The Battle of Salamis 480 BC: Overview

There is a wind at Salamis that still blows today. The Greeks would have known of this but the Persians would have been unaware. When the Persian ships advanced towards the Greeks, the Greeks waited for the south wind. The wind blew the Persian ships sideways (broadside), meaning that they were exposed and the Greeks could ram into them. The Greeks did this, which caused the Persians to panic and retreat. This was impossible for the Persians as they had so many ships that it caused a massive jam and none of the ships could escape.
The Persian forces waiting to massacre surviving Greeks were massacred themselves by the Greeks, as the Persian side had lost

The Battle of Salamis: Debates at Salamis Comparison

Reasons Themistocles gives for staying at Salamis:

• Fighting at Isthmus was more open, and the Greeks had fewer ships than the Persians
• The narrow waters of Salamis meant that the Persians could not deploy all of their ships and so favoured the Greeks
• By retreating to Isthmus, the Greeks would be inviting the Persians to the Peloponnese and Greece would "no longer remain one country"
• "Everyone will go home, and neither Eurybiades nor anybody else will be able to prevent the total dissolution of our forces. The plan is absurd and will be the total ruin of Greece." - Herodotus

How does he convince Eurybiades?

• Themistocles threatens to sail the Athenians to Italy 
• The Athenians had 200 ships, more than any other state, meaning that the other Greek states depended on Athens and wouldn't stand a chance without them
• He told Eurybiades that he'd be dooming Greece if he retreated

Greek decision making:

• Spent more time arguing than discussing tactics
• There was a lot of dissension - they were too focused on their own survival, rather than the defense of Greece

What does Artemisia say?

• "Spare your ships and do not fight at sea"
• "If you keep the fleet on the coast...you will easily accomplish your purpose"
• The Greeks have naval superiority
• She advises to patiently wait out the Greeks, as they were running out of supplies and fighting amongst themselves (wait for them to destroy themselves kinda thing)
• "I think it best that you march back and that Mardonius, if he so wishes...be left here with those whom he desires"
• She tells Xerxes that if Mardonius fails and is killed it would not count as a victory for the Greeks because Xerxes would remain unharmed

What reasons are given for/against Xerxes staying (or leaving) Greece?

• Mardonius offers to take 3,000 men and attack the Greeks while Xerxes and the rest go home
• Artemisia said that if Mardonius failed, only a servant would be lost
• If Mardonius succeeded, Xerxes could take the credit, as Mardonius was his servant
• Xerxes had already achieved his original task of burning Athens

Does he listen?

• Obviously not - he takes advice and then makes the wrong decision EVERY SINGLE TIME

The Battle of Salamis: The Debates Before Battle

Movements:

The Greeks:

• The Peloponnesians had retreated to defend the Isthmus of Corinth, abandoning central Greece and Athens to the Persians
• The other Greeks had followed suit, moving their navy to the straits of Salamis

The Persians:

• Xerxes had moved through Boeotia and Attica overrunning the cities who had not yet surrendered
• He finally captured Athens, burning its sacred temples and occupying the Acropolis after killing the priests
• He then prepared for a further incursion into the Peloponnese to crush the last remaining Greeks

War Councils:

The Greeks:

• According to Herodotus, the Greek commanders held a series of war councils on the eve of the battle
• The councils centred on the question of whether to keep the navy at Salamis or move it closer to the fortified Isthmus

The Persians:

• On the other side, Xerxes too held council with his generals on their next plan of action
• Their council centred on the question of whether engaging the Greeks at sea would be a viable tactic

Bias in Herodotus:

Though Herodotus provides a detailed account of the debates on the eve of battle, there are issues with the reliability of these passages

• His informants - those he would have interviewed to gain his information would at the time only have been young soldiers who could not have known exactly what was said at the generals' meetings
• He also altogether presents the Peloponnesians, particularly the Corinthians, as either cowardly, foolish or both

Thermopylae and Artemisium: 480 BC

The Initial Greek Strategy:

• When news of the invading force reached Greece, the initial Greek reaction was to send a force of 10,000 hoplites to hold position at the valley of Tempé near Mt. Olympus
• However, when the size of the invading army was revealed, the Greeks decided to withdraw
• Alexander, the king of Macedonia, also sent advice to the Greeks to not hold the position
• The Greeks decided to retreat south, and hold a more favourable position

Thermopylae and Artemisium:

