Editing Battle of Salamis (section)

===Main battle===
[[File:William Rainey - Death of the Persian admiral at Salamis.jpg|thumb|left|Death of the Persian admiral Ariabignes (a brother of Xerxes) early in the battle; illustration from ''Plutarch's Lives for Boys and Girls'' c. 1910]]
The details of the rest of the battle are generally sketchy, and no one involved would have had a view of the entire battlefield.<ref name = h320/> Triremes were generally armed with a large ram at the front, with which it was possible to sink an enemy ship, or at least disable it by shearing off the banks of oars on one side.<ref name = L34/><ref>{{Cite book|title=History Alive! The Ancient World|publisher=Teachers Curriculum Institute|year=2004|isbn=1-58371-351-4|location=California|pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyaliveanci00a/page/275 275]|url=https://archive.org/details/historyaliveanci00a/page/275}}</ref> If the initial ramming was not successful, marines boarded the enemy ship and something similar to a land battle ensued.<ref name = L34/> Both sides had marines on their ships for this eventuality; the Greeks with fully armed [[hoplite]]s;<ref name = h320/> the Persians probably with more lightly armed infantry.<ref>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126&layout=&loc=7.184 VII, 184]</ref>

Across the battlefield, as the first line of Persian ships was pushed back by the Greeks, they became fouled in the advancing second and third lines of their own ships.<ref name = VIII89>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231398;layout=;loc=8.88.1 VIII, 89]</ref> On the Greek left, the Persian admiral [[Ariabignes]] (a brother of Xerxes)<ref name = VIII89/> was killed early in the battle; left disorganised and leaderless, the Phoenician squadrons appear to have been pushed back against the coast, many vessels running aground.<ref name = h320/> In the centre, a wedge of Greek ships pushed through the Persians' lines, splitting the fleet in two.<ref name = h320/>

According to Plutarch, Ariabignes was killed by [[Ameinias of Athens|Ameinias]] and Socles ({{langx|el|Σωκλής}}) of Pallene. When Ariabignes attempted to board on their ship, they hit him with their spears, and thrust him into the sea.<ref>[http://classics.mit.edu/Plutarch/themisto.html Themistocles By Plutarch] "Ariamenes, admiral to Xerxes, a brave man and by far the best and worthiest of the king's brothers, was seen throwing darts and shooting arrows from his huge galley, as from the walls of a castle. Aminias the Decelean and Sosicles the Pedian [This is an incorrect translation: his name was Socles and he was from Palene.], who sailed in the same vessel, upon the ships meeting stem to stem, and transfixing each the other with their brazen prows, so that they were fastened together, when Ariamenes attempted to board theirs, ran at him with their pikes, and thrust him into the sea..."</ref> Plutarch also mentions that it was [[Artemisia I of Caria|Artemisia]] who recognized Ariabignes' body floating among the shipwrecks and brought it back to Xerxes.<ref>Plutarch Parallel Lives Themistocles, 14</ref>

[[File:Artemisia at the Battle of Salamis.jpg|thumb|[[Artemisia I of Caria|Artemisia]], Queen of [[Halicarnassus]], and commander of the [[Caria]]n contingent of the Achaemenid fleet, at the Battle of Salamis, shooting arrows at the Greeks. [[Wilhelm von Kaulbach]] (detail).<ref name="WVK">On the identification with Artemisia: "...Above the ships of the victorious Greeks, against which Artemisia, the Xerxes' ally, sends fleeing arrows...". Original German description of the painting: "Die neue Erfindung, welche Kaulbach für den neuen hohen Beschützer zu zeichnen gedachte, war wahrscheinlich "die Schlacht von Salamis". Ueber den Schiffen der siegreichen Griechen, gegen welche Artemisia, des Xerxes Bundesgenossin, fliehend Pfeile sendet, sieht man in Wolken die beiden Ajaxe" in [https://books.google.com/books?id=DYpgAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA300 Altpreussische Monatsschrift Nene Folge p.300]</ref>]]

