in omens, oracles, and divine intervention. However, he felt humanity could control their own destiny. Therefore, he traveled across Greece and the Persian Empire, examining documents and inscriptions, talking to locals, and analyzing the evidence. Herodotus was subsequently dubbed ‘The Father of History’ by Cicero. The father and ruler of all, war has formed gods and men, slaves and free.
The origins of the Greek-Persian rivalry go back a generation. King Cyrus the Great ruled the Greek colonies of western Anatolia in the 6th century BC. In 499, they revolted and sought help from their fellow Greeks. Only Athens and Eretria responded. Together, the Greeks destroyed Sardis and its earth-goddess Cybele sanctuary. It seemed like a big win. The Persians retaliated quickly, and the Greeks were soon retreating to the shore.
It took the Persians four years to put down the western Anatolian insurrection. Then Darius, the Great King, turned his attention to the Greeks who had aided the insurgents. He dispatched diplomats to all of Greece’s city-states, demanding earth and water in return. A youthful democracy passionately protective of its liberties, Athens, and Sparta, a conservative militaristic state that followed instructions from no one. Both towns responded by hurling the Great King’s envoys into a well, where they would find all the soil and water that they needed.
Darius sent a massive expedition to subdue the Greeks in 490 BC. One of numerous islands to submit was Naxos. Eretria was destroyed. The Persians then arrived at Marathon to punish Athens. Troops from Athens and Plataea greeted them on the shore. They struck despite being outnumbered two to one. Their hoplite troops battled in phalanx formation with thick shields and spears. The Persians were outgunned and out-numbered. Persian forces died on the beach. The survivors rushed to their ships. Athens was rescued.
Darius died four years later, and Xerxes replaced him. He vowed to punish the Greeks and avenge his father’s disgrace today. In order to cross the Hellespont, the new King of Kings gathered warriors and ships throughout his dominion. His massive invading army reached through Europe in April 480 BC. Herodotus put its population at 2.3 million men, an inconceivable quantity to feed or water. The army was likely over 200,000, according to modern historians. A thousand or more vessels sent by Persia’s vassal kingdoms followed it. Greece seemed simple. Its many city-states were infamous for their feuds. In response to the Persian menace, 31 nations held a military council near the Isthmus of Corinth to organize Greece’s defense. At Delphi, the Greeks’ most holy location, a gigantic snake column celebrated these states. The Lacedaemonians, often known as Spartans, came first, followed by the Athenians and Corinthians. The Greeks deployed 10,000 warriors to guard a mountain route near Mount Olympus, anticipating a Persian invasion. Troops arriving soon discovered an easily outflanked position. They had no faith in Thessaly’s fidelity to them. Therefore, the army left.
Instead, 7,000 Greeks headed by Spartan king Leonidas will fight at Thermopylae. It came to protect the sea flank. The Greek fleet, like the alliance, was an uneasy union, including ships from rival city-states like Athens and Aegina. The Athenians had the greatest contingent. Only three years previously, significant silver mines were discovered at Laurium. It took Themistocles, an Athenian politician and general, to convince the Athenians not to waste their newfound wealth on personal giveaways. Instead, he advised them to invest in a 200-trireme fleet for their own future security. It was a choice that may have rescued Greece. Other Greeks, however, distrusted Athens and refused to serve under an Athenian commander.
Therefore, Themistocles approved the selection of a Spartan, Eurybiades, to head the fleet, despite Spartans’ lack of maritime competence. The fleets sweep together, oar spray spraying. Ram teeth bared plowing through swell. The Greek and Persian fleets used the same style of warship: the trireme, which dominated Mediterranean naval combat. The trireme held masts and sails for sailing. In battle, the trireme depended on three banks of rowers, thus its name.
