The Battle of Salamis 480 BC.
One of the most spectacular battles in ancient times during the Persian Wars was the battle of Marathon and the naval battle of Salamis on September 29, 480 B.C. (whether it was exactly the 29th can not be said with certainty since this date varies from source to source).
After the lost battle at Marathon (490 BC), the Persian Grand King Darius I still had the intention to integrate the Greek city states into the Persian Empire. The purpose of the expansion was, on the one hand, to fill the Persian treasury with the assets of the Greeks and, on the other hand, to create a springboard for further Persian conquests in the West. And since it had not lost its allies in Thrace and Macedonia, its chances of success were also quite high. But internal uprisings in Persia itself prevented Daraios and his successor Xerxes from doing so at first. From 484 onwards, Xerxes began the war preparations and combined a large sea and land maneuver against Greece. So a canal was built to advance the fleets faster and easier and up to Macedonia large stockpiles were built. 481 wares then sowiet and Xerxes set off with an army of more than 100000 men and about 600 ships from Asia Minor. 1000 Spartans, Thespians and Thebaners, led by Leonidas, tried to prevent the intrusion of the enemy and turned to the Persian army in northern Greece, but were defeated in the Battle of Thermopylae. As a result, after three days of Artemision operations on the north side of Euboea, the Attic fleet was forced to retreat in the direction of Athens. Xerxes could occupy and devastate Athens and the surrounding Attica. Now it came to conflicts between Athenians and Spartans, since the Spartans wanted to defend the Isthmus of Corinth and thus the Peloponnese. The Athenians, on the other hand, relied on their fleet.
To the Greeks the situation seemed rather hopeless, especially as they were far outnumbered. To remedy the situation, Themistocles asked the Oracle of Delphi for advice. The oracle's answer was: "Seek shelter behind wooden walls". Themistocles interpreted this saying in such a way that only their Trier could offer protection against the Persians, while others believed that the city wall should be extended. Themistocles, however, was able to convince the council to let the battle be fought by the fleet. The Athenian fleet had grown considerably since the Battle of Marathon, as a large part of Athens's resources - derived from Laureion's silver mining - had been used to build Trier. So the city shifted to the sea. The men were on the ships and the women and children took themselves to safety near Salamis.
The Greeks kept their fleet ( estimated 200, according to Herodotus the allies of Athens sent 124 Triere and nine Pentecounters. Of the allies, Corinth was the greatest power with 40 ships. From Sparta came ten Triere)
in the shallow waters, the so-called "Sound of Salamis", there it was difficult for the Persians to play out their numerical superiority and the Near Land took the space for larger maneuvers. The Persians, however, recognized the difficulties that this battlefield would bring, and so they did not get carried away to attack the Greeks for the time being. Themistocles and Eurybiades, the leaders of the Greek fleet, sent a slave with false information to Xerxes, who led him to believe in a simple victory and disunity of the Greeks. But only with a mock attack and a feigned escape of the Corinthians did they manage to lure the Persians into the Sound of Salamis.
As soon as the Persian fleet took up the pursuit, and got into the Sound, the Greeks broke off their "flight" and attacked the Persians. The right wing of the Greeks had hidden behind a promontory until then and fell into the flank of the Persians. When the commanders of the Persian vanguard realized that they had fallen into a trap, they ordered the retreat, but it was too late. The size and number of ships ( estimated 600, Herodotus refers to 1207 Trier and reports about 3000 additional ships. In total the Trier fleet is said to have consisted of 300 Phoenician, 200 Egyptian, 150 Cypriot, 100 Cilician, 30 Pamphyllic, 50 Lycian, 30 Doric, 70 Carian, 100 Ionic, 60 Aeolian and 17 Aegean ships. However, science regards the number of ships as exaggerated ) was their downfall, forming a "bunch" of Persian ships which was only capable of minor manoeuvres. The Greeks stayed outside this clew and struck at will, their bronze pile spurs "drilled" one ship after the other into the ground.
The remaining fleeing Persians were able to save themselves to Asia Minor and took up position before Samor. Now, however, without support of the fleet, the Persian land army was completely at the mercy of the Hellenic League and so it had to suffer a defeat in the plain of Plataiai in 479. At the same time the remaining Persian fleet was destroyed and secured the complete victory over the Persians.
