Editing Battle of Salamis (section)

==Battle==
The battle of Salamis is not well described by ancient sources, and it is unlikely that anyone (other than perhaps Xerxes) involved in the battle had a clear idea what was happening across the width of the straits.<ref name = h310/><ref name="Holland, p399">Holland, p.399</ref> What follows is more of a discussion than a definitive account.

===Dispositions===
In the Allied fleet, the Athenians were on the left, and on the right were probably the Spartans (although Diodorus says it was the Megareans and Aeginetians); the other contingents were in the center.<ref name = VIII85/><ref name = DSXI18>Diodorus Siculus, Biblioteca Historica [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0084;query=chapter%3D%2394;layout=;loc=11.17.1 XI, 18]</ref>  The Allied fleet probably formed into two ranks, since the straits would have been too narrow for a single line of ships.<ref name="Lazenby, p187">Lazenby, p.187</ref> Herodotus has the Allied fleet in a line running north–south, probably with the northern flank off the coast of modern-day Saint George's Islet (''Ayios Georgis''), and the southern flank off the coast of Cape Vavari (part of Salamis).<ref name = L184>Lazenby, pp.184–185</ref> Diodorus suggests the Allied fleet was aligned east–west, spanning the straits between Salamis and Mount Aigaleo; however, it is unlikely that the Allies would have rested one of their flanks against Persian occupied territory.<ref name = L184/>

It seems relatively certain that the Persian fleet was sent out to block the exit from the Straits the evening before the battle. Herodotus clearly believed that the Persian fleet actually entered the Straits at nightfall, planning to catch the Allies as they fled.<ref>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231385;layout=;loc=8.75.1 VIII, 76]</ref> However, modern historians have greatly debated this point, with some pointing out the difficulties of maneuvering in this confined space by night, and others accepting Herodotus's version.<ref name = h320/><ref name = L181>Lazenby, p.181</ref> There are thus two possibilities; that during the night the Persians simply blocked the exit to the Straits, and then entered the straits in daylight; or that they entered the straits and positioned themselves for battle during the night.<ref name = h320/><ref name = L181/> Regardless of when they attempted it, it seems likely that the Persians pivoted their fleet off the tip of Cape Vavari, so that from an initial east–west alignment (blocking the exit), they came round to a north–south alignment (see diagram).<ref name = L174>Lazenby, pp.174–180</ref> The Persian fleet seems to have been formed into three ranks of ships (according to Aeschylus);<ref name = h310/> with the powerful Phoenician fleet on the right flank next to Mount Aigaleo, the Ionian contingent on the left flank and the other contingents in the centre.<ref name = VIII85>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231394;layout=;loc=8.84.1 VIII 85]</ref>

Diodorus says that the Egyptian fleet was sent to circumnavigate Salamis, and block the northern exit from the Straits.<ref name = DSXI17>Diodorus Siculus, Biblioteca Historica [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0084;query=chapter%3D%2393;layout=;loc=11.18.1 XI, 17]</ref> If Xerxes wanted to trap the Allies completely, this maneuver would have made sense (especially if he was not expecting the Allies to fight).<ref name = h310/> However, Herodotus does not mention this (and possibly alludes to the Egyptian presence in the main battle), leading some modern historians to dismiss it;<ref name = L174/> though again, others accept it as a possibility.<ref name = h310/> Xerxes had also positioned around 400 troops on the island known as [[Psyttaleia]], in the middle of the exit from the straits, in order to kill or capture any Greeks who ended up there (as a result of shipwreck or grounding).<ref name = h318/>

===Opening phase===
[[File:Greek triremes at Salamis.jpg|thumb|Greek [[trireme]]s at Salamis.]]
Regardless of what time they entered the straits, the Persians did not move to attack the Allies until daylight. Since they were not planning to flee after all, the Allies would have been able to spend the night preparing for battle, and after a speech by Themistocles, the marines boarded and the ships made ready to sail.<ref name = VIII83>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231392;layout=;loc=8.84.1 VIII, 83]</ref>
According to Herodotus, this was dawn, and as the Allies ''"were  putting out to sea the barbarians immediately attacked them"''.<ref name = VIII83/><ref name = VIII84/> If the Persians only entered the straits at dawn, then the Allies would have had the time to take up their station in a more orderly fashion.<ref name = h320/>