The ship had 170 oarsmen and could row at a peak speed of 10 knots to ram an opponent ship’s hull, crippling it. Other tactics included boarding. Four archers and ten hoplites with spear and shield were common on Greek ships. The trierarch sat in the stern with the kybernetes, who steered the ship with twin rudders. A bosun and bow officer gave instructions, while a piper kept rhythm. A carpenter and 10 sailors raised the crew to 200. There was a painted eye on the bow of every ship. Historians are unsure how Herodotus depicts the Greek ships as being more robustly constructed than Persian ones. He also says Persian ships carried 44 marines.
The Athenians laid the brilliant foundation stone of freedom. Meanwhile, the Persian navy headed south along Magnesia’s craggy coastline. However, one night, while at anchor, a tremendous storm attacked them. Hundreds of ships were destroyed. Thousands perished. According to Herodotus, the Persians sent 200 triremes around Euboea to cut off the Greek withdrawal, but another storm killed the whole squadron. Herodotus provides scant evidence for this risky procedure, which some historians question actually occurred.
Despite Persian defeats, the Greeks faced three-to-one odds at Artemisium. They were also outnumbered. The Persian navy, especially the Phoenician elite squadron, had greater expertise in contemporary Lebanon. However, the Greek navy held out for three days of intense naval action, keeping the Persians at bay. However, by the end of the third day, Leonidas and the Greeks at Thermopylae were surrounded, and the Spartan king and half his soldiers were dead. The pass fell. The Greek fleet’s efforts had been in vain – central Greece, and Athens, were now vulnerable to the Persian attack. The Persians marched south while the Greek navy retreated; sparing only Thebes, one of numerous Greek city-states that sided with Persia. To the chagrin of the Athenian people, the Greek army assembled at the Isthmus of Corinth and started constructing a huge wall to defend their own dwellings. Athens was to be left.
Greek residents were evacuated to Troezen, Aegina, and Salamis. “Pallas Athena cannot placate Zeus. Only the wooden wall must stand.“ The Athenians had dispatched a team to the Greeks’ holiest sanctuary, the Oracle of Delphi, months before the Persian invasion. “Why are you sitting there, fools? “Flee, flee!” A second oracle provided optimism — Athens might believe on its ‘wooden wall’. Some Athenians mistook the oracle for a thorn hedge that previously surrounded the acropolis, or fortress. Therefore, they reinforced people there. However, they were slain when the Persians came. Avenging the 18-year-old devastation of Sardis, Xerxes then set fire to Athens. In addition, the ‘wooden wall’ was her new fleet, said Themistocles Mid-September saw Greek naval chiefs meet at Salamis.
A Spartan king died. Athens blazed. The Greek coalition was in trouble. Themistocles feared the Peloponnesian ships would retire to the Isthmus. He told them that fighting on the open sea would be futile due to the enemy’s superior numbers and speed. The Persians’ superior numbers could not be used in the small Salamis Straits, where the heavier Greek ships held the edge. Athenian ships would leave the coalition and sail to Italy, according to Themistocles. So Euripides, the naval commander, agreed with Themistocles. However, Themistocles feared the Peloponnesians might reconsider. He sent a trustworthy servant to the Persian camp to warn Xerxes that the Greeks were terrified and would evacuate before dawn. Nearby Phaleron, the Great King sought advice from his generals and admirals. Everyone urged him to attack the Greeks quickly to finish the conflict.
Except Queen Artemisia of Halicarnassus, with five Caria ships. If the Great King threatened southern Greece by land or water, she said, the Peloponnesians would hurry home to protect their territory, and the Greek alliance would break. It was over. However, Xerxes desired war glory and expected an easy win. That is when Themistocles’ messenger came, telling the King what he wanted to hear: the Greeks were afraid and ready to evacuate. He must attack now. Xerxes sent the Persian navy to sea that night, ready to destroy the Greeks when they fled before daylight. Aristides, an Athenian, came at the Greek camp with holy Aegina artifacts to encourage the fleet. He also reported that the enemy had left the straits.
