Livius Picture Archive: the naval battle of Artemisium (480 BCE)

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	Artemisium (480 BCE) Unless otherwise indicated, pictures on this page © Marco Prins and Jona Lendering. Photos can be downloaded and used for non-commercial purposes, but you have to acknowledge Livius.
	After careful preparations, the Persians decided to attack the Yaunâ (Greeks) in the summer of 480 with a very large army. The Greeks, unofficially commanded by the Athenian Themistocles, understood that they had to annihilate the Persian transport fleet; without its support, the army would be forced to return. A first attempt to stop the Persian fleet was attempted between Cape Artemisium and Magnesia (background).	Related: Herodotus; logos 23
	Themistocles. Bust from the Museo Ostiense, Ostia Antica (Italy). The Persians occupied Magnesia, but their fleet was very large and the units were situated at some distance of each other. During the first two days of the encounter, the Greeks could attack units separately, and had some success. However, on the third day, the Persians came out at full strength and beat the Greeks, who now had to leave Artemisium. At the same time, king Xerxes had defeated the Greek land army, commanded by the Spartan king Leonidas, at Thermopylae. A satellite photo can be found here.
	It seemed as if Greece had fallen. However, during the naval battle of Artemisium, many Persian ships had sunk in a violent storm. This picture shows the 'hollows' of Euboea, where they met the disaster. In September, the Persian navy had become too small and the Greeks could overcome their enemies during the naval battle of Salamis.

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