Episode 3.4: Battle of Salamis
Update: 2019-10-24
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Salamis, the great clash at sea between Greece and Persia.
The post Episode 3.4: Battle of Salamis first appeared on Barry Strauss.
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The reason the Athenians had a large Navy prior to the second Persian invasion eas because they were at war with Aegina, another Greek polis. The Greeks were always fighting each other, one city-state on another or between small alliances of poleis. Themistocles was indeed the one who had this idea. And he was the one who convinced Athens to add to their fleet as the second Persian invasion commenced.
This is totally inaccurate. The king of Persia who led this second invasion of Europe was Xerxes. It was Darius who led the first, and unsuccessful invasion, who wanted revenge. Xerxes was much more ambivalent. The few Greeks who opposed the Persians (a far, far greater number willingly allied themselves with Persia) fought not for freedom but to avoid having to pay tribute to a foreign ruler. As far as destruction of the city of Athens goes, the Athenians had previously burned the city of Sardis, capital of Lydia, and its temples to the ground during their invasion of Ionia. Instead of wasting your time here, go to the source and read the description of this naval battle in Herodotus' Histories, Book 8.