When was the battle of salamis fought

As the fleet was necessary for the supply of his army, the Persian leader also was forced to retreat with the bulk of his forces. Intending to finish the conquest of Greece the following year, he left a sizable army in the region under the command of Mardonius. A key turning point of the Persian Wars, the triumph of Salamis was built upon the following year when the Greeks defeated Mardonius at the Battle of Plataea. Actively scan device characteristics for identification.

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Oxford Reference. Publications Pages Publications Pages. Recently viewed 0 Save Search. Your current browser may not support copying via this button. As their ships moved further into the confined channel, they began to collide with each other and all formation and order was lost.

The Persian oarsmen became tired, and matters were made worse by a heavy swell that caused their ships to heave in the choppy water, exposing their vulnerable sides and hulls. It was the moment that Themistocles had been waiting for. He gave the order and the Greeks attacked. Pulling hard on their oars, they steered their vessels into the confused mass of Persian ships.

Timbers splintered and oars shattered, as the bronze rams attached to the prows of the Greek ships hit home, and the first line of Persian ships was pushed back onto those following them.

As the two ships came together, Ariabignes led a boarding party against the Athenian ship, but as he jumped down onto its deck he was skewered by a spear and tossed overboard. Left leaderless, the Phoenician squadrons fell apart, and as the Greeks drove a wedge into the heart of the Persian fleet, effectively cutting it in two, many of their ships turned and fled as best they could.

Seated high up on his throne, Xerxes watched events unfold with growing anger. When a group of Phoenicians appeared before him after the battle and tried to lay the blame for their defeat on other contingents, he had them beheaded on the spot. With an Athenian trireme bearing down on her, she decided discretion was the better part of valour and made her escape.

When she found her way blocked by another Persian ship, she simply rammed it, sending it to the bottom of the sea along with all those on board. Thinking that she had changed sides, the Greeks let her go. Xerxes had one more humiliation to suffer before the day was done. Before ordering his fleet to attack, he had posted four hundred of his best troops, including three of his own nephews, on the little island of Psyttaleia at the mouth of the Bay of Eleusis. His plan was that they should hunt down and slaughter any Greeks who were shipwrecked on its shores, but following the defeat of the Persian fleet, the hunters became the hunted.

As at Artemisium, the much larger Persian fleet could not manoeuvre in the gulf, and a smaller contingent of Athenian and Aeginan triremes flanked the Persian navy. The Persians tried to turn back, but a strong wind sprang up and trapped them; those that were able to turn around were also trapped by the rest of the Persian fleet that had jammed the strait.