The Great Battle of Salamis – Achaemenid and Greek war

(Battle of Salamis) The name of the third war, from the series of the second period Wars between Iran and Greece Is. The second series of wars consisted of seven wars and took place from 480 to 479 BC between Xerxes and the Greek Empire..

Brief explanations about Xerxes

Xerxes is one of the Achaemenid kings . His father was Darius the Great and his mother Atusa was the daughter of Cyrus the Great . Darius had many sons, the eldest of whom was Artabarzen, who was from the daughter of Geobru, the first wife of Darius, but Darius chose Xerxes as his successor, who was the eldest son of Atossa, the daughter of Cyrus.. Xerxes came to the throne at the age of thirty-six.

Xerxes did not intend to use the internal differences of the Greeks and did not want to attack this country. But those around him, including Dariush's son-in-law Marduniyeh, considered the defeat of the Marathon battle to be the cause of Iran's defeat and called Xerxes to revenge.. The Greeks residing in the court of Iran, who were dissatisfied with the government of this country, requested Xerxes to attack Greece.. At that time, in Greece, independent governments called city governments ruled over each of the lands of this country..

The decision to attack Greece

Finally Xerxes went to Cappadocia in Asia Minor with the intention of attacking Greece and made this city the center of his command headquarters.. He was engaged in equipping the army for three whole years and finally, he mobilized a large army in which, according to Herodotus, there were 46 different races and peoples, and he moved to Greece in the spring of 480 BC.. Arabs, Indians, Persians, Medes, Scythians, Phoenicians, Egyptians and even the inhabitants of the Persian Gulf islands were also present in this campaign.. Of course, it should be noted that the Greek historians have exaggerated the number of Iranian troops in this campaign and sometimes they have mentioned up to five million people, but according to the new historians, the number of Xerxes' army was between eighty and three hundred thousand people.^[۱] Of course, not all of them were soldiers and many of them served as cooks, sailors, etc. in this army.

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The great battle of Thermopylae and the capture of Athens

The Battle of Thermopylae is one of the battles between Iran and Greece, which took place in 480 BC in the Strait of Thermopylae, between the troops of Leonidas, the king of Sparta, and the troops of Xerxes of Achaemenid.. Leonidas and his army killed themselves to secure the retreat of the people. After the conquest of Thermopylae by Iran, Athens was under a definite threat and the Athenians had to move with their women and children to the island of Salamis in the south of Athens.. It didn't take long for Athens to be captured by Xerxes' army and its citadel was burnt down in retaliation for the burning of Sardis by the Greeks during the time of Darius the Great.. ^[۲]

Naval Battle of Salamis

The documents of this war are unfortunately one-sided because all we know about this war are the things mentioned by the Greek historian Herodotus and there is no word in the eastern documents.. After the battle of Thermopylae and the conquest of Athens by Xerxes, the Iran-Greece war had actually ended, and another war was not really necessary, because the Iranian navy dominated the seas at that time..^[۳]

After hearing the news of the capture of Athens by Xerxes, the Greeks consulted. One of the elders of Athens named Themistocles believed that they should defend on the island of Salamis, but other Greeks said that it was a futile thing to defend a corner of a country whose heart is Athens. Now it is in the hands of the enemy and the ships must try to defend Peloponnese at sea. Themistocles, who saw that he could not accept his opinion to others, wrote a letter to the king of Iran and showed himself to be a supporter of Iran and said that since the Greeks are planning to escape, it is time for the Persian army to completely destroy them.. Xerxes believed the message to be true, the Egyptian fleet under the command of Iran captured Pennsylvania Island.. The Greeks were stuck on the island of Salamis, so they said, "We must either resist here or perish," and this is what Themistocles wanted..

According to Herodotus, Artemis satrap of Caria was the only one who opposed the Persian company before the war.. Before the start of the naval battle of Salamis, Xerxes asked all the local amirs and naval commanders for their opinion on the naval battle.. The answers were all in favor of the naval war with the Greek navy, except for Artemis's opinion, he said, "I, who have not been inferior to Ahad in all the battles of the king, in terms of bravery and sacrifice, my message is that you should not waste your forces needlessly and avoid naval battles. Because the Greeks are superior in the work of the sea. What is required in this work? But the Shah ordered that the majority vote be used and that the Shah personally oversee the course of the war. At the beginning of the war, Artemis, despite the initial opposition, took command of five warships and participated in the battle..^[۴]

Unlike the Greek ships that had adopted the formation of the line, the Iranian Navy attacked in a column due to the lack of space and suddenly came under the fire of the enemy forces.. The war continued until the night and in this war more than half of Iran's ships were destroyed and therefore the Iranian Corps retreated.. The Greeks, who did not realize their victory at first, saw with surprise the next morning that there was no news of Iranian ships! Themistocles said after this victory, "The jealousy of the gods did not want a single king to rule over Asia and Europe."

At the same time, Xerxes received bad news from Iran and therefore consulted his generals. Mardouniyeh's opinion was that he and a number of troops should remain in this land to completely conquer Greece, and Xerxes himself should return to Iran..

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