Perhaps the two most important battles fought in world history. Thermopylae, the battle that became synonymous with self-denial and sacrifice. Salamis, the naval battle that determined the outcome of the Greek-Persian war. Tons of books can be written about these two battles, the symbolism and the heroes who acted. We will settle for a tribute, where we will take a look at the basic elements of these historical battles that were written in golden letters in the pages of history, two battles that determined the fate of Greece and Europe, two battles where the few resisted the many.
Almost entire Greece was ready to resist. Athens, Aegina, Thespies, Amvrakia, Eretria, Megara, as well as islanders were present. Of course, Peloponnese could not be missing at this historic moment of Greece, where not only almost entire of it took part, but also had the leadership, as the Spartans had strategic control on the land and the sea. At this point we want to emphasize that the Spartans demanded to have control of the land, but not the sea, as Athens and Aegina had the largest majority of ships, but the rest of the Greeks wanted to be leaders on both fronts the great Spartans. Spartans, Messinians, warriors from Elis and parts of Argolis, Corinthians and almost all the Arcadian cities with first of them all Tegeans, were present.
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| statue of king Leonidas in Sparta |
Thermopylae, August of 480 BC. From the East, marched perhaps the largest army that humanity has ever seen, aiming to conquer Greece. According to Herodotus, the Persians had about 2 million soldiers and auxiliary personnel. Simonides Keios, who lived at that time, states that the Persian army was close to 4 million. However, this giant campaign didn’t took place by chance, as the Ionian revolution and the battle of Marathon had preceded it, so the Persians knew that the conquest of Greece required all their forces. Thermopylae’s name originates from the mythical Hercules, who fell into the waters of the springs to get rid of the pain created by the poisoned tunic of Nessos. It was a very narrow passage that connected Lokrida to Thessaly, through mountain Oiti and the gulf of Maliakos. On one side of the passage was the mountain and on the other side the sea, so only two carriages of that time could barely pass. The place was not chosen at random by the king of the Spartans Leonidas, so that the great battle of Thermopylae could take place there. He knew that the huge volume of the Persian army could not be stopped in the open field, but in a narrow passage that would be possible as the Spartan phalanx would face the enemy on equal terms. The great Athenian general Themistocles also contributed to the choice of the field, who at the same time together with the Spartan Grand Admiral Evryviadis, covered King Leonidas back at the sea and specifically in Artemisio, which we will talk about later.
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| the king of Persia, Xerxes bas-relief in Persepolis |
Leonidas defended Thermopylae with 300 Spartans and other Greeks who numbered about 5000 soldiers. The king of the Spartans knew that all odds were against him, so he made sure to take with him only those Spartans who had children in order to preserve their generation. Opposite him was the king of Persia, Xerxes, with all his might. Persians, Medes, Kissians, Assyrians, Bactrians, Sakes, Indians, Parthians, Sogdians, Gandarians, Caspians, Saranges, Pacts, Arabs, Ethiopians, Libyans, Paphlagonians, Syrians, Phrygians, Armenians, Lydes, Myses, Kares, Phoenicians, Egyptians and a multitude of other Eastern nations stood opposite the legendary Spartan king, spearheaded, the Persian Order of the Immortals, which caused fear and terror in the East, as it consisted of 10,000 warriors, the best of Persia, where when one of them got killed, immediately someone else replaced him, so it was as if no one ever died. In Thermopylae, however, they had to face the best war machine of the Greeks, the phalanx of the Spartans, and there the numbers and wealth of the Persians were of little importance, as for 3 whole days the Persians experienced an inconceivable devastation from the spears of the Lacedaemonians. It was then that Xerxes asked the Greeks to surrender their weapons and Leonidas said the historical phrase: "Molon Lave" (= come and get them).
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| Immortals, the elite Persian battalion |
Contrary to all predictions, the Greeks prevailed over the numerous Persians, until one of the most famous traitors in history made his appearance. Efialtis Evrydimou, originally from the local Malida, an area near Thermopylae, betrayed to Xerxes a small passage over the mountains, which led to the south of the Greeks. At that dark time, Xerxes sent the battalion of the Immortals, led by Efialtis, in order to be able to encircle the exhausted Greeks. It is characteristic that this traitor was blamed by the Delphic Amphiktyonia for a large sum of money, so Efialtis took refuge in Thessaly, where Athenadis, a man from Iraklia, Phthiotis, found him and killed him. The Spartans especially honored Athenadis for this act.
