Today we watched the movie about Greece in class again and took notes on it. We learned about Themisticles and how he saved Greece from being crushed by Persia. First of all he wasnt the normal rich, cultured, aristocratic leader that Athens usually had. He was a normal man and led thanks to democracy. He knew Persia would invade Greece again and began making ships called trirends to defend Greece. They were ships that could ram other ships and destroy them. He built 200 of these ships for war. He got the money by finding silver in Greece. The leader that would invade Greece was Xerxes. He wanted to avenge his fathers death so he wanted to burn Greece to the ground in revenge. He supposively had an army of about 2 million soldiers but he really didnt but he had the biggest army for his time. In 483 BC he set out for Athens. He ravaged all the Greek land as he moved on and turned it into a wasteland. The Greeks went to the oracle at Delphi to see of the Gods had a way for them to win. At first the Gods said they were doomed and should run away. Themisticles instead said that his ships he made would allow them to win the battle. Athens was evacuated and they prepared for war.
The Athenians went to the island of Salamis to prepare for war as Athens was burned to the ground. The Persian navy had 4 times as many ships as Athens but didnt have the triends. The Greeks wanted to face off in the strait of salamis to make up for the small navy. The Greeks got the Persians to go there by getting a guy to tell them that was the place they could win. The Greeks won when they beat the slow Persian ships in the small strait with their quick ships. They won and they became a superpower prospering and entering a golden age. One thing was that Themisticles was forced to leave because they thought he was becoming to powerful.
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