The Battle of Artemisium delayed the Persian naval advance, buying time for the Greek alliance before the decisive confrontation at Salamis.
Key Facts
- Date
- August or September 480 BC
- Allied fleet size
- 271 triremes
- Persian fleet size
- approximately 1200 ships
- Persian ships lost to storms
- approximately one third of fleet
- Duration of engagement
- Three days
- Persian detachment around Euboea
- 200 ships, all shipwrecked in storm
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
The Persian invasion under Xerxes I was a response to the Greek defeat of the first Persian invasion at Marathon. Xerxes assembled a massive army and navy to conquer all of Greece. Athenian general Themistocles proposed a twin defensive strategy: blocking the Persian army at Thermopylae while simultaneously blocking the Persian fleet at the Straits of Artemisium, preventing the navy from outflanking the land forces.
A Greek allied fleet of 271 triremes engaged the Persian navy off the coast of Euboea over three days in August or September 480 BC. Persian losses to storms were severe before the main engagement, and when the two fleets clashed, casualties were roughly equal. However, the smaller Allied fleet could not sustain such losses, and news of the fall of Thermopylae compelled the Greeks to withdraw toward Salamis.
Following the Greek withdrawal, Persia overran Phocis, Boeotia, and Attica, capturing the evacuated Athens. The Persian advance was ultimately halted at the Battle of Salamis, where the Allied fleet defeated the Persian navy. Xerxes withdrew to Asia, leaving Mardonius in command, and the subsequent Battle of Plataea in 479 BC ended the Persian invasion of Greece decisively.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Themistocles, Eurybiades.
Side B
1 belligerent
Xerxes I.