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| battle of Thermopylae |
So, at dawn on the third day, the Phocian allies realized that they had been surrounded by the Persians, but the Persians did not deal with them, their target was the Spartans. A messenger alerted Leonidas about what had happened. Then this great king ordered the Greeks to leave, in order to defend Greece in another place, while he would sit with the 300 Spartan warriors to be sacrificed in order to delay the Persians. But that was not the only reason the Spartans remained. The law of Sparta stipulated that the Lacedaemonians should never surrender or retreat from the battlefield. All Greeks obeyed except the brave Thespians. 700 Thespians led by Demophilus disobeyed Leonidas' orders and stayed to fight on his side, falling on the battlefield, side by side with the 300 Spartans. What moving moments in those extremely critical events, how great courage and self-denial hid in their hearts those legendary defenders of Thermopylae.
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| Leonidas at Thermopylae by Jacques Louis David (1814) |
The Immortals descended the hills, while the entire Persian army lined up on the front. The final battle begun. The cowardly and traitorous Thebans whom Leonidas had forcibly detained, as he knew that they had already surrendered to the Persians, left the Greek camp and worshiped Xerxes. Spartans and Thespians were advancing, slaughtering whoever was in their way, but behind a storm of arrows, it was reaping these heroes. Then at some point Leonidas fell fighting heroically. Enemies fell in rage to seize his body, but the heroes fought like gods, battles from mythical years. The Greeks succeeded and won, but their spears started to break, they drew out their swords, but they also started to break, until they ended up fighting with their hands, as the Spartans were excellent athletes of the pancratium. But the huge volume of enemies in front and back was impossible to defeat. Everyone fell, Spartans and Thespians up to the last one.
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| the 300 Spartans and the 700 Thespians fall up to the last one |
Xerxes, after succeeding and winning, because of the fact that a handful soldiers could not literally be defeated by the largest army that had ever existed, he beheaded the dead body of Leonidas. The remains of Leonidas were transported to Sparta, where athletic games were organized in his honor. Although the Persians won, their hearts were terrified, as for three days, they experienced the ultimate nightmare in Thermopylae. It is the only defeat in a battle, in world history, that symbolically and morally turned into a victory for the losers. And this way ended the legendary battle of Thermopylae, where 300 Spartans under King Leonidas and 700 Thespians under Demophilus, gave everything and reached deification.
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| memorial of Thermopylae, king Leonidas stands in the center on the left is river Eurotas as man and on the right mountain Taygetos as man |
Along with the battle of Thermopylae, however, another huge battle was fought, namely a naval battle, which paved the way for the great naval battle of Salamis. A little further north from Thermopylae, in the sea strait of Artemisio, Themistocles and Evryviades kept other Thermopylae safe, so that the Persian fleet would not encircle the defending Greeks in the strait of Thermopylae. The large Persian fleet tried to cross the straits, but General Themistocles managed to defeat them. A messenger brought the terrible news that king Leonidas fell, then sorrow and terror fell on the Greek fleet, which retreated to Salamis. A great invisible heroine of the naval battle of Artemisio was a woman. Idna from Skioni, who was a formidable swimmer. Idna and her father, Skyllias, dived before the battle of Artemisio, in the coast of Pelion, where the enemy ships had anchored and cut their anchors, causing many ships to break on the rocks. In gratitude for the heroism of Idna and her father, the Greeks dedicated statues to Delphi, which were unfortunately looted by the Roman emperor Neron, as he took them with him to Rome in the first century AD.
