Another Savior of Athens, Rewarded With Ingratitude
Persian ships packed in an ever-tighter space fouled each other and couldn’t maneuver well. Simultaneously, more and more Persian captains, eager to impress Xerxes who was watching the battle from a nearby hilltop, rushed in, adding their ships to the growing jam. To make things worse, the waters off Salamis were tricky. The Greeks knew their secrets, but the Persians did not. All those factors combined to bring about a decisive Greek victory, in which the Greeks lost about 40 ships, while the Persians lost about 300. Casualties were even more lopsided. Many Greeks who ended up in the water swam to the safety of nearby Salamis. Persians, by contrast, were either shot by arrows as they neared Salamis, or were slaughtered when they reached shore. The Battle of Salamis turned the war around and saved Greece from the Persians.
King Xerxes, who until then had personally commanded the campaign, hurriedly returned home. He left behind a formidable army under a relative to continue the campaign. It was defeated and destroyed the following year at the Battle of Plataea. When the Athenians returned to their destroyed city, their Spartan allies asked them not to rebuild the city’s walls as a sign of good faith. Themistocles led a delegation to negotiate with the Spartan authorities, and dragged out the negotiations while the Athenians feverishly rebuilt their walls. By the time the Spartan negotiators caught on, the walls had already been restored. Afterwards, Themistocles’ political fortunes declined. He had saved Athens, but the Athenians were not big on gratitude: they ostracized and exiled him some years after Salamis. Nimbly, he went to Persia, and ended his days governing some Greek cities in Asia Minor on behalf of the Persian monarch.