The Four Gentile World Empires

The Medo-Persian Empire

The Medo-Persian Empire- Est 2:8XERXES I • While the land battle took place at the pass of Thermopylae, the sea battle took

place at the Straits of Artemesium • Both sides suffered losses but the Persians far more, including half of their ships

(600 out of 1,200) to storms alone • With concurrent battles on land and sea, the Greeks assigned two scouts to carry

news from one side to the other regarding the outcome of each conflict • Themistocles and the Greek navy had successfully withstood the Persian navy at

Artemisium for two days, but when they received tidings of the outcome at Thermopylae, they decided to withdraw to Salamis

• Themistocles tried to persuade the Ionians and Carians to come to the side of the Greeks, or withdraw from the fight altogether since they were kin (The Histories, 8.15-22)

• Since the Greeks sailed past Thermopylae on their way to Salamis, Xerxes invited them to view the battlefield, but only after he buried 19,000 of the 20,000 slain Persian soldiers, while leaving all 4,000 slain Greeks in the field to make it look like far many more Greeks died in the battle than Persians

• Since Xerxes had all 4,000 dead Greeks put in one spot, no one was deceived (The Histories, 8.24-25)

XERXES I • Following Thermopylae, Xerxes

and his armies took all of the regions of Euboea (pronounced You-bee-uh), Phocis, Boeotia (pronounced Bee-oh-shuh), and Attica

• They marched to Delphi to plunder the temple and give the riches to Xerxes

• The Delphians consulted the Oracle about hiding the treasures but were told to leave them untouched, and all but 60 men evacuated the city

• As the Persians approached the temple of Minerva, a thunderstorm appeared and two crags of rock split off from Mt. Parnassus, and rolled down upon them crushing vast numbers

• The Persians fled in terror and some were struck down (The Histories, 8.35-39)

Delp

The Medo-Persian Empire- Est 2:8XERXES I • The Persian armies reached Athens four months after they crossed the

Hellespont • The city had been evacuated except for the very poor and a few remaining in the

temple to guard the treasures • The Persians encamped at Mars’ Hill and were met with minimal but resilient

resistance by the few remaining Athenians • The Persians eventually captured the city and massacred those who remained,

and burned the city to the ground (The Histories, 8.51-54) • The Greek fleet arrived at Salamis, where there was many more ships than at

Artemesium because more Greek city-states had joined the fight • The Greeks had a total of 380 ships at Salamis (counting the two that later

defected, The Histories, 8.82), of which 180 were from Athens • Eurybiades (pronounced Your-ib-ee-uh-deez) presided over a war council whose

majority advised that the Greeks should make their defense at the Isthmus of Corinth rather than at Salamis

• A messenger arrived with word that the Persians reached Athens and ravaged and burned everything (The Histories, 8.40-50)

The Medo-Persian Empire- Est 2:8XERXES I • When the Greeks heard of the fall of Athens, they were so alarmed that some of

the captains did not wait for the council to vote before leaving to take their ships to the Isthmus, although the majority of the council did vote to depart for the Isthmus

• Themistocles was preparing his ship when he was met by an Athenian named Mnesiphilus, who warned him that if the fleet departed from Salamis some of the ships would scatter to their own homes rather than sail to Salamis to take a stand

• He urged Themistocles to convince Eurybiades to change his mind and keep the fleet at Salamis

• Themistocles knew that Xerxes strongly desired to strike swiftly and decisively and end the campaign as quickly as possible so he was convinced he could lure the Persian fleet into the straits of Salamis

• Themistocles went to Eurybiades’ ship and was able to convince him that it was best to stay at Salamis, so Eurybiades called the captains back to council

• As Eurybiades began to inform them that the purpose of the council was to announce a change in strategy and that they would make their stand at Salamis, Themistocles interjected (The Histories, 8.56-60)

