The Battle of Salamis, 480 BC
Greek and Persian fleet positions during the Battle of Salamis, 480 BC, where the Athenian navy shattered Xerxes' armada.
After the Spartan stand at Thermopylae fell and Athens itself was evacuated and burned, the Athenian statesman Themistocles gambled everything on a naval battle in the narrow straits between the island of Salamis and the Attic coast. He lured the far larger Persian fleet into the confined waters, where its numbers became a liability and the more maneuverable Greek triremes cut it apart. The defeat forced Xerxes to retreat to Asia with much of his army, and the Greek victory at Plataea the following year ended the Persian invasion for good. Read more in our article on Themistocles and the Battle of Salamis.
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