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Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More
The Battle of Salamis: The Naval Victory That Saved Ancient Greece
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In 480 BC, the most powerful empire on Earth set out to crush a collection of small, divided Greek city states. On land, defeat seemed inevitable, but at sea, in a narrow strait near a small island called Salamis, everything changed. Through strategy, deception, and sheer determination, the Greeks pulled off one of history's most unlikely upsets. Neocum didn't just stop an invasion, it preserved a civilization. Learn more about the Battle of Salamis and how a single naval clash altered the course of history on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. This episode is sponsored by Audible it's time to believe in the Hail Mary, one of the most talked about science fiction adventures of the decade. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir is now on the big screen, and there's never been a a better moment to experience the audiobook that started it all. Ryland Grace is humanity's last hope. 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In the 5th century BC, the Achaemenid Persian empire was the largest empire that the world had ever seen. It encompassed most or all of the Levant, Persia, Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Asia Minor and Egypt. However, the Persians weren't satisfied with that. They sought to conquer the city states of Greece, which consisted of over a thousand independent communities each each known as a polis. The polis system defined the Greek world. Each fiercely independent polis had unique customs, economies, strategies and identities. However, this independence complicated the Greeks effort to defend collectively when threats arose. Greece's mountainous terrain blocked the physical unity that most civilizations of the time had achieved. When Persian forces first attacked Greek Ionia, now part of the west coast of Turkey, only two communities came to its aid. After securing Ionia, Persian ambition soon turned towards Athens, marking a significant expansion of their campaign against the Greeks. In 490 BC, the Persian Emperor Darius fleet landed at Marathon, approximately 25 miles from Athens. A topic that I covered in a previous episode. The Athenians victory at Marathon ended Persian aggression in Greece, or so they assumed. That changed in 486, when Darius died and his son Xerxes ascended to the Persian throne. Xerxes was determined to defeat the Greeks and achieve what his father had failed to do. Themistocles, an Athenian general and statesman, was suspicious of the optimism surrounding the end of the Persian threat and began planning for their inevitable return. His plan began to take shape in 483 BC, thanks to some remarkable good fortune for the people of Athens. It was that year that an Athenian silver mine in the hills of southern Attica discovered a vast silver vein. The discovery yielded 100 talents of silver, which was approximately 7,500 pounds or 3,400 kilograms. The Athenian assembly rejoiced at the discovery. Under Athenian law, the amount would be divided equally among the male citizens of Athens. The total equalled 10 drachma per citizen, or the equivalent of two weeks skilled work. Yet despite this excitement, it was not meant to be, as Themistocles had other plans for the silver. For Themistocles, a veteran of the battle of Marathon, the war with Persia had never ended. Themistocles had spent the last seven years planning and preparing for a return assault. And the vein of silver presented a perfect opportunity. Themistocles argued to the Athenian assembly that instead of dividing the money, they should build a fleet of modern triremes. A trireme was an ancient warship powered by three rows of oars on each side, designed for speed and maneuverability and equipped with a bronze ram for sinking enemy ship. Themistocles proposal faced strong opposition within the Athenian assembly, most notably from Aristides, a powerful Athenian general. Though both of them were generals at the Battle of Marathon, Themistocles and Aristides were now at odds over the issue of the silver. Despite their shared past, they found themselves on opposite sides of the silver debate. Aristides believed that Athens strength lay in its heavy infantry, the hoppolites who had won the battle of Marathon. Aristeides advocated an equal split of the silver, believing that a shared stake in the city's wealth would marshal the citizens to fight harder in a battle. Themistocles insisted on his plan, refusing to let Aristides block it. In 482 BC, as the assembly stalemated, Themistocles