September 480 BC · Straits of Salamis, near Athens Theater
September 480 BC
Themistocles lured the Persian fleet — estimated at 600–800 triremes — into the narrow Straits of Salamis where numbers were irrelevant. He sent a secret message to Xerxes falsely claiming the Greeks were about to flee, prompting the Persians to seal both exits overnight. Exhausted by their nightlong manoeuvre, the Persians met the rested, motivated Greek fleet in confined waters at dawn. The heavier Greek triremes rammed their way through the Persian formation; the fleet disintegrated. Xerxes watched the disaster from his throne on the shore. Some 200 Persian ships were sunk; the Greeks lost perhaps 40.
Commanders