Editing Battle of Salamis (section)

==Prelude==
[[File:Battle of Salamis by Barthélemy 1798.jpg|thumb|290px|Battle of Salamis, 1785 engraving]]
{{multiple image
| align         = right
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| total_width   = 300
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| image1        = Strait of Salamis.jpg
| caption1      = Modern view of the strait of Salamis, where the battle took place. Seen from the south.
| image2        = Battle of Salamis battle order.jpg
| caption2      = Battle order. The Achaemenid fleet (in red) entered from the east (right) and confronted the Greek fleet (in blue) within the confines of the strait.
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The Allied fleet now rowed from Artemisium to Salamis to assist with the final evacuation of Athens. ''En route'' Themistocles left inscriptions addressed to the [[Ionia]]n Greek crews of the Persian fleet on all springs of water that they might stop at, asking them to defect to the Allied cause.<ref>{{cite book|last=Dandamaev|first=E. A.|date=1989|title=A Political History of the Achaemenid Empire|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ms30qA6nyMsC&pg=PA204|location=Leiden, The Netherlands|publisher=E. J. Brill|isbn=90-04-09172-6|page=204}}</ref><!-- {{quote|Men of Ionia, that what you are doing is not proper, campaigning against your fathers and wishing to enslave Greece. It would be best if you came on our side. But if this is not possible, at least during the battle stand aside and also beg the [[Caria]]ns to do the same with you. But if you can not do either the one or the other, if you are chained by higher force and you can not defect during the operations, when we come at hand, act purposely as cowards remembering that we are of the same blood and that the first cause of animosity with the barbarians came from you.''<ref>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;layout=;query=chapter%3D%231325;loc=8.23.1 VIII, 22]</ref>}} --> Following Thermopylae, the Persian army proceeded to burn and sack the [[Boeotia]]n cities that had not surrendered, [[Plataea]] and [[Thespiae]], before marching on the now evacuated city of Athens.<ref>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231353;layout=;loc=8.49.1 VIII, 50]</ref> The Allies (mostly Peloponnesian) prepared to defend the Isthmus of Corinth, demolishing the single road that led through it, and building a wall across it.<ref>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231380;layout=;loc=8.72.1 VIII, 71]</ref>

This strategy was flawed, however, unless the Allied fleet was able to prevent the Persian fleet from transporting troops across the Saronic Gulf. In a council-of-war called once the evacuation of Athens was complete, the Corinthian naval commander [[Adeimantus of Corinth|Adeimantus]] argued that the fleet should assemble off the coast of the Isthmus in order to achieve such a blockade.<ref name = h302>Holland, pp.302–303</ref> However, Themistocles argued in favour of an offensive strategy, aimed at decisively destroying the Persians' naval superiority. He drew on the lessons of Artemisium, pointing out that ''"battle in close conditions works to our advantage"''.<ref name = h302/> He eventually won through, and the Allied navy remained off the coast of Salamis.<ref>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231369;layout=;loc=8.62.1 VIII, 63]</ref>

The timeline for Salamis is difficult to establish with any certainty.<ref name = L164/> Herodotus presents the battle as though it occurred directly after the capture of Athens, but nowhere explicitly states as much. If Thermopylae/Artemisium occurred in September, then this may be the case, but it is probably more likely that the Persians spent two or three weeks capturing Athens, refitting the fleet, and resupplying.<ref name = L164>Lazenby, pp.164–167</ref> Clearly though, at some point after capturing Athens, Xerxes held a council of war with the Persian fleet; Herodotus says this occurred at [[Phalerum]].<ref name = VIII68/> [[Artemisia I of Caria|Artemisia]], queen of [[Halicarnassus]] and commander of its naval squadron in Xerxes's fleet, tried to convince him to wait for the Allies to surrender believing that battle in the straits of Salamis was an unnecessary risk.<ref name = VIII68>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231374;layout=;loc=8.68A%201 VIII, 68]</ref> Nevertheless, Xerxes and his chief advisor [[Mardonius (nephew of Darius I)|Mardonius]] pressed for an attack.<ref>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231378;layout=;loc=8.68C%201 VIII, 69]</ref>

