Battle of Salamis - 20th of September 480 B.C.
"Forward, sons of the Greeks, liberate the
fatherland, liberate your children, your women, the temples of your
ancestral gods, the graves of your forebears: This is the battle for
everything".
Aeschylus 'The Persians' See Note#5
Aeschylus, an eyewitness to the
battle later wrote that the Persians were drawn up in three lines
outside the entrance to the channel. On the mainland nearby, a throne
was erected from where the Persian King Xerxes
could watch.
At the break of day, the Persian
fleet began its advance through the eastern channel. The lines formed
up into columns with the Phoenicians leading. "The Athenian squadron
found itself facing the Phoenicians on the Persian left wing."
As the Phoenicians came through the channel, which was about 4 miles
(6.4kms) wide, they faced the Greek fleet which was in an 'L' formation.
The Greek ships suddenly began to back water, leading the Persian
fleet further into the narrowing channel (See Note#1).
"The Greeks checked their way and began to back astern; and they
were on the point of running aground when Ameinias of Pallene, in
command of an Athenian ship, drove ahead and rammed an enemy vessel.
Seeing the two ships foul of one another and locked together, the
rest of the Greek fleet hurried to Ameinias' assistance, and the general
action began. Such is the Athenian account of how the battle started."
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 Other ships lay in wait in the
bay and now ambushed the Persians on their left flank, driving them
towards the shore of the mainland. In the ensuring confusion, the
Persian ships began to crowd the narrow channel which was now only
about 2 miles wide (See Note#2). Herodotus wrote,
"The Greek fleet worked together as a whole, while the Persians
had lost formation and were no longer fighting on any plan. None the
less they (the Persians) fought well that day - far better than in
the actions off Euboea. Every man of them did his best for fear of
Xerxes, feeling that the king's eye was on him"
 The Persian ships in the narrow channel had difficulty in turning
to meet the enemy. Their speed would have been slow and in many instances
they would have been broadside to the ramming Greek ships.
Herodotus recorded, The greatest destruction took place when the (Persian)
ships which had been first engaged turned tail, for those astern fell
foul of them in their attempt to press forward (See Note#3).
The enemy was in hopeless confusion; such ships as offered resistance
were cut to pieces, others trying to escape turned headlong into their
own advancing navy.... Such of the Persian ships as escaped destruction
made their way back to Phalerum and brought up there under the protection
of the army.
Queen Artemisia, fought valiantly against the
Greeks to which Xerxes commented
'My men behave like women and my women like men'. Aristides the Athenian
during the confusion, took up a number of heavy-armed troops, who
had previously been stationed along the shore of Salamis, and, landing
with them on the islet of Psyttaleia there slew all the Persians.
By now the rout was now on, those that sought
to make resistance or fleeing to shore found themselves being run
down by the rampaging Athenians. Athenian marines were the stars of
the day, after the initial collision, they would rush aboard the Persian
ships killing all before them. The army that awaited them were not
marines but soilders usually from hilly areas, naive of the ways of
hand to hand combat at sea. Those ships that sort to make their escape
and could get past the Athenians found themselves headlong into the
waiting arms of the Aeginetan squadron, who claimed anybody that may
have somehow got out of the onslaught.
By sunset the battle was over. "Amongst
those killed was the son of Xerxes' brother, and many other well-known
men from Persia. There were also Greek casualties, but not many; for
most of the Greeks could swim (not sure what stroke that would have been, but they could dog paddle).
Most of the enemy, on the other hand, being unable to swim, were drowned."
Though Herodotus names many of the Persian commanders killed in the
battle there is no mention of ship losses. "After the battle
the Greeks towed over to Salamis all the disabled vessels which were
adrift, and then prepared for a renewal of the fight, fully expecting
that Xerxes would use his
remaining ships to make another attack. Those Persian ships that did
manage to get away limped back to Phalerum, under cover of their land
army.
A picture of the view of the island of Salamis
today.
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| Battle of Salamis - 480 B.C |
Combatants |
Greece |
Persia |
Fleet size |
371 |
1207 |
Casualties |
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| Outcome: Greek victory |
| Names of those know to be in the battle |
Kimon
Themistocles
Phaylus of Crotona
Aeschylus
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Notes |
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Between 480 to 479 B.C. Xanthippus was strategos of Athens.
Note#1
this tactic is to lure the Persian fleet into a even more desperate position,
thinking that the Greeks trying to escape are now falling ontop of each
other retreating
Note#2
the Persian fleet could not retreat, talk the previous night of the Greeks
trying to escape for fear of their destruciton, and with the king looking
on, each captain had to push forward.
Note#3
Scythian archers worked as mercenaries for Greek armies. At the battle
of Salamis the Greeks hired 300 Scythian mercenaries. Usually 1/3 of the
Scythians archers were women so it is possible that 100 Scythian women
were fighting on behalf of the Greeks.
Note#4: The 'Corinthian Decoy' preformed here at the Battle of Salamis is a great example of how sophisticated and flexibile the Greek military forces were compared to the Persian one.
Note#5: The play was produced only eight years after the battle itself (472 B.C.), and as far as I know is the oldest surviving play in history
The Persian Ahemeno was the General in this battle.
Go to, 'Estimated population size of Athens and Sparta at this time.'
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