jan 2, 480 BC - Battle of Salamis
Description:
Turning point in the Persian War
Naval battle in the Bay of Salamis
Themistocles (Father of the Athenian Navy) felt this was the one place they could have a decided advantage. Persians sealed off the bay so there could be no escape for either party.
Goal: smash into enemy ship and sink them (had bronze battering rams on the stern to ram and sink others). 200 Persian ships were lost, 40 Athenian ships lost.
The persians drowned because they didn’t know how to swim, and the Athenians just swam to shore because they knew how to swim.
When the persian ships went down their means of getting supplies were completely lost, and it was the deciding factor that won the war.
Added to timeline:
BYU The Classical Tradition 1: Antiquity to the Renaissance CL CV 201 Test #2 Timeline
Historical events and people covered in Test #2
Persian War,...
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