Battle of Artemisium
Charging - Marathon - Thermopylae - Artemisium - Salamis - Plataea - Mycale - Eurymedon
The Battle of Artemision (also Battle of Cape Artemision ) took place in August 480 BC, the same time as the Battle of Thermopylae, during the Persian Wars, the Cape Artemision the Greek island of Euboea, between the Persian and a Greek fleet instead. It is regarded as one of the first known accurate naval battles.
- 2.1 History
- 2.2 output
- 2.3 reception
- 3.1 Literature
- 3.2 sources
Starting position
By Perserzug Xerxes I was Greece, with a numerically far inferior land army, partly disagree on the strategy a difficult task. The decision for Greece could fall to the lake just as Themistocles built a strong fleet and developed a strategy for sea defense had.
Persian army
As in the first Perserzug the Persian army took the overland route across the Hellespont; an existing fleet of 1200 ships, followed by sea. According to the histories of Herodotus, it is said to have acted to about 180,000 sailors and marines. The fleet consisted partly of new triremes, the rest from Pentekonteren. The majority came from the following countries:
Greek forces
The possibility raised by Themistocles Greek fleet consisted of 324 ships, which were mostly triremes and were asked the following cities:
The Battle
The Persian fleet, which was oriented during the Anmarsches on the Macedonian coast, fell in front of Magnesia in a heavy summer storm. Here, around a third of the comprehensive 1200 ships fleet went under.
Course
While the Spartans under Leonidas at Thermopylae took lineup, the Greek fleet marched on in the Straits of Artemisium, to cover the land army. To prevent the numerically powerful Persian fleet is fully revealed, the Greeks set up in a strait that was covered in the West from the mainland and to the east of the island of Euboea. The Persians tried to get a consisting of 200 ships bypass squadron to drive around the island of Evia and attack the Greeks from two sides. The Greeks sent this in turn receive a portion squadron of 53 ships. The Persian bypass Squadron but was destroyed almost completely by a storm. The same storm also brought several dozen ships of the Persian fleet main arriving in the Strait capsized. Then, the Greeks launched a successful advance and were able to bring several scattered ships in their violence.
After two days, the Persians attacked again. For these main battle the 53 delegates of the Greeks against the Persian bypass squadron ships returned on time and made an important support in the heavy fighting. Although the Greeks were able to hold the battlefield, they had to withdraw to Thermopylae after the defeat at the battle.
Output
The battle ended in a draw. Although the subsequent retreat of the Greeks meant that large parts of Greece were thus exposed to the Persians defenseless and Athens was evacuated on the advice of Themistocles, this eventually allowed the Greek victory in the held the following month decisive naval battle of Salamis.
Reception
While most of the indication of Herodotus is followed, the Persian fleet was the Greeks have been twice superior in numbers, Hans Delbrück points to the contradiction that there the Persians despite these stated superiority failed to defeat the Greek fleet and then the Greeks at Thermopylae to fall in the back. There is an attempt to clarify this fact with the fact that the Persian ships understood not play off by their size and poorly trained crews to their advantage. However, it is known that the Persian sailors were Greek and Phoenician mercenaries, who were considered the best sailors and shipbuilders of the world at that time. Concludes Delbrück that the fleets in number must have been equal. Herodotus reported that the Greeks expected more support, but they were too far away to even intervene at Artemision. This is another indication that the Greeks had every reason to settle the enemy, and to postpone the decision on the next battle. Some historians believe that the Persians did not send more than 600 ships in the Aegean Sea.