The Medo-Persian Empire- Est 2:8XERXES I • He knew the captains had to be given a different reason for staying at Salamis

than he and Eurybiades suspected some of them would desert the battle; otherwise, they would be offended or angered

• Themistocles stated that the salvation of Greece rested with Eurybiades, if he only hearkened to him and engaged the enemy at Salamis rather than following the vote of the council to go to the Isthmus

• He argued that the Isthmus was open sea and played to the strength of Persian’s numbers but the straits of Salamis played to the Greek’s strength and would force the enemy to fight in a narrow front, just as at the pass of Thermopylae

Note: The terrain of Greece gave the Greeks a prohibitive “home field/court” advantage and their knowledge of how to use that terrain in battle was the key in overcoming the overwhelming numbers of the Persian forces. • He further argued that if the Greeks beat the Persians back at Salamis, the

Isthmus and Peloponnese (where Sparta was located) would be spared, but if they gave up Salamis and were defeated at the Isthmus, all of Greece would be lost

• Eurybiades made the formal decision to stay and fight at Salamis and the rest of the captains complied and prepared for battle (The Histories, 8.60,63-64)

The Medo-Persian Empire- Est 2:8XERXES I • The Battle of Salamis was a naval battle fought in September 480 BC and was

the turning point in the second Persian invasion of Greece- as the Battle of Thermopylae changed the MINDSET of the Greeks, so the Battle of Salamis changed the MOMENTUM and course of the war

• The Persian forces at the Battle of Salamis were just as many as those at the Battle of Artemesium due to new nations allying themselves with Xerxes

• The Persian fleet anchored at the port of Phalerum outside of Athens and Xerxes called for all the commanders to appear before him, so they all took their seats according to their ranks, with the king of Sidon seated first and Tyre second

• Xerxes knew if he could defeat the Greek allied navy at Salamis, he could probably force them to surrender; however, a defeat could effectively thwart the entire invasion

• So he sent his general, Mardonius, to question each commander one at a time, whether or not they should engage the Greeks in another sea battle

• All but one of the commanders spake with one consent that the king should engage the Greeks in battle

• The lone dissenting opinion came from Artemisia, the Queen of Caria (The Histories, 8.66-68)

The Medo-Persian Empire- Est 1:3-4

Thermopylae

Artemisium

Thessaly

Phocis

Boeotia

AtticaPELOPONNESUS

The Medo-Persian Empire- Est 2:8XERXES I • Artemisia I was the daughter of Lygdamis I, who was the satrap of the Greek

city-state of Halicarnassus (the birthplace of the Greek historian Herodotus), and a mother from Crete

• Her name is derived from the Greek goddess Artemis, the goddess of the hunt and the moon (the Roman equivalent is Diana)

• She became queen of Halicarnassus and the nearby islands of Kos, Nisyros, and Kalymnos, which were part of the Achaemenid satrapy of Caria (i.e.- western Anatolia), when her husband died

• She was the most trusted counsellor to Xerxes and the most favored of all his allies

• She was given command over five ships in the Persian fleet and fought for Xerxes against the independent Greek city-states during the second Persian invasion of Greece (The Histories, 7.99; 8:69)

• She was one of four commanders over the Persian fleet at the naval battles of Artemisium and Salamis in 480 BC, the others being Achaemenes, Ariabignes, and Damasithymos

• Following the Battle of Salamis, Artemisia was entrusted with the care of the illegitimate sons Xerxes had taken with him on the campaign

The Medo-Persian Empire- Est 1:3-4

Halicanarssus

CARIA

The Medo-Persian Empire- Est 2:8

The Medo-Persian Empire- Est 2:8XERXES I • Artemisia was the only commander who tried to persuade Xerxes not to engage

the Greeks in battle at sea • She told Mardonius to tell the king that she had proven herself not to be the worst

in sea battles and her deeds not inferior to that of others, and based upon this she would thus advise the king