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| Idna and Skyllias as commandos cut the anchors of Persian ships |
Then an internal infighting began, as Themistocles and the Athenians wanted to defend the straits of Salamis, while the Peloponnesians wanted to defend the straits of the Isthmus of Corinth. The only one who had not taken a side on this was the great admiral of the Spartans, Evryviades, who listened to both sides. It is wrongly attributed to him that he went to strike Themistocles in the dispute over where the Greek fleet should line up. The historian Plutarch (Parallel Lives, Themistocles) tells us that Themistocles had a quarrel with the Corinthian admiral Ademantos, who went to hit him, with Themistocles saying the historical phrase: "πάταξον μέν, άκουσον δέ" (hit but (first) listen to me). Which is logical, as the two archbishops, Themistocles and Evryviadis, had excellent relations, maintained great respect for each other and besides, already Evryviadis, was leaning in favor of Themistocles. According to Herodotus (Historiai), after this event and after Evryviadis took the place of Themistocles, Ademantos left the camp before the naval battle began, but the Corinthians abandoned him and remained on the side of the rest of the Greeks. So, after the intense council of the Greeks, Evryviadis listened to the opinion of the admirals, he also listened to Themistocles who submitted a series of arguments to stay in the straits of Salamis and then Evryviadis said the historical phrase: "menomen" (we are staying).
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| the Spartan grand admiral Evryviadis |
So Themistocles gave a great fight to evacuate Athens, as the Persians marched towards it. He transported with the other Greeks all the Athenians to the island of Salamis. Only a few Athenians remained who refused to leave their city and fortified themselves on the Acropolis to defend it. When the Persians arrived in Athens, the images were dramatic, as from the shores of Salamis the Greeks saw the majestic city engulfed in flames and the night becoming day by the fury of the Persians. Mourning and tears rolled down on the faces of men and women. But Themistocles had not said his last word and reserved for Xerxes a death trap that the arrogant king of the East could not see it coming. It is remarkable that the brave Athenian the night before the start of the naval battle, got dressed in black and with a small boat sailed among the enemy fleet and wrote on the rocks addressing to the Greek slaves of the Persians, not to fight their Greek brothers. As a result, many Greek ships from Ionia and other occupied areas, which were by force with the Persian fleet, during the battle surrendered and began to fight on the side of the rest of the Greeks.
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| statue of the Athenian general Themistocles in Piraeus |
September 22, 480 BC about a month after Thermopylae, the Saronic gulf was full of ships. On one side were the Greeks and on the other the Persians. The Persian fleet was much larger in number and with much larger ships, something that Themistocles knew and for this reason he chose Salamis as a location because he knew that the ferocious Persian ships could not maneuver in such a narrow place, in contrast with the small Greek ships, the so-called triremes. The enemy ships were commanded by Artemisia, a Greek woman from Caria, Ariavignis, Achaemenes and Megavazos, three Persian admirals, who had at their command not only Persian ships, but also Egyptian, as well as the famous Phoenician ships. Xerxes, confident of his victory, chose, together with other eminent Persians, to see the naval battle from the tops of mount Egaleo, near present-day Perama, thus setting up a majestic throne, as from there he overlooked the entire sea area of Salamis.
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| Xerxes from his throne on mount Egaleo watches the naval battle of Salamis |
According to Herodotus, the Greek fleet consisted of 378 triremes, which came from Athens, Sparta, Chalkida, Sikyona, Amvrakia, Lefkada, Kythnos, Sifnos, Corinth, Megara, Epidaurus, Troizina, Ermioni, Kea, Serifos, Aegina, Eretria, Naxos, Styra, Milos and the distant Croton. The Persians numbered 1207 ships. To the left of the deployment were the Athenians, while to the right the Spartans with the Aeginians and the Megarians, so that both ends would be strong and it would not be possible to encircle the Greeks. Preparations before the battle began at dusk, the Persians sent the Egyptians to close the canal between Salamis and Megara, while they landed an army in Psyttalia, in order to kill all the Greeks who ended up there. A trick of the Corinthians lured the Persians to attack. The Corinthians raised their sails to attack the Egyptians, something that seemed to be as a retreat in the Persians eyes, resulting in an order to attack the Greeks. Then the Spartan admiral Evryviadis gave the signal for an attack, resulting to an Athenian ship disbanding a nearby Persian ship, and this was the beginning of the great victory of the Greeks.
