Religion and Ethics Forum
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Nearly Sane on March 17, 2017, 08:42:43 PM
-
This would be pretty amazing.
http://www.tornosnews.gr/en/greek-news/culture/23954-greek-ministry-of-culture-port-of-ancient-historical-sea-battle-of-salamis-discovered.html
-
It's interesting that everybody has heard of the Battle of Thermopylae (which was a disastrous Greek defeat) and the Battle of Salamis but very few people have heard of the decisive battle of the Persian War which was the Battle of Plataea (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Plataea)
-
It's interesting that everybody has heard of the Battle of Thermopylae (which was a disastrous Greek defeat) and the Battle of Salamis but very few people have heard of the decisive battle of the Persian War which was the Battle of Plataea (http://www.religionethics.co.uk/wiki/Battle_of_Plataea)
Depends on definition of decisive as arguably Salamis hamstrung the Persian strategy. But this may be completely incorrect but the stories of the battles of Thermopylae and Salamis read much more dramatically in the original.
-
Depends on definition of decisive as arguably Salamis hamstrung the Persian strategy.
It wasn't decisive. There was still a huge Persian army that was laying waste to Greece. What it did do was convince enough Greek cities to join with Athens to resist the Persians (quite a lot of the states were actually on Persia's side).
But this may be completely incorrect but the stories of the battles of Thermopylae and Salamis read much more dramatically in the original.
In the original what?
Thermopylae is usually spun as a heroic last stand but it was actually a catastrophic defeat by any reasonable measure.
-
It wasn't decisive. There was still a huge Persian army that was laying waste to Greece. What it did do was convince enough Greek cities to join with Athens to resist the Persians (quite a lot of the states were actually on Persia's side).
In the original what?
Thermopylae is usually spun as a heroic last stand but it was actually a catastrophic defeat by any reasonable measure.
Again it depends on how you want to read decisive, there is an argument that Salamis was the most significant.
The original Greek.
Don't disagree about what Thermopylae was but sometimes these defeats can be used as propaganda, see Dunkirk.
-
Again it depends on how you want to read decisive, there is an argument that Salamis was the most significant.
I'd like to hear it. There's no question that Salamis was an important strategic victory, but it was Plataea that ended the Persian threat.
The original Greek.
You mean Herodotus.
-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08j99jl
"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"
-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08j99jl
"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"
Yep. Just listened to the podcast. I thought it was really good.
By the way, if you get the podcast there's usually an extra ten minutes at the end where they discuss things they missed during the live broadcast.