Xerxes, after his "magnificent" victory at Thermopylae, gathered his army and moved south. His goal was the conquest of Athens, in the first phase and the Peloponnese afterwards. Athens was the second most powerful Greek city, and the Persian king rightly believed that its subjugation would greatly weaken the common Greek effort. At the urging of Themistocles, Athens was also evacuated. The civilians were sent to Troizena, Aegina and Salamis, while the soldiers and ships were also concentrated on the Isthmus.
Xerxes' army invaded Attica and savagely plundered it. Then he invaded the city of Athens and easily neutralized the few defenders of the Acropolis who preferred to die in their city. He then leveled the city and sent a messenger to Susa to announce the "joyful" event. The fall of Athens however caused a crisis in the Greek camp as well. The Peloponnesians began to fortify the Isthmus, preparing to face the enemies there. The Greek fleet, consisting of 378 triremes, of which 180 were Athenian, had gathered in Salamis. The Persian fleet also concentrated on the eastern coast of Attica. The two rivals remained in their positions for three weeks. Xerxes expected the Greeks to split and the Peloponnesians to withdraw behind the Isthmus, leaving the Athenians to their fate.
There was tension in the Greek camp. Themistocles insisted that the Greek fleet battle in the straits of Salamis, where the Persian numerical superiority could be neutralized. But the Spartans and Corinthians reacted, accusing him of only being interested in the interests of his city. In the stormy council of war that followed there was great irritation, and the leader of the allied Greek fleet, the Spartan Eurybiades, raised his staff to strike Themistocles. He then told him the famous "knock but don't listen" , according to Plutarch. Finally, Themistocles, in order to convince the other admirals of the necessity of conducting the naval battle in the straits of Salamis, secretly sent to Xerxes his servant Sicinnus, who "confidentially" informed Xerxes that the Greeks allegedly intended to withdraw from area and it would be appropriate to attack and crush them.
The Persians fell into the trap and began to gather east of Salamis. At the same time, they sent another squadron of 200 ships towards the strait of Faneromeni - opposite today's Nea Peramos (Megalo Pefko) -, in order to exclude the Greeks from everywhere and destroy them. On the night of September 27 to 28, 480 BC . , the Persian armada slowly slipped into the waters of the Saronic. The Persians disembarked at Psytallia and took up battle positions with their backs on the Attic coast, from today's Palukia, to Keratopyrgos of Keratsini. The Greek fleet had also taken up positions from the Palukia of Salamis to Cape Ampelakia, with its back to the coast of Salamis. A small Corinthian squadron was detached from the rest of the fleet in order to guard the Persian squadron of 200 ships which was sent to surround the Greeks.
And Greek children...
The Greek fleet was now surrounded in the waters of Salamis. Every avenue of escape had been cut off and all that remained was the conflict with the enemies. The Persians deployed their fleet with a front of 300 ships, 3-4 rows deep. According to the eyewitness Aeschylus, the Persians had 1,207 ships in Salamis. On the right were the Phoenician ships – the Phoenicians were Xerxes' best sailors. The Ionian ships were lined up on the left and the rest in the center. The 200 ships sent to the strait of Phaneromeni were probably Egyptian. Xerxes himself would watch the naval battle from a golden throne which they set up for him on the slope of Mount Aegaleo.
The Greeks also developed their fleet. The best sailors of Greece, the Athenians, stood against the best sailors of Xerxes. On the right were the Peloponnesians and the Aeginites and in the center the ships of the other Greeks. The chief admiral was the Spartan Eurybiades. Themistocles was in command of the Athenian ships. At this point it should be mentioned that, based on the number of ships they had, it is unlikely that the Athenians lined up only on the left, since they had half of the total of 378 Greek ships. Most probably the Greek faction consisted of only two horns, the left under Themistocles and the right under Eurybiades. Another possibility is that the Greeks held the center with small forces, concentrating the elite Athenian fleet on the left, since they knew that the Phoenicians were the elite of the Persian navy and if they were crushed, nothing could deprive them of victory.