It is difficult to explain exactly what eventually brought about the battle, assuming that neither side simply attacked without forethought.<ref name = L164/> Clearly though, at some point just before the battle, new information began to reach Xerxes of rifts in the allied command; the Peloponnesians wished to evacuate from Salamis while they still could.<ref>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231383;layout=;loc=8.75.1 VIII, 74]</ref> This alleged rift amongst the Allies may have simply been a ruse, in order to lure the Persians to battle.<ref name = h310/>  Alternatively, this change in attitude amongst the Allies (who had waited patiently off the coast of Salamis for at least a week while Athens was captured) may have been in response to Persian offensive maneuvers.<ref name = L164/> Possibly, a Persian army had been sent to march against the Isthmus in order to test the nerve of the fleet.<ref name = L164/><ref name = h310/>

Either way, when Xerxes received this news, he ordered his fleet to go out on patrol off the coast of Salamis, blocking the southern exit.<ref name = h310/> Then, at dusk, he ordered them to withdraw, possibly in order to tempt the Allies into a hasty evacuation.<ref name = h310>Holland, pp.310–315</ref> That evening Themistocles attempted what appears to have been a spectacularly successful use of disinformation. He sent a servant, [[Sicinnus]], to Xerxes, with a message proclaiming that Themistocles was ''"on the king's side and prefers that your affairs prevail, not the Hellenes"''.<ref name = VIII75>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231384;layout=;loc=8.76.1 VIII, 75]</ref>  Themistocles claimed that the Allied command was in-fighting, that the Peloponnesians were planning to evacuate that very night, and that to gain victory all the Persians needed to do was to block the straits.<ref name = VIII75/> In performing this subterfuge, Themistocles seems to have been trying to bring about exactly the opposite; to lure the Persian fleet into the Straits.<ref name = h310/> This was exactly the kind of news that Xerxes wanted to hear; that the Athenians might be willing to submit to him, and that he would be able to destroy the rest of the Allied fleet.<ref name = h310/> Xerxes evidently took the bait, and the Persian fleet was sent out that evening to effect this block.<ref name = VIII76>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126&layout=&loc=8.76 VIII, 76]</ref> Xerxes ordered a throne to be set up on the slopes of [[Mount Aigaleo]] (overlooking the straits), in order to watch the battle from a clear vantage point, and so as to record the names of commanders who performed particularly well.<ref name = h318/>

According to Herodotus, the Allies spent the evening heatedly debating their course of action.<ref>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231389;layout=;loc=8.79.1 VIII, 78]</ref> The Peloponnesians were in favour of evacuating,<ref>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126&layout=&loc=8.70 VIII, 70]</ref> and at this point, Themistocles attempted his ruse with Xerxes.<ref name = VIII75/> It was only when [[Aristides]], the exiled Athenian general arrived that night, followed by some deserters from the Persians, with news of the deployment of the Persian fleet,<ref>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231388;layout=;loc=8.80.1 VIII, 81]</ref><ref>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231391;layout=;loc=8.83.1 VIII, 82]</ref> that the Peloponnesians accepted that they could not escape, and so would fight.<ref name = VIII83/>

However, the Peloponnesians may have been party to Themistocles's stratagem, so serenely did they accept that they would now have to fight at Salamis.<ref>Holland, p.316</ref> The Allied navy was thus able to prepare properly for battle the forthcoming day, whilst the Persians spent the night fruitlessly at sea, searching for the alleged Greek evacuation. The next morning, the Persians rowed into the straits to attack the Greek fleet; it is not clear when, why or how this decision was made, but it is clear that they did take the battle to the Allies.<ref name = h318>Holland, p.318</ref>