• The decision was made to retreat to the far more easily defendable pass at Thermopylae, far to the south
• Meanwhile, the Greek fleet would sail to the cape at Artemisium, a narrow pass of water between Euboea and mainland Greece
• Combined, the hope was that these two very defendable positions would favour the Greeks and slow down the Persians
• Eurybiades, a Spartan commander, directed the fleet at Artemisium with Themistocles
• At Thermopylae, the Spartan king Leonidas was in command

Geographical Advantages:

• The most important tactical factor to the Greeks was the difference in numbers
• According to Herodotus, Xerxes' combined forces numbered roughly 5 million men whilst the Greeks only had 10,000
• Though Xerxes' numbers have been exaggerated, it is clear that there was a huge difference in numbers between the Greeks and the Persians, which meant that the Greeks would have had no chance at winning in an open battle
• Both the pass at Thermopylae and the narrows at Artemisium favoured the Greeks, since the Persians couldn't attack with their full force

Initial Skirmishes:

• As the Greeks prepared defenses at Thermopylae and Artemisium, Xerxes' army marched south while his fleet proceeded down the coast
• The Persians sent scouting ships to canvas the area and gather information on the Greek positions
• These ships came across a patrol of three Greek triremes and captured them
• The other Greek naval forces lost morale and temporarily retreated
• The Persian ships continued to scout the area, setting up danger zones for hazardous areas
• Once the Persians were confident that the route was safe, the rest of the naval forces set out into the open water

The Battle of Artemisium:

• Storms were common at that time of year in northern Greece, which the Persians were unaware of
• The Persians had no harbours and so when a storm hit, they were unprotected
• On the 13th of August 480 BC, severe storms destroyed a third of the Persian fleet, which was of 700-800 triremes
• Because the Greeks knew the area, they had taken refuge behind the island of Euboea, meaning that their fleet was unscathed
• However, the Persian fleet was too large to be completely destroyed and so the attack still went ahead
• After a bloody struggle, the Persian ships broke through the Greek line and so the Greeks retreated
• Both sides suffered heavy losses

The Greeks Prepare:

• When the Greeks saw Xerxes' vast army approach, the Greeks from the Peloponnesian peninsula desired a vote be taken to return home
• Leonidas realised that to do this would probably result in the submission of all states in the direct vicinity
• Instead, he ordered the Greeks to stay, inspiring them through the determined leadership of the Spartans
• The Greeks also built a wall to funnel the Persians into the narrowest part of the pass

"The Beautiful Death"

• Xerxes sent scouts to spy on the Greeks 
• The scouts were shocked to see the Spartans combing their hair, dressing themselves up and exercising
• When Xerxes heard this, he called on the exiled Demaratus for "advice"

• "This is their custom: when they are about to risk their lives, they arrange their hair. Rest assured that if you overcome these men and those remaining behind at Sparta, there is no one else on earth who will raise his hands to withstand you, my King. You are now attacking the fairest kingdom in Hellas and men who are the very best"

The Fight: Day One;

• Xerxes dismissed Demaratus' advice and bides his time, imaging that the Greeks will lose heart and run
• After a four day stalemate, Xerxes launches his attack

• "The Medes bore down upon the Hellenes and attacked. Many fell, but others attacked in turn, and they made it clear to everyone, especially to King Xerxes himself, that among so many men he had few soldiers. The battle lasted all day"

The Immortals:

• Once it became clear that the Medes and the Cissians were not going to win, Xerxes deployed the famous Immortals. These were professional fighting men of Persia. They were known as the Immortals because when one of the 10,000 of them died, he was instantly replaced
• They did no better against the Greeks

• "When they joined battle with the Hellenes, they fared neither better nor worse than the Median army, since they used shorter spears than the Hellenes and could not use their numbers fighting in a narrow space. The Lacedaemonians fought memorably, showing themselves skilled fighters amidst the unskilled"

The Fight: Day Two:

•  On the second day (Herodotus tells us), every force thrown against the Greeks was repelled and Xerxes began to worry

• "They joined battle supposing that their enemies, being so few, were now disabled by wounds and could no longer resist. The Hellenes, however, stood ordered in ranks by nation and each of them fought in turn. It is said that during these assaults in the battle the kind, as he watched, jumped up three times form the throne in fear for his army"

 A Traitor Appears:

• The Greeks knew that there was a very dangerous weakness in their defense of Thermopylae: although the mountains protected them on one side and the sea on the other, there was another pathway through the mountains that was well-known among the locals
• A local Malian called Ephialtes betrayed the Greeks for money. Herodotus writes that he would be hunted for the rest of his life for this betrayal

