The Battle of Salamis

In Our Time

BBC

History

4.6 • 9.9K Ratings

🗓️ 23 March 2017

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss what is often called one of the most significant battles in history. In 480BC in the Saronic Gulf near Athens, between the mainland and the island of Salamis, a fleet of Greek allies decisively defeated a larger Persian-led fleet. This halted the further Persian conquest of Greece and, at Plataea and Mycale the next year, further Greek victories brought Persian withdrawal and the immediate threat of conquest to an end. To the Greeks, this enabled a flourishing of a culture that went on to influence the development of civilisation in Rome and, later, Europe and beyond. To the Persians, it was a reverse at the fringes of their vast empire but not a threat to their existence, as it was for the Greek states, and attention turned to quelling unrest elsewhere.

With

Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones Professor in Ancient History at Cardiff University

Lindsay Allen Lecturer in Greek and Near Eastern History, King's College London

and

Paul Cartledge Emeritus Professor of Greek Culture and AG Leventis Senior Research Fellow at Clare College, University of Cambridge

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the BBC.
0:02.0	Thanks for downloading this episode of In Our Time.
0:05.0	There's a reading list to go with it on our website.
0:07.0	And you can get news about our programs if you follow us on Twitter at BBC In Our Time.
0:12.0	I hope you enjoyed the programs.
0:14.0	Hello, in 480 BC, the Greek and Persian fleets fortune and bay by the island of Salamis,
0:20.0	a short distance from Athens, in what's often called one of the most significant battles in history.
0:25.0	The Persians have already captured and burned Athens and were on their way to invade Sparta.
0:29.0	To add the whole of Greece to their empire.
0:32.0	The Athenians and Spartans outnumbered, were fighting for survival.
0:35.0	The Greeks, though, were victorious.
0:37.0	And the following year, drove the Persians back to Asia Minor, ushering in an Athenian golden age,
0:43.0	which went on to nourish the roots of much of the culture we know now.
0:46.0	The Persians kept a wary eye open while continuing to run the largest empire the world had yet known.
0:53.0	We're going to discuss the Battle of Salamis, our Lloyd Luell and Jones,
0:56.0	Professor In ancient history at Cardiff University, Lindsay Allen,
1:00.0	Lecturer in Greek and Near Eastern History, Kings College London,
1:03.0	and Paul Cartledge, Emeritus Professor Greek Culture and Agile of Antesina,
1:07.0	Research Fellow at Claire College University of Cambridge.
1:10.0	Paul Cartledge, when we say the Greek in 480, what do we mean?
1:14.0	We mean a very small selection of quite a large group of people.
1:18.0	Of course, they didn't call themselves Greeks.
	...

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