and his allies campaigned against Aristides. They accused the war hero Aristides of tyranny. Since the expulsion of the tyrant Hippias in 508 BC, Athens fiercely resisted absolute Themistocles aimed to use the democracy's weapon of ostracism against Aristeides to secure the 100 talents. Themistocles campaign stirred enough support for a vote against Aristides, and Athenian citizens cast their vote for ostracism. Aristides was banished from the city for 10 years, paving the way for Themistocles to implement his plan. Even after Aristides was ostracized, there was one remaining barrier to modernizing the Athenian fleet. Securing the votes in the assembly required more than just removing Aristides. Justifying the expense required an enemy. Themistocles knew that if he revealed the true nature of his plan, it would probably fail. Persia was still too sensitive of a topic for Athens in 482 BC. Instead, Themistocles pointed Athens at their rival city Aegina. Aegina is an island off the coast of Athens and served as its most immediate rival in Greece. Aegina and Athens had been fighting intermittently since before the Greco Persian wars began. Themistocles argued that the trireme fleet would give Athens the upper hand over Aegina. Themistocles secured the 100 talents and Athens began the construction of the triremes in the port of Athens. The Athenian trireme measured about 37 meters or 120ft long and 5.5 meters, or 18ft wide. It had a bronze ram weighing up to 450 kilograms or 1,000 pounds at the front of the ship. The Athenian trireme was basically a missile on the sea. When rowed properly in battle, it could reach speeds of up to 10 knots or 11.5 miles per hour and inflict massive damage on enemy Vessels. The Athenian trireme held 170 oarsmen. To man 200 triremes meant 34,000 rowers. And Athens could not supply that many men. So they needed a coalition of Greeks. Athenians completed the trireme fleet just in time. When the trireme fleet was ready, the Persians invaded Greece in 480 BC. Returning with both a massive army and navy. They moved through the region unimpeded until they arrived at the Thermopylae Pass. You may remember my episode on the Battle of Thermopylae. King Leonidas and his force of 300 Spartans held out heroically for several days, keeping the Persians at bay. It was one of the most important battles in world history. Not because the Spartans won. In fact, they were wiped out. To a man, it was important because the sacrifice of the 300 Spartans gave Themistocles the time that he needed. He used that time to launch his evacuation of Athens to the island of Salamis and the Peloponnesian city of Troezen. Securing the evacuation of Athens was the critical transition that arguably posed the greatest obstacle to Themistocles plan. At Salamis after Thermopylae, the Persians secured victories as they marched through Greece until they reached the vicinity of Athens. Shortly after the Persians arrived, the Athenians sought guidance from the Oracle at Delphi. The Oracle delivered a terrifying warning to the Athenians. The Oracle's spokesperson, the Pythia, proclaimed Flee to the ends of the earth, all is ruined. Themistocles, however, insisted on a second prophecy. This time the Pythia returned with a message that he could work with. Yet Zeus the all seeing grants to Athenes prayer that the wooden wall only shall not fall. Themistocles convinced his fellow Athenians that the wooden walls were in reference to the triremes and that it would be the key to victory. As a result of Themistocles argument, the Athenians agreed to retreat and rely on the triremes. Some were skeptical of Themistocles plan and insisted on hiding behind literal wooden fortifications that they quickly constructed. But the Persians torched the hastily constructed wooden walls, killing all who remained behind. Themistocles planned to lure the Persians into the narrow straits of Salamis. There the massive fleet of Persian triremes would be unable to maneuver, opening them up to a relentless attack by the Athenian battering ram triremes. Themistocles needed to get the Persians to enter the strait. The Persians knew it was narrow and entering without a clear path to victory was not a smart strategy. Themistocles, however, hatched a plan to take advantage of Xerxes aggressive vanity. He sent his loyal servant to Xerxes with a message intended to persuade him to pursue the Greeks into the Strait of Salamis. The message read, the Greeks are afraid and planning to run for it. Yet you can now achieve a brilliant victory if you don't sit by and watch them run. The plan worked perfectly. Themistocles tricked the Persians into sailing deep into the strait. Xerxes watched the battle