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Melvyn Bragg

Lindsay Allen

Paul Cartledge

Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones

Simon Tillotson

In Our Time: The Battle of Salamis

The Battle of Salamis

23/03/2017

BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, The Battle of Salamis

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the significance of The Battle of Salamis, 480BC.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss The Battle of Salamis, 480BC, often called one of the most significant battles in history, in which the Greek fleet defeated the Persians.

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.

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