an island in the Aegean Sea, near the coast of Attica (Greece), around which a naval battle occurred on Sept. 28 (or 27), 480 B.C., during the Greco-Persian Wars.
After a naval battle off Cape Artemisium, the Greek Navy withdrew into the Salamis Strait and assumed a battle formation in two lines of ships along the Salamis shore. (The Greek Navy consisted of 350 to 380 triremes under the command of Eurybiades, who was operating in accordance with a plan worked out by the Athenian general Themistocles.) The approaching Persian Navy (more than 800 ships), under the command of King Xerxes, arranged themselves during the night in a dense battle order of three lines opposite the Greek Navy. As many as 200 Persian ships blocked the exits from the strait. In the morning the Greek ships attacked the right flank of the Persians. The densely congested battle order of the Persians prevented them from taking advantage of their numerical superiority. The Persian ships, unable to maneuver, became entangled and ran aground. Acting vigorously, the Greeks rammed and boarded the enemy ships. Xerxes’ brother Ariamenes was killed in the battle, and soon the Persian right wing was smashed. The remaining Persian ships fled in panic. The Persians lost 200 ships, and the Greeks, 40.