Themistocles, the Athenian general had master minded the Greek victory at Salamis. But the war with Persia wasn’t won. Mardonius still occupied northern Greece with a large force of elite Persian troops, including the Immortals. Poised to descend on southern Greece, and Athens, yet again. What did the Athenians do to induce Themistocles to stick around, to work a little more of his magic? You wouldn’t believe me if I told you – which I’m about to do.

Tag words: Themistocles; Persia; Mardonius; Xerxes; Persian Empire; Athenians; Lacedaemonians; Spartans; Leonidas; Artabanes; Herodotus; Richard Nelson; Armies of the Greek and Persian Wars;

Gratitude – Let me offer the way the King of the Persians displayed his gratitude to the sea captain who saved his life – I bet you can imagine. On second thoughts … definitely not.

What about the Athenians? Themistocles, the man who took the right meaning from the Delphi Oracle’s prophecy, no easy thing, then masterminded the whole Salamis thing getting everybody to do what he wanted even though in almost every case it was the exact opposite of what they wanted to do – Persians and Greeks – what can you do for the man who saved Athens. Who saved all of Greece.

Well you won’t believe the real answers.

Tag words: Themistocles; Delphi Oracle; Battle of Salamis; Persians; Greeks; Athens; Victor Davis Hanson; Carnage and Culture; Saronic Gulf; Xerxes; trireme; Eurybiades; Herodotus; Histories; Napoleon; Retreat from Moscow; Grande Armée; Mardonius; JFC Fuller; Decisive Battles of the Western World; Delphi Oracle; Darius; Aeschylus; The Persians; Battle of Plataea;

As it became clear that the tide had turned against Xerxes at the Battle of Salamis, he made a statement remarkable for its day, but strangely one that we today, in more enlightened times, are completely comfortable with - My men have turned into women, my women into men.

Just now, you should be asking what the hell he meant by that.

Tag words: Xerxes; Battle of Salamis; Artemisia; John Marincola; Herodotus; Histories; Persians; Mardonius; Damasithymus; Victor Davis Hanson; Carnage and Culture;

The brother of which famous author had his hand cut off by a Persian wielding an axe? And what was his hand doing anywhere near someone who might want to do such a heinous thing? This part goes rapidly downhill from there.

Tag words: Battle of Salamis; Xerxes; Aeschylus; The Persians; Michael Stephenson; Alan H Sommerstein; Cynegeirus; Herodotus; Histories; Darius; Sardis; Psytaleia; Richard Cohen; Making History; John Marincola;

Where does Salamis rate, since the beginning of this history to modern times, in the number of dead in that battle to naval battles like Trafalgar, Jutland and Midway? The answer will surprise you.

Tag words: Battle of Salamis; Aeschylus; The Persians; Herodotus; Histories; Victor Davis Hanson; Carnage and Culture; Artemesium; Michael Stephenson; Battleground; Xerxes; Richard Nelson; Warfleets of Antiquity; Joseph Cummins; Turn Around and Run Like Hell; trieres; triremes; marines; archers; Persians; Medes; Sakae; The Western Way of War; Themistocles; Ariabignes; Thermopylae; paean; war cry; JFC Fuller; Decisive Battles of the Western World; Ionian Greeks;

There was a spy, at the very highest level, in the Greek command and he was about to send some vital intelligence to Xerxes, the Persian ruler. If this act of betrayal was ever uncovered it would mean his instant death.

Tag words: Battle of Salamis; Divine Salamis; spy; Xerxes; Persians; Pelopennes; Artemesium; Herodotus; Histories; Eurybiades; Athenians; Themistocles; Sicinnus; Joseph Cummins; Turn Around and Run Like Hell; Straits of Salamis; Michael Stevenson; Battlegrounds; Persian fleet; Ariabignes; Flavius Renatus Vegetius; De Re Militari; Victor David Hanson; Carnage and Culture; triremes; Psyttaleia; Aeschylus; The Persians;

There was an important email from the gods that Xerxes wasn’t copied in on. Boy, I bet he would soon be wishing that he had been. What did it say?

Tag words: Xerxes; Delphi Oracle; wooden wall; Divine Salamis; Themistocles; Persia; Greece; Athens, Sparta; Artemesium; Thermopylae Pass; Eurybiades; Herodotus; Histories; Mnesiphilus; John Marincola; Demaratus; Dicaeus; Demeter; Persephone;

Who was the spy in Xerxes court? And how genius was the way he got his message to the Greeks that revealed Xerxes’ plans for the invasion of Greece?

Tag words: Xerxes; Spartans; Thermopylae Pass; Persians;  kill ratio; Darius; Herodotus; Histories; Demaratus; best fighting men in the world; Victor Davis Hanson; Carnage and Culture; JFC Fuller; The Decisive Battles of the Western World; John Lewis Gaddis; On Grand Strategy; Salamis;

You’d be surprised at the last words spoken by Leonidas before he died with his fellow 300 Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae Pass in 480 BC.

Then again, maybe you wouldn’t be. Let me tell you what they were and you can decide for yourself.

Tag words: Leonidas; 300 Spartans; Battle of Thermopylae Pass; the Immortals; Persians; Mardonius; Hydarnes; Ephialtes; Victor Davis Hanson; The Western Way of War; Spartan pipes; Herodotus; Histories; Churchill; Carnage and Culture; Xerxes;

For the last stand at Thermopylae, only some of the Greeks would remain. There were compelling reasons for Leonidas and the Spartans to stay and die. They had been sent to defend the Pass and they would never leave.

Well – there’s always one exception I guess, and I’m going to tell you about the one Spartan that got away. One minute, there were two that got away. This is the story of how that happened.

Tag words: Thermopylae Pass; Leonidas; Xerxes; Herodotus; Histories; The Immortals; Persians;Ephialtes; Spartans; Richard Nelson; Armies of the Greek and Persian Wars; Victor Davis Hanson; The Western Way of War; Aristodemus; Dieneces; Plato; The Republic;