Ajax had a
half-brother from Hesione whose name was Teucros, they both took part in
the great Trojan war having 18 ships under their command.
After the
Trojan war and the suicide of Ajax (Aias), Teucros along with the son of
Ajax (Aias), Eurysaces, returned to Salamis and faced the anger of Telamon,
because Teucros did not revenge the death of his brother, Ajax (Aias).
Teucros
abandoned the island and went to Cyprus were he established a new city,
naming it after his birth place, Salamis. Salamis
Island was inhabited from the Neolithic centuries, as the archeological
findings reveal on the southern part of the coast of the island. Because
of it’s geographical location it was the reason of many disputes from the
larger cities that wanted to control the island.
The great battle
The greatest event of Salamis
history is the great battle
of Salamis, which changed the course of history at that time,
where the Greeks defeated the Persians and ended the quest of
the Asian barbarians to conquer Greece and Europe.
In the 480 B.C., The
Persians in their conquest to conquer all of Europe had taken part of
eastern Greece. After the Battle of Thermopylae where Leonidas and 300
Spartan soldiers died courageously defending their ideals and their
country the Persian fleet sailed to the Saronic Gulf, and the Greek fleet
sailed to Salamis.
The Persians anchored at Faliro Bay where their King Xerxes ordered halve
of the fleet to sail to Corinth and the other halve to Attica and Elefsina.
200 Egyptian Trieris sailed to the Megara Bay to block the way of the
Greek Fleet and the same time the Persian Army landed in Attica and
Psitalia Island, (a small Island near Salamis) Xerxes ordered his servants
to place his throne on a hill which looks over Salamis bay so he can watch
the battle the hill is called Egaleo. In the early hours Of the 28 of September 480 B.C. Aristides arrived from
Agina Island to notify the Greek generals, and tell them that the Megara
and Eleysina bays are blocked.
So after a
lot of debates by the Generals to go or to stay they decided to use Themistocles plans and fight the Persian fleet in the small Bay of
Salamis. Defending Greece were 350 Trieris vessels and 85000 man Army with
Generals, Evribiades and Themistocles. The Persian conquerors were 1200
vessels and 300 000 man Army with Heads King Xerxes and General Ahemeno.
The Battle started in the sunset of the 28 September 480 B.C. and kept on
all thru that night. The historian Aschylos writes: “At sunrise of the next day the
ocean was covered by ship wrecks and all the beaches were covered by dead
bodies, the Persians fled back to Asia and ended their conquest to conquer
Greece and Europe”.
Aeschylos,
Sofoclis, Euripides
On
Salamis island at the time of the great battle of Salamis the three
greatest play writers of all centuries met. Aeschylos, who took
part in the Great Battle of Salamins and afterwards wrote it’s history,
Sofoclis, a teenager at the time, took part in the victory
celebrations and last but not least comes the most tragic of the three,
Euripides, who was born on Salamis on the day of the Great Historic
Event.