with optimism from a golden throne adjacent to the strait atop of Mount Igalio. As the fatigued Persians who had been rowing all night arrived at dawn, they saw the Greek line of triremes. Much to Xerxes surprise, the Greeks were not in disarray and preparing to flee. Instead, the Athenians were in battle formation. The larger Persian triremes were packed in a line, unable to maneuver. And now, at the mercy of the Athenian battering ram ships, the Greeks bore down on the Persians without mercy. The Athenian triremes pounded the helpless Persian ships. The Greek playwright Aeschylus recalled the rallying cry in his famed poem titled the Persians when he wrote advance ye sons of Greece from slavery. Save your country, save your wives, save your children, save the temples of your gods, the sacred tomb where rest your honored ancestors this day the common cause of all demands your valor. Most of the Persians who entered the strait drowned because they were conscripts who didn't know how to swim. Unlike the Greeks who lived near the water and were accustomed to it. Greek sailors pounded the Persians in the water with broken oars, killing those who hadn't drowned. The Persians had assembled an elite infantry force stationed near the coast with plans to ambush any Greeks who happened to come ashore. Instead, a group of Greek hoppolites was hiding, waiting to counter the Persian forces. Aristides seized his chance for redemption returning from the exile that themistocles engineered in 482bc he took command of the hoppolites to save the very city the that had cast him out. Panic seized Xerxes. As he witnessed the slaughter from his throne, he realized that only an immediate retreat back to Asia Minor would prevent an even greater catastrophe. A Greek invasion of the Persian heartland. Themistocles combination of strategic brilliance and political savvy won the day. The victory had given Athens the confidence to pursue an empire of her own. The victory at Salamis inspired Athens to form the Delian League and establish Greek colonial holdings in Asia Minor. The Greeks and Persians fought intermittently until 449 BC when the peace of Callias was signed, limiting Greek dominion to the Aegean and Persia to Asia Minor. The treaty would remain in effect until the outbreak of the peloponnesian War in 431 BC. One of the most interesting outcomes of the victory at Salamis was the tragic end for Themistocles. Athens grew wary of his political games and in 472 BC the citizens ostracized Themistocles and casting him out of the city that he had saved. Themistocles eventually settled in Persia of all places, striking a deal with Xerxes that would allow him to live in comfort there, provided he helped strategize against the Greeks. When the time came, the new Persian king Artaxerxes summoned Themistocles to help him devise a plan against the Greeks. However, Themistocles never went to Artaxerxes. He chose suicide rather than to betray his homeland. Athens leveraged the victory at Salamis to build a cultural empire, sparking a golden age in philosophy, mathematics and theater. The ascendancy of Athens can be directly traced back to the tens of thousands who rode at Salamis and demanded a voice in state affairs. Athens greatness remained until its closing chapter and its defeat at the hands of Sparta in the Peloponnesian War. The Spartan King Lysander's terms were severe, the mandating the destruction of Athens powerful fleet of triremes While Sparta's destruction of the fleet ended any illusion of Athenian hegemony, it did not extinguish what the victory at Salamis had achieved. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Austin Otkin and Cameron Kieffer. Research and writing for this episode are provided by Joel Hermanson. Today's review comes from Mel 11691 on Apple Podcasts in the United States. Alcohol Consumption in America I'm currently binge listening to all your podcasts. Needless to say, I really enjoy them. The thing I enjoy most is having a chance to compare my knowledge with your fact reports. The alcohol report about early America made me think while we were doing all that drinking, we gained our independence, expanded and tamed a continent, and essentially created the modern world. Maybe drinking isn't all that bad. Well, thanks Mal. I think you have to distinguish between doing well despite something and doing well because of something. If you remember back to that episode, drinking in early America was pretty bad. In fact, the severity of the problem was a major reason the temperance movement became so powerful in the United States but not elsewhere. Remember, if you leave a review on any of the major podcast apps, you too can have it right on the show.