On 23 September 480 BCE, the Battle of Salamis was fought between the Greeks under Themistocles and Eurybiades and the Persians under Xerxes I and Ariabignes during the Greco-Persian Wars.
Why did it happen?
Following the death of Darius I in 486 BCE, his son and successor Xerxes I sought to avenge the Persian defeat at the Battle of Marathon by conquering Greece. By 480 BCE, his preparations were complete, and he invaded Greece with a massive army of 200,000 soldiers and a navy of 700 warships. After defeating the Greeks at Thermopylae and Artemisium, the Persians occupied Athens in early September while its inhabitants were evacuated by Themistocles to the island of Salamis. While the Spartan admiral Eurybiades advised withdrawing to the Peloponnese, Themistocles sought to stand and fight the Persian navy in a naval battle at Salamis. Because he commanded most of the Greek fleet, Themistocles’ voice prevailed and he sent a messenger to King Xerxes on 22 September telling him that the Greek fleet was planning to withdraw during the night. Subsequently, Xerxes sent two squadrons of warships to patrol the western end of the Megarian Strait. By the morning of 23 September, the Persians were exhausted from their fruitless exertions while the Greeks were well rested and ready for battle.
Who was involved?
The Greek fleet at Salamis numbered 380 warships, primarily triremes. A trireme was a galley with three banks of oars and carried a crew of 170 oarsmen, 10 hoplites and 4 archers. The Greek strategy was to negate the Persian navy’s numerical advantage by drawing them into the narrow Salamis channel which would bunch them together and limit their ability to manoeuvre. The Persian fleet at Salamis numbered 500 warships, primarily triremes and penteconters. Penteconters were a lighter precursor to the trireme with 50 oars and could carry a crew of 200 oarsmen, 30 infantry and 14 archers. The Persian strategy was to use their superior numbers to storm the straits and overwhelm the Greek fleet by ramming and boarding their ships.
What happened?
The Battle of Salamis began with the Greek fleet under Themistocles feigning retreat to lure the much larger Persian fleet into the narrow Salamis channel. As the Persian navy entered the channel, its ships became bunched together which limited their movement and created confusion among the crews. Sensing their opportunity, the Greek right-wing under Eurybiades emerged from Paloukia Bay to attack the Persian fleet in the flank, ramming and sinking many Persian ships. At that point, the Greek centre and left-wing turned around to engage the Persian fleet, ramming and boarding the Persian ships. As the Persian navy’s right flank gave way under pressure from the Athenian ships on the left-wing, the Persian admiral Ariabignes was killed and general control rapidly disintegrated. The remaining Persian fleet retreated, having lost 200 warships while the Greeks lost just 40 warships.
What changed as a result?
The Battle of Salamis was a decisive victory for the Greeks. Xerxes subsequently withdrew a large portion of his army and remaining navy back to Persia while leaving his general Mardonius to continue the war against the Greeks. In July 479 BCE, Mardonius was defeated by an alliance of Spartans and Athenians at the Battle of Plataea, formally ending the Second Persian Invasion of Greece. Although Athens and an alliance of Greek city-states would continue fighting the Persians until 448 BCE, Greece itself was never invaded by the Persians again. The Greek victory at Salamis would lead to the Athenian Golden Age under Pericles which saw philosophy and art flourish in Athens, ultimately laying the foundations for Western civilisation.
Bibliography
Grant, R.G. Battle at Sea: 3,000 Years of Naval Warfare. New York, Dorling Kindersley, 2008.
Herodotus. The Histories. Translated by Aubrey de Selincourt. London, Penguin Books, 2003.
McNab, Chris. The World’s Worst Military Disasters. London, Amber Books, 2005.
Montgomery, Bernard. A History of Warfare. London, Collins, 1968.
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