Themistocles’ trick succeeded. No retreat was an option. The Greeks must battle at Salamis. “You, heavenly Salamis, shall kill mother’s sons.” The oldest surviving descriptions of the conflict, by Herodotus and Aeschylus, are ambiguous and open to interpretation. However, they are comprehensive enough to recreate the most probable sequence of events The Persian navy sailed at night, outnumbering the Greeks 3 to 2. Expecting a struggle near the strait’s entrance, they landed 400 men on Psyttaleia.
They were to kill any stranded Greeks who reached beach. The Persian fleet then proceeded discreetly into the tight strait, the elite Phoenicians leading the way. After that, the Persians dispatched an Egyptian squadron around Salamis to stop any Greek escape into the Gulf of Megara. This event is unknown and may be a creation. Xerxes landed at the strait’s monitoring point at daybreak. The Great King hoped his presence would motivate his captains to battle harder than they did at Artemisium. Scribes, ready to record the names of good and bad commanders, accompanied him.
The Persian navy waited north of the strait, ready to pursue Greek ships fleeing. Instead, they observed 368 Greek triremes poised to battle in Salamis’ harbors. They established a battle line, with the strongest squadrons on each wing – Athenians left, Aeginetans right. They rowed singing paeans, Greek war chants. They maintained formation at first, maybe waiting for the early air or for more Persians into the strait. Then a Greek ship attacked. Both fleets soon engaged. The combat became a jumble of ships swirling and turning, hoping to ram an adversary and escape the same fate. The Persian squadrons were disorganized in the strait. Those seeking to retreat ran against ships eager to please the Great King.
The Persian oarsmen had been rowing all night and were tired. The Greeks were renewed and struggling for liberty. The Phoenician fleet lost heavily against the Greek triremes. Some Phoenician commanders who made it to land were hauled before Xerxes. They blamed their friends, the Carians and Ionians, for the calamity. Xerxes observed an Ionian ship ram an Athenian trireme, followed by an Aeginetan ship. Undeterred, the Ionian marines boarded and seized the Aeginetan ship. Seeing this display of Ionian valor, Xerxes ordered the Phoenician commanders to be captured and killed. Wrecked ships, flailing sailors, and dead bodies blocked the channel as the Persians lost.
The playwright Aeschylus likened the Greeks slaying Persians to tuna fishers spearing. The Aeginetans, who outperformed all other Greeks that day, flanked Persian ships trying to flee. Queen Artemisia was among those fleeing the bloodbath, pursued by an Athenian trireme. When she saw a friendly ship in her way, she ordered a ramming. When the Athenian commander saw this, he assumed he was chasing an ally and started hunting. The Persian navy retreated to Phaleron. Aristides, with a troop of hoplites, arrived on Psyttaleia and slaughtered the 400 Persians who had been abandoned there. The Persians lost roughly 200 ships and 12,000 troops, including fleet commander Ariabignes, the Great King’s half-brother. Only 40 Greek ships perished. It was one of the greatest naval triumphs ever. The men our nation birthed were slaughtered for Xerxes, who filled Hell’s
The Greeks had humiliated Xerxes and dashed his dreams of an easy conquest. With his army in Asia, the King followed Queen Artemisia’s suggestion and ordered his commander Mardonius to resume the war in the spring. If Mardonius won, Xerxes would be crowned, Artemisia said. If Mardonius lost, he was to blame. However, Mardonius lost. At Plataea, he confronted the united Greek army. Mardonius and many of his army died in a catastrophic Persian defeat. According to Herodotus, the Greek navy defeated the Persians at Mycale on the same day. The Persian menace has passed.
The Delian League would lead the Greek counterattack in the years to come. Salamis is the war that rescued Greece from slavery and ushered in the classical era. A golden age of Greek art, democracy, science, and philosophy. Therefore, Salamis preserved the “cradle of Western civilization”. However, this argument is overblown: Greek defeat did not necessitate the loss of Greek civilization. While 5th century Athens was a revolutionary, pioneering democracy experiment, it is not the primary model for contemporary democracy. Regardless, Salamis was a pivotal conflict in history. In addition, due to Herodotus, it is one of history’s earliest instances of a heroic battle for independence.