Blog Day Twenty-Seven: The Battle of Marathon and Salamis

Today in class we had a sub again. Our classwork was to watch Episode Two of Crucible of Civilization. I took notes again because we might be tested on this information. Athens was now a democracy and their biggest rival was the Persian Empire. In the Battle of Marathon, Athens was outnumbered 2:1 versus the Persian Empire. Athens won the battle, and saved democracy for the first time. Themistocles realized that this is not going to be the last battle with the Persians. He suggested for Athens to buy and support and navy, especially a weapon called a Trireme. A Trireme was a large boat that could ram into opposing ship and destroy them, and it was highly expensive. Themistocles knew that Athens would need the Trireme for a battle against Persia, but since the people in Athens didn't want to be reminded of Persia, he said they would use it for battle against an opposing city-state. When it came time to battle Persia for the second time, their army was filled with almost 2 million soldiers. Arabian, Phoenician, Egyptian, and Persian men made up this army. The Battle of Salamis was fought on the sea in between the coast of Salamis and the ridges of Athens. The Persian army traveled to this location in the night, only to realize in the morning that the Greeks had trapped them in this narrow sea. Athens eventually won this battle and was able to save democracy once again.