Ep. 036 – The Naval Battle of Artemisium – Part I

Today we open a chapter onto the naval Battle of Artemisium. We begin by considering a prophecy which illustrates the plight that Greece found herself in as the Persian army and navy entered Europe. We discuss the state of preparation in each relative camp as they made their respective preparations for the battle to come. We then discuss the regions in and around Artemisium and the island of Euboea, where the first naval battle of the war would take place. We consider the strategic advantages inherent in certain sites in the region, the theories about how large each navy would have been at this stage in history, and then we get into the opening moves of the chess game that would set up the conflict at Artemisium. A 'Hellesponter' makes a dramatic appearance, and we witness some mishaps at sea in Part One of our look at the naval Battle of Artemisium.

artemisium_map
artemisium_beach
A panorama looking over the Artemisium Channel, the view facing south toward the beaches where the Greek fleet was based.

Sources

  • Aeschylus, The Persians.
  • Bradford, Ernle, Thermopylae: The Battle for the West (1980).
  • Hale, John R., Lords of the Sea: The Epic Story of the Athenian Navy and the Birth of Democracy (2009).
  • Hammond, N.G.L., A History of Greece to 322 BC (1967).
  • Herodotus, The Histories (Robert Strassler, Ed., Andrea Purvis, Transl., 2007).
  • Holland, Tom, Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West (2005).
  • Martin, Thomas R., Ancient Greece: From Prehistoric to Hellenistic Times (1996).
  • Miles, Richard, Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization (2010).
  • Morrison, J.S., et al, The Athenian Trireme: The History and Reconstruction of an Ancient Greek Warship (2nd edition, 2000).
  • Nepos, Lives of Eminent Commanders, Themistocles, para. 6.
  • Paine, Lincoln, The Sea and Civilization: A Maritime History of the World (2013).
  • Peck, Rosemary, Athenian Naval Finance in the Classical Period: The trierarchy, its place in Athenian society, and how much did a trieres cost?, March 2001, BA Dissertation.
  • Plutarch, Life of Aristides in The Parallel Lives.
  • Plutarch, Life of Themistocles in The Parallel Lives.
  • Strauss, Barry, Salamis: The Battle that Saved Greece--and Western Civilization (2004).

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