Latest / Ancient Greece: Philosophy, Democracy, and Endless War — Fexingo History / Themistocles and the Silver Fleet: How Athens Won at Salamis
Transcript
- Lucas: We've talked a lot about Athens in its glory days — the Parthenon, the Agora, the festivals. But one thing we haven't really touched on is how Athens became a naval power in the first place. And that story really starts with a single man, Themistocles, and a stroke of geological luck. Luna: Themistocles — the guy who fought at Marathon, right? Lucas: Exactly. He was one of the ten generals at Marathon in 490 BCE, but his real impact came later. So in 483 BCE, a massive new vein of silver was discovered at the mines of Laurion, in southern Attica. These were state-owned mines, worked by slaves, and the revenue was enormous. The assembly had to decide what to do with the windfall. Luna: What was the proposal on the table? Lucas: The popular proposal — and it sounds pretty reasonable on the surface — was to distribute the surplus as a dividend to every citizen. A nice little bonus, like a tax rebate. Themistocles argued against that. He convinced the assembly to instead spend the entire surplus on building a fleet of two hundred triremes — the most advanced warship of the day. Lucas: It was, but Themistocles had a specific enemy in mind. The Persians under Xerxes were preparing a massive invasion, and everyone knew it. The oracle at Delphi had even warned the Athenians to 'trust to their wooden walls'. Themistocles argued that those wooden walls were the ships. Not everyone agreed, of course. His political rival Aristides opposed the naval buildup so vehemently that he was ostracized — sent into exile for ten years. Luna: So Themistocles basically got rid of his main opponent and then pushed through the fleet. That's pretty ruthless. Lucas: It was, but it worked. By 480 BCE, Athens had the largest fleet in Greece — over two hundred triremes. And they needed every single one of them. When Xerxes invaded, the Greek alliance initially tried to stop him at Thermopylae, while the navy held the straits at Artemisium. But after the fall of Thermopylae, Athens was evacuated, and the fleet gathered in the narrow strait between Salamis and the mainland. Luna: And that's where the famous battle happened. But the Persians had way more ships, didn't they? Lucas: Herodotus says the Persian fleet numbered around 1,200, though modern estimates put it closer to 600 or 700. Still, they outnumbered the Greeks by at least two to one. But Themistocles knew the key was to fight in a confined space where the Persians couldn't use their numbers. He allegedly sent a secret message to Xerxes, pretending to be a traitor, urging him to attack immediately. Xerxes took the bait. Luna: Wait — he actually tricked Xerxes into attacking? Lucas: That's the story. Themistocles sent a slave named Sicinnus to the Persian camp with a message saying that the Greeks were about to flee, and if Xerxes attacked now, he could destroy them all. Xerxes ordered his fleet to block both exits from the strait. But the Greeks weren't fleeing — they were ready. At dawn, the Greek fleet rowed out and smashed into the Persian line. Lucas: The triremes were designed for ramming. They had a bronze-sheathed ram at the bow, and the tactic was to row straight at an enemy ship, then suddenly turn and smash into its side. But it required skill and coordination. The Athenian crews had trained relentlessly. In the narrow straits, the Persian ships became jammed together, easy targets. Luna: And Xerxes was watching from a throne on the shore, right? He must have been furious. Lucas: He set up a throne on a hill overlooking the strait, to watch his victory. Instead, he watched his fleet being destroyed. The Persian admiral, Ariabignes, was killed early on. Queen Artemisia of Halicarnassus commanded a contingent and managed to escape, but overall it was a catastrophic defeat. By the end of the day, the Persians had lost perhaps 200 ships, the Greeks only 40. Luna: That's incredible. And it really turned the tide of the war. Lucas: Absolutely. Salamis didn't end the war, but it changed the strategic balance. Xerxes retreated back to Asia, leaving his general Mardonius to continue the campaign. The next year, the Greeks defeated Mardonius at Plataea, and the Persian threat was over. Athens emerged as the dominant naval power in the Aegean, which set the stage for the Delian League and the Athenian empire we've talked about before. Luna: So really, without that silver vein, no fleet, no Salamis, no Athenian Golden Age. Lucas: It's a fascinating counterfactual. What if the Athenians had just taken the money? They'd have a little extra cash for a year, and then the Persians would have crushed them. Themistocles was visionary, but also lucky. He was also deeply controversial — later he was ostracized himself, and ended up fleeing to Persia, of all places, where he died. Lucas: But his legacy was the fleet, and the idea that naval power was the key to Athenian greatness. For anyone who's been listening to these conversations about ancient Greece, you might have wondered how we know all this — the details of the battle, the politics, the personalities. A lot of it comes from historians like Herodotus and Plutarch, but it's also thanks to small independent shows like this one, that take the time to dig into these stories. We keep Fexingo History ad-free and listener-supported, and it's really the contributions from people like you that make it possible. If you've gotten something out of these episodes, you can help keep them going at buymeacoffee.com/fexingo. Even a couple of dollars a month genuinely makes a difference. Luna: Yeah, it's a small way to ensure these deep dives keep coming. And we really appreciate it. Lucas: So back to Themistocles. After the battle, he was hailed as a hero, but his enemies never stopped working against him. By the 470s, he was ostracized, and eventually he was accused of conspiring with the Persians. He fled to the Persian court, where King Artaxerxes — Xerxes' son — gave him refuge. Irony of ironies: the man who defeated Persia ended his days as a Persian governor. Luna: That's an incredible arc. From savior of Greece to Persian satrap. Lucas: It really is. And it shows how volatile Athenian politics could be. Themistocles was brilliant, but he also made enemies. Still, his decision to build the fleet was arguably the most consequential single policy decision in Athenian history. Without it, there might not have been a Parthenon, no Delian League, no Thucydides writing about the Peloponnesian War. Everything we associate with classical Athens rests on those wooden walls.