Battle of Salamis (September 480 BC)

The Battle of Salamis was the most important naval engagement of the Greco-Persians Wars. When the news came of the Greek defeat at Thermopylae, the remaining Greek triremes sailed south to Salamis to provide security for the city of Athens.

Although outnumbered by the Persians, the Athenian admiral, Themistocles (524-459 BC), lured the Persian fleet into the narrow waters between the mainland and the island of Salamis, while would prevent the Persians from exploiting their numerical advantage. Xerxes also could not make full use of his stronger fleet due to the geographical limitations of the bay.

On August 29 the Persian fleet of perhaps 500 ships appeared off Phaleron Bay, east of the Salamis Channel, and entered the Bay of Salamis.

The Greeks relied on superior fighting qualities, and in a desperate and confused battle they inflicted heavy casualties on the Persians. In this battle, Themistocles fleet sunk about 200-300 Persian ships.

After the setback at Salamis, Xerxes returned to Persia with some of his army, although powerful forces remained in Greece ready to resume the campaign.
Battle of Salamis (September 480 BC)

Battle of Artemisium

The Battle of Artemisium, or Battle of Artemisium, was a series of naval engagements between the Greek and Persian forces early in the Greek campaigns of Xerxes I Shah Achaemenian, in 480 BC.

The Greeks were commanded by the Spartan Eurybiades. The battle of Artemisium was fought nearly simultaneously with the land battle of Thermopylae, 40 miles away and was part of Greek strategy to block the Persian southward advance at two neighboring bottlenecks, on land and sea, north of central Greece.

The battle of Artemisium was fought between an alliance of Greek city-states, including Sparta, Athens, Corinth and others, and the Persian Empire of Xerxes I. The Allied Greek fleet has about 380 ships, with the largest contingent supplied by Athens about 180 ships.

The Persian ships – which in fact were manned by subject peoples, such as Phoenicians, Egyptians and Ionian Greeks may have numbers 450 or more.

The Persian suffered a loss of 400 ships near the coast of Magnesia in a storm which caught them unprepared. In the same manner they lost another 200 ships which has been sent around Euboea to seal the straits separating the island from the mainland.

The fight was something of an infantry battle on the water. The Persian preferred boarding tactics to ramming. They fight by bringing their ships alongside the Greek’s and sending over the thirty Persian foot soldiers who ride aboard each ship. The Greeks fought back with their own ship’s soldiers, about 40 per vessel.

In the final encounter, the Greeks broke the news of the forcing of Thermopylae was received. The Persian failed to capitalize on the situation and so the series of engagements were essentially indecisive.

The Battle of Artemisium inspired the Greeks the new confidence, and the second naval action at Salamis, two thousand Persian vessels were engaged against three hundred and eighty Greek, terminated in the defeat of the Persian.
Battle of Artemisium

Greco-Persian war (480-479)

It is a second Persian invasion of Greece occurred during the Greco-Persian Wars. It was occurred during the Greco-Persian Wars, as King Xerxes I, Great King of Persia sought to conquer all of Greece.

The invasion began in spring 480 BC, when the Persian army crossed the Hellespont with an army and navy of tremendous size, and marched through Thrace and Macedon to Thessaly, whose cities submitted to Xerxes.

The Persian advance was blocked at the pass of Thermopylae by small Allied force under King Leonidas I of Sparta; simultaneously, the Persian fleet was blocked by and Allied fleet at the straits of Artemisium.

The Spartans was overcome at the Battle of Thermopylae and the successful Persian push allowed their capture of Athens. The Persians burned Athens twice as well as several other Greek cities. The strategy of the Greek coalition paid off when they enticed the Persian fleet into battle at Salamis and crippled it badly enough to forestall further action at that time.

When the Persian navy was soundly defeated, Xerxes and the bulk of the Persian forces returned to the empire, leaving a portion in Greece.

Persian strategy as this point aimed at weakening the Greek coalition by offering peace terms to the Athenians. The Athenian refusal led ultimately to a confrontation at Plataea in 479 BC, in which the Persian commander was killed and the Persian routed.

After Greco-Persian Wars, Athens quickly became a military power, especially at sea. As a result of the Battle of Salamis Athens emerged with more prestige and the dominant naval power in Greece and the Aegean.
Greco-Persian war (480-479)