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| naval battle of Salamis |
The Greek ships fully flexible rammed the Persian and Phoenician ships with great comfort, while then the Greek warriors boarded the enemy ships, finishing the survivors. It is noticeable that most of the enemies did not know how to swim, resulting to those who fell into the sea getting drowned, like a great admiral of the Phoenicians, who when his ship was shot by the Greeks, slipped, fell into the sea and drowned. Another important feature is that the flexible ships of the Greeks carried armored hoplites, while the enemy ships carried warriors with light weapons, who had no luck against the experienced Greek hoplites. During the battle, Themistocles literally destroyed the fleet of the famous Phoenicians, while the rest of the Greeks had already destroyed the first lines of Persian ships. The Persian admirals were all already dead, only Artemisia was left, who was pursued by a Greek ship. In her attempt to escape, she rammed a Persian ship, causing it to sink. Xerxes, who was watching the battle from mount Egaleo, asked to find out who had sunk the ship and they answered to him that Artemisia had sunk it, then Xerxes said: "οι μεν άνδρες γεγόνασι μοι γυναίκες, αι δε γυναίκες άνδρες" (my men became women and women men). Unable to accept their doom, the Phoenicians rushed to accuse the Ionians of cowardice, but Xerxes ordered the beheading of all the Phoenician admirals, as he said the Ionians were the noblest and bravest men in the Persian fleet.
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| general Themistocles and a Greek trireme |
After the terrible destruction of the Persian fleet in the straits of Salamis, the Persian ships tried to retreat to Faliro, where the Aeginians though had set an ambush, so now the Persians were trapped all over the sea. Aristides the Athenean with hoplites, went to Psyttalia where he exterminated the Persians who had landed there. This heavy defeat terrified Xerxes, who feared that the Greeks would destroy the Hellespontos bridge, trapping the entire Persian army there. So he left behind the Persian general Mardonius with an army to continue the war, while he himself returned to the East. The rest history is known, the Greeks under the Spartan general Pausanias, defeated Mardonius at the battle of Plataea, where Mardonius himself was killed, as they defeated the Persians at the battle of Mykalis in Ionia, resulting in the end of the Hellenic-Persian war with the victory of the Greeks.
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| battle of Plataea |
The Aeginians received the excellence of bravery for their contribution to the naval battle of Salamis, while the Spartans honored Evryviades and Themistocles, as the Athenian hero stayed for a while in Sparta because the Athenian political opponents expelled him out of jealousy, as the entire Greece was grateful to this great general.
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| tomb of Salamis, in the area of Kinosura |
2500 years have passed since those glorious days, when all Greeks were united under a common goal, the freedom of their homeland. They managed to stop a powerful, rich and gigantic empire that extended from India to Egypt, from the Caspian Sea and Mesopotamia to Asia Minor and from there to Thrace. A handful of warriors managed to defeat the largest army ever seen by mankind. How did this happen? It already happened when the Greeks decided to put aside their internal conflicts. After 2500 years this story teaches us how important it is to be united, not to be afraid of any enemy and how the impossible becomes possible when there is unity between us. It teaches us the self-denial and love for one’s homeland, as well as the bad end that the traitors have, for example Efialtis who was beheaded and the city of Thebes, which had allied with the Persians, was destroyed by the Greeks after the end of the Plataea battle.
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| 2500 years since the battle of Thermopylae and the naval battle of Salamis |
All humanity admires these heroes, as they inspired with their heroism, inexperienced poets, painters, writers, people of letters and arts, people of all professions and categories, Greeks and foreigners. So we honor them with love and respect. We conclude with the epigram of Simonides Keios for the fighters of Thermopylae: «Ω ξειν, αγγέλλειν Λακεδαιμονίοις ότι τήδε κείμεθα τοις κείνων ρήμασι πειθόμενοι» ("Oh you foreigner that pass by, announce to the Lacedaemonians that we are here obeying their laws") and Aeschylus paean for the Salamis fighters: «Ω παίδες Ελλήνων ίτε ελευθερούτε πατρίδα, ελευθερούτε δε παίδας, γυναίκας, θεών τε πατρώων έδη, θήκας τε προγόνων, νυν υπέρ πάντων αγών» ("Go ahead children of the Greeks, liberate your homeland, liberate your children, your wives, the sanctuaries of your ancestral Gods, the tombs of your ancestors, now the war is for everything").