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Ancient Greece

Lesson 2: Herodotus and the Persian Wars

The Battle of Salamis

Having overcome the defenders of Thermopylae, Xerxes’ army proceeded into Greece.

Herodotus records that one part of the Persian army was dispatched to destroy the sacred city of Delphi. In his version of events, the advancing Persians were suddenly struck by thunderbolts from the sky, and by two massive rocks that had been torn off from Mount Parnassus. The Persians then fled in panic and the Delphians came out of their city and routed them.

As the Persians approached, the Athenians frantically debated their next move.

A prediction had been given to the Athenians by the Delphic Oracle that ‘the wooden wall’ would save Athens.

Some Athenians took this to mean that they should literally construct a wooden wall around the Acropolis and that this would be their salvation. Others interpreted this as meaning that Athens would be saved by her fleet, and accordingly evacuated the city.

Xerxes army took possession of the city of Athens, the fortified Acropolis was taken by storm and the defenders massacred. The temples on the Acropolis were burned to the ground by the invading Persians.

Xerxes triumphantly dispatched a rider to Susa to proclaim his victory but he was assuming too much. The mere act of taking Athens had not ended the war, for the Greek fleet was still in existence.

What happened next is again highly conjectural. Herodotus as usual gives us a highly dramatised version of events. In his account the Athenian admiral Themistocles tricks Xerxes into attacking the Greek fleet just before all the allied ships dispersed. It is equally possible that the over-confident Persians stupidly attacked the Greek fleet, not expecting any serious resistance now that they had “won”.

Whatever the truth of Herodotus account may be, there is no doubt that the Persian fleet was thoroughly defeated by the combined naval forces of the Greek city-states at the following battle of Salamis.

Not only do we have the accounts of both Herodotus and the tragedian Aeschylus about the massive naval losses sustained by the Persians, but we do not see the Persians capable of any serious naval action for many years after this event.