A Time of Decision:

Once the Persians had traversed the pass, they prepared to attack the Greek forces. Meanwhile, worry spreads amongst the Greeks and Leonidas was faced with another decision

"It is said that Leonidas himself dismissed them, to spare their lives, but thought it unbecoming for the Spartans under his command to desert the post which they had originally come to guard. I myself am inclined to think that he dismissed them when he realised that they had no heart for the fight and were unwilling to take their share of the danger; at the same time honour forbade that he himself should go. And indeed by remaining at his post he left great glory behind him, and Sparta did not lose her prosperity, as might otherwise have happened"

The Last Stand:

• In the end only a much reduced force remained to defend the Hot Gates: the Spartans, the Thespians and the Thebans
• Leonidas led the Greeks for the last time into battle 

Greek Preparations 480 BC

What was the meaning of the Spartan oracle and how did it affect their strategy towards the Persians?

• Either one of the Spartan kings would die or Sparta would be destroyed
• This led Leonidus to lead 300 of his best men into battle at Thermopylae

What was the meaning of the Athenian oracle and how did it affect their strategy towards the Persians?

• They would be safe within their 'wooden walls' - which they interpreted to mean ships 
• Their built their fleet and became a Maritime power (they invested in 200 ships)
• They should evacuate Athens

What terms were agreed upon by the Hellenic League?

• All quarreling amongst the Greeks must end for the defense of Hellas/Greece
• To send embassies to neutral states to convince them to join the cause
• To send spies to Asia
• For the Spartans to take control of both land and naval forces (the Athenians waived their claim)
• "Once the war was fought to a successful conclusion, they would punish all men of Greek blood who sided with Persia and dedicate one tenth of their property to the god at Delphi" - Herodotus

Which Greeks Medized according to Herodotus?

• The Thessalians, Dolopes, Aenianes, Perrhaebia, Locrians, Magnetes, Malians, Achaens of Phtiosis, the Thebans and all other Boeotians except the people of Plataea

Why did the Athenians agree to Spartan leadership over the Greeks?

• They were more concerned about the safety of Hellas. If they argued over leadership there would have been a higher chance of defeat

Why were no demands for fire and water sent to Athens and Sparta? What message were Sparta and Athens trying to send?

• The Athenians threw Darius' messengers into a pit and the Spartans pushed them into the well and told them to get it (fire and water) themselves
• They were sending the message that they were not going to submit to Persia

What different reasons are given for Argos refusing to support the Greek cause?

• They claimed shared ancestry with Persia, since Perseus was from Argos and he supposedly founded Persia
• Herodotus suggests that the underlying cause was that they were under no threat, so they felt no need to stand up to the Persians - also they didn't like the Spartans

Why did the Thessalians submit to the Persians?

• At first they were on the side of the Greeks, until the Greek forces retreated from Thessaly, abandoning the people - so Thessaly submitted to the Persians

Why did Aeginitans supposedly Medize? How were they dealt with?

• They were supposedly 'anti - Athens' and so supposedly Medized out of spite
• The Spartans, under Cleomenes, had tried to arrest the Medizing leaders

Greek Preparations Links

Developments in Athens
Military Affairs
Themistocles
Hostility of Herodotus
Naval Policy
Laurium
Rivalry with Aristides
The Immediate Reaction
The Congress at the Isthmus 481 BC
Points agreed at the conference
Consultation of the Delphic Oracle
The Prophecy of Sparta: Herodotus 7.219-20
The Prophecy of Athens, Herodotus 7.140
The Second Athenian Prophecy: Herodotus 7.141
The Interpretations

The Interpretations of the Athenian Prophecy

Since the second prophecy sounded more favourable, this was the one first taken to Athens. At home, opinion was divided on its meaning, particularly in reference to trusting in "wooden walls" for their safety and the "death to women's sons" at Salamis

• The professional interpreters wrongly decoded the prophecy as heralding Athens' defeat at Salamis, and claimed that the "wooden walls" referred to the Athenian Acropolis, which was fenced by a wooden wall at the time
• Themistocles, however, interpreted the prophecy differently - for him the "wooden walls" referred to Athens' fleet, the fleet that he had convinced the Athenians to invest in only a few years previously

Thankfully for Athens, Themistocles' interpretation proved more favourable, and the Athenians trusted in their fleet for the safeguarding of their homeland