In the year 480 B.C. the mighty Persian king Xerxes, decided to conquer Greece. Under his flag he aggregated the most powerful army that ever marched throw the world (Herodotus say that it was about 1,7 million of foot soldiers and 1200 ships). All Greece cities on the peninsula of Peloponnesian have to conclude alliance against him. The first battle of this horrible, exhausting war was the battle of mountain pass of Thermopiles, where the Persians gain victory through disgusting betrayal. For three days, King Leoniadas and his three hundreds warriors from Sparta with seven thousand combatants from other cities beat back the superior Persians. But on the fourth day Efialtus of Malida conducted the enemy throw secret mountain path to the Greeks back. When Leonidas discovered that the battle is lost, he send all the soldiers fro other cities back to main Greek army and stayed there and fight with the Persians to death.
In the same time Persian fleet tried to get throw a narrow gully near the cape of Artemision. Before the battle the Greeks on the base of an oracle call on Boreas, the god of wind for help. He inclines their ears and caused a gale that destroyed four hundred of Persian ships, however, enemy superiority was still retained. The Athenian fleet (most of the ships where from Athens), leaded by Themistocles, divided in two lines captured position in mouth of the gully. First day the Persians tried with two hundreds of ships to sail round the isle of Skiathos and attack the Greeks from the south. It was a good plan, but the weather was still bad and the Persians didn’t know the territory well, so whole the squadron was lost on the cliffs in the dark. The Persians arithmetical wanted to elicit Greek ships from the gully to use their domination but without success. After the defeat of land army Themistocles decided bear back and sailed to isle of Salamis.
Salamis is a small isle near Athens divided from the shore by narrow gully. The Greek ships captured position with wings leaning against the shore. Xerxes have to get rid of Greek fleet, because it threaded supply of his land army. He wanted to elicit the Greeks to high seas wasn’t successful. Themistkles wanted to fight near the shore, so he worked out an art. The Greeks send one man to Xerxes, which announced that the Greeks want to leave the gully and fall back to Korinth. After that Xerxes come to a decision to accept battle. The fight was initiated by Persian ships.

First attack was laeded by Phoenician squadron on the right wing. Against them stand the left wing of the Greeks, Athenian squadron leaded by Themistokles. In this first conflict Persian flagship, with the leader of the fleet was destroyed and Greeks gain the upper hand. On the right wing was the situation more complicated but finally Greeks win. The battle at salamis was the beginning of Greek victory in the long Greek-Persian wars. King Xerxes (He observed the fight from golden throne on the shore and saw catastrophic defeat of his fleet) never captured free Greek cities.

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Battle of salamis