Herodotus recounts that [[Artemisia I of Caria|Artemisia]], the Queen of Halicarnassus, and commander of the Carian contingent, found herself pursued by the ship of [[Ameinias of Athens|Ameinias]] of Pallene. In her desire to escape, she attacked and rammed another Persian vessel, thereby convincing the Athenian captain that the ship was an ally; Ameinias accordingly abandoned the chase.<ref>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;layout=;query=chapter%3D%231396;loc=8.88.1 VIII, 87]</ref> However, Xerxes, looking on, thought that she had successfully attacked an Allied ship, and seeing the poor performance of his other captains commented that "My men have become women, and my women men".<ref>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126&layout=&loc=8.88.1 VIII, 88]</ref> The friendly ship she sank was a Calyndian ship and the king of the Calyndians, [[Damasithymos]] ({{langx|el|Δαμασίθυμος}}) was on it.<ref>[http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hh/hh8080.htm Herodotus Book 8: Urania ,87]"When the affairs of the king had come to great confusion, at this crisis a ship of Artemisia was being pursued by an Athenian ship; and as she was not able to escape, for in front of her were other ships of her own side, while her ship, as it chanced, was furthest advanced towards the enemy, she resolved what she would do, and it proved also much to her advantage to have done so. While she was being pursued by the Athenian ship she charged with full career against a ship of her own side manned by Calyndians and in which the king of the Calyndians Damasithymos was embarked."</ref><ref>[http://www.attalus.org/translate/polyaenus8B.html#53.1 Polyaenus: Stratagems- BOOK 8, 53.2] "...sank a ship of the Calyndian allies, which was commanded by Damasithymus."</ref> None of the crew of the Calyndian ship survived.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hh/hh8080.htm |title=Herodotus Book 8: Urania,88 |publisher=Sacred-texts.com |access-date=2014-03-07}}</ref>

The Persian fleet began to retreat towards Phalerum, but according to Herodotus, the Aeginetans ambushed them as they tried to leave the Straits.<ref>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231400;layout=;loc=8.92.1 VIII, 91]</ref> The remaining Persian ships limped back to the harbour of Phalerum and the shelter of the Persian army.<ref>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231401;layout=;loc=8.93.1 VIII, 92]</ref> The Athenian general [[Aristides]] then took a detachment of men across to Psyttaleia to slaughter the garrison that Xerxes had left there.<ref name = VIII95>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231404;layout=;loc=8.94.1 VIII, 95]</ref>

The exact Persian casualties are not mentioned by Herodotus. However, he writes that the next year, the Persian fleet numbered 300 triremes.<ref name = VIII130>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126&layout=&loc=8.130 VIII, 130]</ref> The number of losses then depends on the number of ships the Persian had to begin with; something in the range of 200–300 seems likely, based on the above estimates for the size of the Persian fleet. According to Herodotus, the Persians suffered many more casualties than the Greeks because most Persians did not know how to swim.<ref name = VIII89/>

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A king sate on the rocky brow<br />
Which looks o'er sea-born Salamis<br />
And ships, by thousands, lay below,<br />
And men in nations;—all were his!<br />
He counted them at break of day—<br />
And when the sun set where were they?
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | — the [[philhellene]] [[Lord Byron]] in ''Don Juan''
<ref>Lord Byron, ''Don Juan'', Canto 3, 86.4</ref>
|}

Xerxes, sitting on Mount Aigaleo on his throne, witnessed the carnage.<ref name = VIII90/> Some ship-wrecked Phoenician captains tried to blame the Ionians for cowardice before the end of the battle.<ref name = VIII90>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231399;layout=;loc=8.91.1 VIII, 90]</ref> Xerxes, in a foul mood, and having just witnessed an Ionian ship capture an Aeginetan ship, had the Phoenicians beheaded for slandering "more noble men".<ref name = VIII90/> According to Diodorus, Xerxes "put to death those Phoenicians who were chiefly responsible for beginning the flight, and threatened to visit upon the rest the punishment they deserved", causing the Phoenicians to sail to Asia when night fell.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0084%3Abook%3D11%3Achapter%3D19%3Asection%3D4 |title=Diodorus Siculus, Library, Book XI, Chapter 19, section 4 |publisher=Perseus.tufts.edu |access-date=2013-10-21}}</ref>