The Persian Wars created many opportunities for heroes to stand up in defense of Greece but out of all of them, Themistocles stands above them all. By any metric, Themistocles was a strong military tactician who used the Athens navy to strengthen ground combat. While Leonidas was a hero to Sparta and one of the heroes during the Persian Wars, his only true claim to the being the real hero can be found only in his sacrifice to Xerxes’ Army when he along with 300 Spartans made their stand.
Athens naval fleet was greatly bolstered by Themistocles after he built the Piraeus. This was a port that had been fortified in Athens and was one of the most extensive naval bases in all Greece. The construction of the Piraeus, the Athens’ maritime power in
…show more content…
While most historian of the time overexaggerate the Persian navy, estimates put it around 500 ships. The Greek contingent could only bring around 300 ships to bare. 200 hundred of which were from Athens and were commanded by Thermopylae himself. Unlike Leonidas, Themistocles did not have easy access to terrain to help fight back against an enemy. The open water leaves no tactical advantages that can be exploited to overcome a greater force. This means that for a force to win while being outnumbered, it meant that for a commander to win while being outnumbered, they had to have a far better strategy. In this case, he sent word to the Persians that the Greek fleet was beginning to fall apart. This made the Persian fleet rush into battle to exploit the weakness they were told about. Which in turn allowed Themistocles to meet the Persians in a location closer to the shoreline and cliffs. This meant that Thermopylae took the open water off the Persian battle plans. Therefore, Themistocles’ win during the battle at Artemision was far better than the Spartan victory at Thermopylae.
After the naval battle at Artemision was over, Themistocles had pushed back a far larger Persian navy through the narrow strait. While the Persian navy traveled through the narrow straits, winds and a large swell would beat the ships making