The naval Battle of Artemisium took place, according to tradition, on the same day as the Battle of Thermopylae on August 11, 480 BC, though its exact date may be a few days prior or after (Prentice, 13). It was fought between an alliance of Greek city-states and the Persians in 480 BC. The Greco-Persian Wars or Persian Wars were a series of conflicts between the Greek world and the Persian Empire that started about 500 BC and lasted until 448 BC. The term can also refer to the continual warfare of the Roman Empire and Byzantine Empire against the Parthians and... Events King Xerxes I of Persia sets out to conquer Greece. ... Euboea or Negropont (Modern Greek: Εύβοια Evia, Ancient Greek Εúβοια Eúboia; see also List of traditional Greek place names), is the largest island of the Greek archipelago. ... The Persian Empire was a series of historical empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau (Irān - Land of the Aryans[1]) and beyond. ... A city-state is a region controlled exclusively by a city. ... The Persian Empire was a series of historical empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau (Irān - Land of the Aryans[1]) and beyond. ... Eurybiades was the Spartan commander in charge of the Greek navy during the Persian Wars. ... Coordinates 37°4′ N 22°26′ E Country Greece Periphery Peloponnese Prefecture Laconia Population 18,184 source (2001) Area 84. ... Themistocles (ca. ... Nickname: City of Athena or Cradle of Democracy Location of the city of Athens (red dot) within the Prefecture of Athens and Periphery of Attica Coordinates: Country Greece Peripheries Attica Prefecture Athens Founded circa 2000 BC Mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis Area    - City 38. ... Temple of Apollo at Corinth Corinth, or Korinth (Κόρινθος) is a Greek city, on the Isthmus of Corinth, the original isthmus, the narrow stretch of land that joins the Peloponnesus to the mainland of Greece. ... Bust of Herodotus Herodotus of Halicarnassus (Greek: , Herodotos Halikarnasseus) was a Dorian Greek historian who lived in the 5th century BC (484 BC - ca. ... Combatants Greek city states, particularly Athens and Sparta Persian Empire and allied Greek states Commanders Miltiades, Themistocles, Leonidas I, Pausanias, Kimon, Pericles Mardonius, Datis, Artaphernes, Xerxes I, Megabyzus The Greco-Persian Wars or Persian Wars or Medic Wars were a series of conflicts between several Greek city-states and the... Combatants Naxos Persia, Ionia, Naxian exiles Commanders Unknown Aristagoras, Megabates Strength 8,000 men and a large amount of ships Large number of men and 200 ships Casualties Light Heavy The Siege of Naxos (500 BC-499 BC) was a battle fought between the Persians under Megabates with aid from... The Battle of Ephesus (498 BC) was a battle in the Ionian Revolt. ... The Battle of Lade was fought in 494 BC between the Ionians and the Persians. ... Combatants Naxos Persia Commanders Unknown Datis, Artaphernes Strength 8,000 men and a large amount of ships 20,000-60,000 men, Around 600 ships (Modern Estimates) Casualties Heavy Light The Siege of Naxos (490 BC) was fought between the people of Naxos and the Persians under the command of... Combatants Eretria Persia, Cyclades Commanders Aeschines Datis, Artaphernes Strength Unknown 20,000-60,000 men, Around 600 ships Casualties Heavy Heavy The Siege of Eretria was fought by the Eretrians who were invaded by the Persians under the command of Datis and Artaphernes. ... Combatants Athens and Plataea Persia Commanders Miltiades Callimachus† Darius I of Persia Datis†? Artaphernes Strength 10,000 Athenians 1,000 Plataeans 20,000-60,000 by modern estimates 1 Casualties 192 Athenians dead 11 Plateans dead 6,400 dead 7 ships captured 1 Ancient sources give numbers ranging from 200... Combatants Greek-city states Persian Empire Commanders Leonidas I of Sparta † Xerxes I of Persia Strength 300 Spartans 700 Thespians 6,000 other Greek allies2 Over 200,000, possibly multiple times that number1 Casualties 300 Spartans and 700 Thespians; 1,500 Greek allies in total. ... Combatants Greek city-states Persia Halicarnassus Commanders Eurybiades of Sparta Themistocles of Athens Adeimantus of Corinth Aristides of Athens Xerxes I of Persia Ariamenes † Artemisia Strength 366-380 ships 1 1000 - 1207 ships [1]2 Casualties 40 ships 200 ships 1 Herodotus gives 378 of the alliance, but the numbers... Combatants Greek city-states Persia Commanders Pausanias Mardonius† Strength 100,000 (Pompeius) 110,000 (Herodotus) 120,000 (Ctesias) 300,000 (Herodotus, Plutarch). ... Combatants Greek city-states Persia Commanders Leotychides Artaÿntes Strength About 50 000 Unknown Casualties Unknown Unknown The Battle of Mycale was one of the two major battles that ended the Persian invasion of Greece, during the Greco-Persian Wars. ... Combatants Delian League Persia Commanders Cimon Unknown Strength Unknown 200 ships Casualties The naval Battle of the Eurymedon took place between 470 BC and 466 BC on the Eurymedon River in Pamphylia in Asia Minor, and was between the Athenian-led Delian League and Persia. ... Combatants Delian League Persia Commanders Cimon † Anaxicrates Strength 300 triremes estimated 800 ships Casualties 40 ships lost over 250 ships lost The Battle of Salamis took place around 450 BC near Salamis in Cyprus. ... Combatants Greek-city states Persian Empire Commanders Leonidas I of Sparta † Xerxes I of Persia Strength 300 Spartans 700 Thespians 6,000 other Greek allies2 Over 200,000, possibly multiple times that number1 Casualties 300 Spartans and 700 Thespians; 1,500 Greek allies in total. ... August 11 is the 223rd day of the year (224th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Events King Xerxes I of Persia sets out to conquer Greece. ... A city-state is a region controlled exclusively by a city. ... The Persian Empire was a series of historical empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau (Irān - Land of the Aryans[1]) and beyond. ... Events King Xerxes I of Persia sets out to conquer Greece. ...

