Thermoyplae: Hdt. 7.228 = D&G 7.28:

• Greek Epitaph: "Here against three million once fought / Four thousand from the Peloponnese"
• Spartan Epitaph: "Stranger, tell the Spartans that here / We lie, obeying their orders"

  

Battle of Salamis

Delphic Oracle about the "wooden wall" (Hdt. 7.141.3 = D&G 7.19, 20)
Abandoned, destroyed city:
• Acropolis today
• Acropolis, reconstruction, late 5th c. BCE
• Unfinished column drum, Acropolis
• Unfinished column drums in North Wall, Acropolis

Aerial view of Salamis straits
Athenian triremes

• Reconstructed trireme at full sail
  
• Reconstructed trireme (Olympias) docked
  
• Rowers (thetes)
  
• Battering ram
  

Mini-Case Study: the Persians have wiped out the Spartans at Thermopylae, advanced to Athens and sacked the city, and the Athenian citizens have fled to the nearby island of Salamis (D&G 7.32). The Greek forces meet on the island, and Themistokles the Athenian commander is at odds with Eurybiades the Spartan (and Greek) commander in chief. Eurybiades is "inclined towards the Peloponnesian defense strategy" (Hdt. commentary p.152) while Themistokles takes a different approach (D&G 7.33). What are the options open to Themistokles, what tactics did he employ, and were they successful? Can you propose a different strategy, and what would have been its outcome? Confer with one colleague and devise a successful strategy.

What does Herodotus say (7.139 = D&G 7.49)?

Queen Artemisia of Caria in Asia Minor

Isthmus
Mardonius, general of the Persians
Plataia: Oath (D&G 7.42)
Plataia: Battle (D&G 7.43)

Battle Site

1. Base of Stoa of the Athenians, 479 BCE
View along Stoa to Athenian Treasury
Detail of Stoa
Reconstruction of Stoa
Portion of Dedicatory Inscription
Inscription
"The Athenians dedicated (to Apollo) this stoa, and the arms and ships' cables which they seized from the Enemies"
2. Bronze Coils of the "Serpent Column" of 479 BCE
Plan of Delphic Sanctuary
Base of the Tripod of Plataia
Serpent Column
[Photo courtesy of Prof. Vanessa Gorman, Univ. of Nebraska-Lincoln]
Pausanias 10.13.9 = D&G 7.44: "By these the war was fought: Lakedaimonians, Athenians, Korinthians, Tegeans, Sikyonians, Aiginetans, Megarians, Epidaurians, Erchomenians, Phleiasians, Troizenians, Hermionians, Tirynthians, Plataians, Thespians, Mykenaians, Keians, Melians, Tenians, Naxians, Eretrians, Chalcidians, Styrians, Haleians, Potidaians, Leukadians, Anaktorians, Kythnians, Siphnians, Ambrakians, Lepreans."

Reality Bites: the tragic stage, Aeschylus and The Persians

• Xerxes launches his attack: D&G 7.23
• Persia's target: D&G 7.24
• The battle: D&G 7.34