Xerxean Naval Defeat

The Xerxean naval defeat is the Battle of Salamis in late September 480 BC, where the Greek allied fleet under Eurybiades and the Athenian Themistocles destroyed the larger Persian navy of Xerxes I in the narrow strait between Salamis island and the Attic coast. Herodotus (Histories 8.83 to 8.96) and Aeschylus, who fought there, in The Persians describe how the confined waters negated Persian numbers and allowed Greek triremes to ram and board. The loss forced Xerxes to withdraw to Asia, leaving Mardonius to be beaten at Plataea in 479 BC.