It is also worth noting that the Greeks had constant contact with their Ionian compatriots, who violently followed Xerxes, even before the battle of Thermopylae and the 3 sea battles at Cape Artemisium . The Ionians in many cases helped their countrymen by transmitting accurate information about the enemy. It is therefore logical for Themistocles and Eurybiades to assume that the Ionian triarchs would not fight so fanatically against them. After all, the night before the naval battle, as Diodorus reports, the Ionians secretly sent a Samian to inform the Greek admirals of the enemy's plan and the battle arrangement of the Persians. And this information probably has a basis. That is why the Greeks marched for battle in the manner mentioned. It is also reported that one trireme from Lemnos and one from Tinos left the Persian fleet where they had joined by force and joined the other Greeks bringing the number of Greek triremes to 380.
Having taken up their battle formations the two fleets faced each other. Herodotus mentions that the Greeks sailed against the Persians, but immediately turned back and retreated. It was another trick to lure the enemy. Confusion abounds as to how the naval battle began. In other words, the Aeginites maintained that they were the first to attack the enemies, while the Athenians maintained that they opened the battle. In reality the Greek fleet moved in a coordinated manner against the enemies. But not before his men, sailors, oarsmen and marines, sing together the paean, the famous "Forward children of the Greeks. Free your country, your children and women, your temples, the graves of your ancestors. Now in favor of everything the fight"! About 76,000 mouths simultaneously sang this paean, spreading shivers of emotion and furious excitement.
Immediately after, with rapid rowing, the Greek triremes moved forward. The Persian ships also moved with the intention of attacking the Greeks. Because of their number, however, combined with the narrowness of the space, confusion began to prevail in their lines. In fact, when the usual easterly wind began to blow, the ships of the Persian left drifted and fell on the ships of the center and these in turn on the ships of the right. When the entire Persian line was disorganized the experienced Greek triarchs attacked with the rams, the exposed sides of the Persian ships. Dozens of Persian ships soon ended up at the bottom!
Nevertheless, the largest of the Greek, Persian ships, counterattacked by attempting to attach themselves to the Greeks and overwhelm them by raiding the marines they were carrying. Then epic scenes unfolded. Persians and Greeks were becoming a tangle on the decks. Thousands of fiery arrows tore through the sky. Javelins, stones, leaden projectiles of slings, were thrust and struck. Men fell, drowned, cursed, spat in the opponent's face. With arms, with weapons, with oars, the crews of the two fleets were engaged in a deadly struggle. Only the Ionians seem to have maintained a cautious attitude.
The Athenians proved to be far superior to the Phoenicians. They succeeded and broke the opposing line at that point, driving half the Phoenician ships on the rocks. The Phoenicians were crushed, men and shipwrecks littered the shores. Xerxes watched the progress of the naval battle in amazement. It should be noted that the great hero of the moment was the Athenian captain Amenias , who, after breaking the Phoenician line, began to pursue the trireme of the queen of Halicarnassus Artemisia , which fought alongside the Persians and which the Athenians had proclaimed - with the sum of 10,000 drachmas - because they considered it bad for a woman to campaign against them.
To escape, Artemisia attacked a Persian trireme which she sank. Aminias, seeing the incident, thought that he had made a mistake and that it was a Greek ship. But Xerxes also considered that the ship that Artemisia had sunk was Greek and said:"my women fight as men and my men as women".
At the same time, the Egyptian squadron had been crushed by the Corinthians in the strait of Faneromeni. The Corinthian admiral Adeimantus was killed, fighting heroically at this point, although he had only 30 ships against the enemy's 200. In total the Persians lost about 400 ships, with at least 60,000 of their men. Also, one of their vassals who had occupied Psytallia was massacred by a Greek vassal led by Athenian Aristides (the so-called Dicaeus). The Greek fleet had lost only 40 ships. The plan of Themistocles had succeeded beyond measure.
The Greek victory at Salamis was of enormous importance. It was the first victory of the allied Greeks against the invaders. It was also a terrible blow to the prestige of Xerxes, especially towards his subject peoples. As mentioned, the Athenian Amenias remained famous, but also the Aeginetan Polykritos. Also distinguished was the Naxian captain Democritus, who sank 5 enemy ships.