“…This then is my advice. Spare thy ships, and do not risk a battle; for these people are as much superior to thy people in seamanship, as men to women. What so great need is there for thee to incur hazard at sea? Art thou not master of Athens, for which thou didst undertake thy expedition? Is not Greece subject to thee? Not a soul now resists thy advance…”- The Histories, 8.68 • She counseled Xerxes not to engage the Greeks in further naval battle because the

risk was too great; the Greeks were as stronger than the Persians as men were to women

• Besides which, Xerxes had already fulfilled the primary objective of the campaign which was to capture and burn Athens

• She further counselled him to either leave his ships offshore where they were or advance them to the Peloponnese where his land army would advance

• She stated that the Greeks could not hold out for long and would eventually disperse to their respective remaining city-states surrendering the Peloponnese in the process

The Medo-Persian Empire- Est 2:8XERXES I • She then warned Xerxes that if he moved forward with the sea battle, the losses

that would be incurred by the fleet would also impact the land armies • She concluded by boldly letting him know that even though he was the best of all

men, he had bad servants for allies and they had given him bad counsel (The Histories, 8.68)

• The other allies were shocked by Artemisia’s counsel and fully expected Xerxes to execute her for it since it was not what he wanted to hear

• When Mardonius conveyed all the counsel of the allies to Xerxes, he was greatly pleased by Artemisia’s counsel; she was already the most favored and highly commended, but now even more so

• Nevertheless, he gave orders to follow the majority opinion, convinced that the past naval defeats were due to his lack of visible presence, but he would be present to observe this battle (The Histories, 8.69)

• The Persian fleet set out for Salamis and the armies marched toward the Peloponnese

• When news reached the Peloponnese of the death of Leonidus and his men at Thermopylae, tens of thousands of the inhabitants banded together and labored day and night to build a great wall across the Isthmus of Corinth (The Histories, 8.70-71)

The Medo-Persian Empire- Est 2:8XERXES I • The Greek commanders grew restless again and wondered if they should rather

defend the Isthmus • Themistocles sent a messenger on a merchant ship to the Median fleet with the

message that the Athenian commander sent him privily without the knowledge of the other commanders, to inform the Persian fleet that the Greeks were fearful and fighting among themselves, and even considering a retreat

• He continued that the Greeks were divided and vulnerable, and that if Xerxes attacked now the Greeks would not be able to resist (The Histories, 8.74-75)

• The captains believed the messenger and sent a large number of Persian troops to the isle of Psyttaleia between Salamis and the mainland, and the fleet moved toward Salamis to enclose the Greeks

• While the Greeks continued to debate what to do, an Athenian named Aristides (pronounced Uh-ris-tuh-deez), an old rival of Themistocles, came from Egina to the council and asked to speak with Themistocles privately

• He acknowledged that they often opposed each other but told him that he had seen with his own eyes that the enemy had them enclosed and urged him to go back in and tell the council (The Histories, 8.76-79)

The Medo-Persian Empire- Est 2:8XERXES I • Themistocles told Aristides that this was his doing in order to ensure the Greeks

would fight at Salamis, and then urged him to go in and tell the council because they would not believe him if he did so

• Aristides went in and informed the council of what he had witnessed and advised them to get ready for battle but after he departed, the majority of the commanders did not believe him

• It was not until the commander of a Tenian ship that defected to the Greeks’ side came very shortly thereafter and confirmed the tidings of Aristides, that the Greeks believed and prepared for battle

• At dawn, all the men gathered and the commanders gave speeches, of which Themistocles’ was the most motivational

• The Greek fleet had scarcely left land when the Persians attacked • The Persians fought much better at Salamis than at Artemesium because they

knew Xerxes was directly observing the battle scene from Mount Aigaleo (pronounced Aye-gay-lee-oh) (i.e.- Egaleo), over against Salamis

• Artemisia, who was already held in the highest esteem by Xerxes, distinguished herself in battle in such a way that she was even more highly regarded (The Histories, 8.80-87)

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