Background

The Greek force, according to Herodotus, consisted of 127 triremes from Athens and Plataea, 20 from Athens and Chalcis, 40 from Corinth, 20 from Megara, 18 from Aegina, 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. A Greek trireme Triremes (Greek Τριήρεις) are several different types of ancient warships. ... Nickname: City of Athena or Cradle of Democracy Location of the city of Athens (red dot) within the Prefecture of Athens and Periphery of Attica Coordinates: Country Greece Peripheries Attica Prefecture Athens Founded circa 2000 BC Mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis Area    - City 38. ... Please wikify (format) this article as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... Chalcis or Chalkida, Halkida, Halkis or Chalkis (Greek, Modern: Χαλκίδα, Ancient/Katharevousa: -is), the chief town of the island of Euboea in Greece, situated on the strait of the Euripus at its narrowest point. ... Temple of Apollo at Corinth Corinth, or Korinth (Κόρινθος) is a Greek city, on the Isthmus of Corinth, the original isthmus, the narrow stretch of land that joins the Peloponnesus to the mainland of Greece. ... Megara (Greek: Μέγαρα; see also List of traditional Greek place names) is an ancient city in Attica, Greece. ... Coordinates 37°45′ N 23°26′ E Country Greece Periphery Attica Prefecture Piraeus Population 13,552 source (2001) Area 87. ... Sicyon was an ancient Greek city situated in the northern Peloponnesus between Corinth and Achaea. ... Coordinates 37°4′ N 22°26′ E Country Greece Periphery Peloponnese Prefecture Laconia Population 18,184 source (2001) Area 84. ... Panoramic view of the theater at Epidaurus Epidaurus (Epidauros) was a small city (polis) in ancient Greece at the Saronic Gulf. ... This is an article about the Greek city of Eretria. ... Troezen (TREE-zun) is a city in Argolis located southwest of Athens and a few miles south of Methana. ... Styra (Greek: Στύρα) is a town on the southwestern shore of Euboea, facing the eastern shore of Attica across the Euboic Gulf. ... Khios, or Chios as most Greek English speakers know the island, is a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. ... Eurybiades was the Spartan commander in charge of the Greek navy during the Persian Wars. ... Artemisium is a cape north of Euboea, Greece. ... Euboea or Negropont (Modern Greek: Εύβοια Evia, Ancient Greek Εúβοια Eúboia; see also List of traditional Greek place names), is the largest island of the Greek archipelago. ...