Aeschylus claims that as the Persians approached (possibly implying that they were not already in the Straits at dawn), they heard the Greeks singing their battle hymn ([[paean]]) before they saw the Allied fleet:

{{blockquote|<poem>{{lang|grc|ὦ παῖδες Ἑλλήνων ἴτε}}
{{lang|grc|ἐλευθεροῦτε πατρίδ᾽, ἐλευθεροῦτε δὲ}}
{{lang|grc|παῖδας, γυναῖκας, θεῶν τέ πατρῴων ἕδη,}}
{{lang|grc|θήκας τε προγόνων: νῦν ὑπὲρ πάντων ἀγών.}}

O sons of the Greeks, go,
Liberate your country, liberate
Your children, your women, the seats of your fathers' gods,
And the tombs of your forebears: now is the struggle for all things.</poem><ref>Aesch. Pers. 402-5. Available at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0011%3Acard%3D395. Editor's translation.</ref>}}

[[File:Battle of Salamis by Wilhelm von Kaulbach.jpg|thumb|Battle of Salamis, by [[Wilhelm von Kaulbach]] (detail).]]
Herodotus recounts that, according to the Athenians, as the battle began the Corinthians hoisted their sails and began sailing away from the battle, northwards up the straits. However, he also says that all the other Greeks denied this story.<ref name="VIII94">Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231403;layout=;loc=8.93.1 VIII, 94]</ref> If this did in fact occur, one possible interpretation is that these ships had been a decoy sent to reconnoitre the northern exit from the straits, in case the arrival of the encircling Egyptian detachment was imminent (if indeed this also occurred).<ref name = h320/> Another possibility (not exclusive of the former) is that the departure of the Corinthians triggered the final approach of the Persians, suggesting as it did that the Allied fleet was disintegrating.<ref name = h320>Holland, pp.320–326</ref> At any rate, if they indeed ever left, the Corinthians soon returned to the battle.<ref name = VIII94/>

Approaching the Allied fleet in the crowded Straits, the Persians appear to have become disorganised and cramped in the narrow waters.<ref name = DSXI18/><ref name = h320/> Moreover, it would have become apparent that, far from disintegrating, the Greek fleet was lined up, ready to attack them.<ref name="Lazenby, p187"/><ref name = h320/> However, rather than attacking immediately, the Allies initially appeared to back their ships away as if in fear.<ref name = VIII84>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231393;layout=;loc=8.83.1 VIII, 84]</ref> According to [[Plutarch]], this was to gain better position, and also in order to gain time until the early morning wind.<ref>Plutarch. Themistocles, 14</ref> Herodotus recounts the legend that as the fleet had backed away, they had seen an apparition of a woman, asking them "Madmen, how far will ye yet back your ships?"<ref>Herodotus VIII, 84; Macaulay translation cf. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126&layout=&loc=8.84.1 Godley translation]</ref> However, he more plausibly suggests that whilst the Allies were backing water, a single ship shot forward to ram the nearest Persian vessel. The Athenians would claim that this was the ship of the Athenian Ameinias of [[Pallene, Chalcidice|Pallene]]; the Aeginetans would claim it as one of their ships.<ref name = VIII84/> The whole Greek line then followed suit and made straight for the disordered Persian battle line.<ref name = VIII86>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231395;layout=;loc=8.85.1 VIII, 86]</ref>

===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/>

{| class="toccolours" style="float:right; margin-left:0; margin-right:1em; font-size:85%; background:#c6dbf7; color:black; width:25em; max-width:30%;" cellspacing="5"
| style="text-align: center;" |
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>