Home > Battle of Artemisium

The Battle of Artemisium was a naval battle between an alliance of Greek city-states and the Persians in 480 BC. According to tradition it took place on the same day as the Battle of Thermopylae on August 11, 480, but it may have been a few days before or after.

1 Background

The Greek force, according to Herodotus, consisted of 127 triremes from Athens and Plataea, 20 from Athens and ChalcisChalcis the chief town of the island of Euboea in Greece, situated on the strait of the Euripus at its narrowest point. Sometimes it is spelled "Chalkis", which is more faithful to the original Greek spelling "Χαλκ". The reason why, 40 from Corinth, 20 from MegaraMegara is an ancient city in Attica, Greece, on the Saronic Gulf opposite the island of Salamis, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, before being taken by Athens. Megara was one of the four districts of Attica, embodied in the four mythic sons of K, 18 from AeginaThis article is about the island. For the Greek mythological figure, see Aegina (mythology). For the asteroid, see 91 Aegina. The word also refers to the main town on the island of Aegina. Aegina (Egina), one of the Saronic Islands of Greece in the Saroni, 12 from Sicyon, 10 from Sparta, 8 from Epidaurus, 7 from Eretria, 5 from Troezen , 2 from Styra, and 2 from Ceos. There were also 9 other ships (penteconters, fifty-oared ships). In order to preserve the unity of the force, the Athenians, the most skilled of the Greeks in naval matters, allowed the fleet to be led by Eurybiades of Sparta. The Greek fleet planned to meet the Persians off of Artemisium on Euboea, and had probably been planning a battle for approximately the same date as Thermopylae.

2 Battle

The Persians at first met the Greeks off the coast of Thessaly, at Aphetae, close to Thermopylae, as the Athenian commander Themistocles attempted to delay the Persians while the island of Euboea was being evacuated. The Persians sent 200 ships around the south of Euboea, hoping to trap the Greeks in the channel, but a Persian defector warned the Greeks of this plan. A Greek squadron set out to meet them, so the Persians sent out some ships of their own to capture them. The Greek triremes surrounded these ships, and although they were outnumbered, were able to defeat them with the rams on their bows, and captured thirty Persian ships. The Persian fleet retreated for the night, and all 200 Persian ships still sailing around Euboea were destroyed in a sudden violent storm that same night. The next day 53 more Athenian ships arrived, and a Greek raid destroyed some Persian scout ships.

The following day (August 11 if the tradition of the simultaneous battles is to be believed), the Persians sailed towards the Greek fleet, forming a semi-circle in an attempt to trap them off Artemisium. Here the size of the Persian fleet worked against them, as they could not manoeuvre in the strait, and much of the fleet was destroyed by the Greeks. Five Greek ships were captured by the Egyptian contingent, while the Athenian Cleinias , the father of Alcibiades, single-handedly sank a large number of Persian ships.