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. Map showing Thessaly periphery in Greece Thessaly (Θεσσαλια; modern Greek Thessalía; see also List of traditional Greek place names) is one of the 13 peripheries of Greece, and is further sub-divided into 4 prefectures. ... Thermopylae - thurMAH-puh-ly, thuhr-MOP-uh-lee (Ancient & Katharevousa Greek Θερμοπύλαι, Demotic Θερμοπύλες) is a mountain pass in Greece. ... Themistocles (ca. ... Euboea or Negropont (Modern Greek: Εύβοια Evia, Ancient Greek Εúβοια Eúboia; see also List of traditional Greek place names), is the largest island of the Greek archipelago. ...

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 a disproportionate amount 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. However, the Greek fleet also suffered heavy casualties; acording to Herodotus' records, roughly half of the Athenian fleet was destroyed or damaged beyond repair. Although it is almost unanimously believed that in absolute terms and not percentage-wise, Persia lost more ships than the Greek allies at Artemisium. Cleinias was a tyrant of the ancient Greek city-state of Sicyon in the 3rd century BC. He came into power when the citizens deposed Euthydemus and Timocleidas. ... Alcibiades Cleiniou Scambonides (Greek: ; English /ælsɪbaɪədi:z/; 450 BC–404 BC), also transliterated as Alkibiades, was a prominent Athenian statesman, orator, and general. ...

Aftermath

The two sides withdrew once more, and the Greeks learned of the defeat of Leonidas at Thermopylae. Discouraged by their own losses in the battle and the retreat of the land armies, the Greeks began to retreat from Artemisium, heading south along the coast of Euboea. During the retreat, Themistocles left messages for the Ionian contingents of the Persian fleet, urging them to defect to their fellow Greeks. Meanwhile, the Persians sacked Artemisium. The Athenians under Themistocles went to Salamis Island, where their fellow citizens had fled after Xerxes I captured their city following his victory at Thermopylae. Themistocles would lead the fleet at the Battle of Salamis the next month. Leonidas can refer to: Leonidas I, king of Sparta, ruled c. ... Ionia (Greek Ιωνία; see also List of traditional Greek place names) was an ancient region of southwestern coastal Anatolia (now in Turkey) on the Aegean Sea. ... The Greek island of Salamis (Greek, Modern: Σαλαμίνα Salamina, Ancient/Katharevousa: Σαλαμίς Salamis) is the largest island in the Saronic Gulf, about 1 nautical mile (2 km) off-coast from Piraeus. ... Xerxes I (خشایارشاه), was a Persian king (reigned 485 - 465 BC) of the Achaemenid dynasty. ... Combatants Greek city-states Persia Halicarnassus Commanders Eurybiades of Sparta Themistocles of Athens Adeimantus of Corinth Aristides of Athens Xerxes I of Persia Ariamenes † Artemisia Strength 366-380 ships 1 1000 - 1207 ships [1]2 Casualties 40 ships 200 ships 1 Herodotus gives 378 of the alliance, but the numbers...

References

• Prentice, William. "Thermopylae and Artemisium." Transactions of the American Philological Society 51 (1920), 5-18.

External links

The Academic Publishing Wiki has a journal article about this subject:

The struggle for Greece: Marathon and Artemision

• Livius Picture Archive: the naval battle of Artemisium (480 BCE)
• Reed Classics, extracts from Herodotus Book Eight