The Battle of Salamis, 480 BC: the narrows that saved Greece

Quick answer

The Greek fleet won a decisive victory at Salamis in September 480 BC¹, luring the far larger Persian navy into the narrow strait near Athens and destroying it. Coming just after the Persians had overrun Greece and burned Athens, the victory turned back the greatest invasion of the ancient world.

Weeks after the pass at Thermopylae fell, the Persian army had overrun Greece and burned Athens². What was left of Greek freedom rested on the decks of its ships, packed into a narrow strait at Salamis. There, a smaller fleet turned the greatest invasion of the ancient world.

After Thermopylae

With the land route open, the Persian king Xerxes poured south and took Athens, whose people had already fled. The Greek allies argued bitterly about what to do next.² Many wanted to fall back to defend the isthmus³; the Athenian leader Themistocles insisted they fight at sea, in the strait between Salamis and the mainland.

Marble bust of the bearded Athenian statesman Themistocles — Roman marble bust of Themistocles found at Ostia, a copy of a Greek portrait made in his own lifetime in the 5th century BC. Museo Ostiense, Ostia Antica. Sailko, CC BY 3.0

The gamble of the narrows

Themistocles knew the Persian fleet was larger⁴ and, in open water, would simply surround the Greeks. In the narrow strait, that advantage vanished: too many ships in too little space could not manoeuvre⁴. To make sure the Persians came in, he is said to have sent a false message⁵ that the Greeks were about to flee, luring the enemy fleet into the trap by night.

The Persians had the numbers, so Themistocles chose the one place where numbers could not be used.

The trap closes

At dawn the Persian fleet crowded into the strait and lost its order. The Greek triremes, heavier and rowed by disciplined crews², rammed into the packed enemy ships, holing and sinking them faster than they could turn. Xerxes watched the disaster from a throne set up on the shore.⁶

Map of the strait of Salamis showing Greek and Persian fleet positions — The strait of Salamis with the Greek and Persian starting and combat positions and the site of the throne of Xerxes on the mainland shore. Ship movements follow the US Military Academy map, drawn on a 19th century base map by Edward Weller. Public domain

The retreat

The Persian fleet was shattered. Without it, Xerxes could not supply or protect a huge army so far from home, and he withdrew to Asia, leaving a force behind that the Greeks destroyed the next year at Plataea.

Why it mattered

Salamis saved Greek independence at the moment it seemed already lost.⁷ The classical world that followed, its ideas, art and politics, grew in cities that a Persian victory here would very likely have erased.

Bronze statue of the young Sophocles holding a lyre with his arm raised — The Young Sophocles Leading the Chorus of Victory after the Battle of Salamis, a bronze by John Talbott Donoghue modelled in 1885. Ancient tradition held that the future playwright led the victory hymn as a boy. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public domain (CC0)

Frequently asked questions

Why was the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC so important?

Salamis in 480 BC saved Greek independence at the moment it seemed already lost, since the classical world's ideas, art and politics grew in cities that a Persian victory there would very likely have erased.

How did a smaller Greek fleet win at Salamis?

At Salamis in 480 BC Themistocles lured the larger Persian fleet into a narrow strait where too many ships in too little space could not maneuver, and the heavier Greek triremes with disciplined crews rammed the crowded enemy vessels.

Why did Themistocles insist on fighting at sea at Salamis?

At Salamis in 480 BC Themistocles knew that in open water the larger Persian fleet would simply surround the Greeks, so he chose the one place, the narrow strait, where the enemy's numbers could not be used.

How did the Greeks make sure the Persians entered the trap at Salamis?

To spring the trap at Salamis in 480 BC, Themistocles is said to have sent a false message that the Greeks were about to flee, luring the Persian fleet into the strait by night.

What happened after the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC?

After Salamis in 480 BC the shattered Persian fleet could no longer supply or protect Xerxes' huge army so far from home, so he withdrew to Asia and left a force that the Greeks destroyed the next year at Plataea.

Who won the Battle of Salamis?

The Greek allies won the naval Battle of Salamis in 480 BC, when their heavier triremes shattered the larger Persian fleet of Xerxes in the narrow strait.

Sources and notes

Numbered notes in the text point to the works below.

Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Xerxes I (Jean-Louis Huot)” ↩

Herodotus, Histories, Book 7, 20 to 36 (preparations, the Hellespont bridges of ships, the lashing of the sea); Book 8, 40 to 64 (Athens taken and burned, the allied debate over the Isthmus, Themistocles on the 'heavier and fewer' Greek ships at 8.60), 75 to 96 (Sikinnos' message, the battle, Xerxes seated below Mount Aigaleos at 8.90), 97 to 113 (retreat, Mardonius left behind). ↩ a b c

Peter Green, The Greco-Persian Wars (University of California Press, 1996). ↩

Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Battle of Salamis” ↩ a b

Livius.org (Jona Lendering), “Salamis (480 BCE)” ↩

Plutarch, Life of Themistocles (Parallel Lives), Chapter 13: Xerxes watching from a gilded throne set up on high ground above the shore; chapters 12 to 14 on the message and the battle. Loeb translation by B. Perrin online at LacusCurtius: https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Themistocles*.html. ↩

Barry Strauss, The Battle of Salamis: The Naval Encounter That Saved Greece and Western Civilization (Simon & Schuster, 2004). ↩

Wikipedia, “Battle of Salamis”