The Battle of Salamis

The Battle of Salamis: The Naval Encounter That Saved Greece-and Western Civilization by Barry S. Strauss, Simon & Schuster, 2005. 

Greco-Persian War:

Ancient Persia had expanded its empire to include the Ionian Greeks, the Greeks on the west coast of Anatolia, and was attempting to expand its empire to include Greece itself. This book describes a sea battle in this war that took plane in 480 B.C near the island of Salamis. If the Greeks had lost the war, perhaps western civilization would have died out. The Greeks had the advantage of being a naval power, while the Persians were a land power. The Persians had the support of the Phoenicians and the Ionian Greeks. 

The Land War

Before the battle of Salamis, the Persians had captured Athens. They found that there were few Athenians present in Athens, because the Athenians had retreated to southern Greece. 

Triremes

Both sides used boats called triremes. They were called triremes, because they had three decks of men who did the rowing. Ramming the side of the enemy’s trireme by the prow of your own trireme was the main method of attack. 

Themistocles

The Greek war-time leader was Themistocles. Themistocles gave the Persians disinformation that the Greeks planned to run away, rather than fight. This lured the Persians into a trap, a narrow passage between mainland Greece and the island of Salamis, where the Persian ships were too crowded together to escape from the Greek attackers. The Persians had twice as many ships as the Greeks, but the Greeks won the battle due to cleverness. 

Aftermath

After the battle of Salamis, the Persian army and navy withdrew from Greece. Athens then entered its Golden Age.