Eurybiades

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Eurybiades (

navarch in charge of the Greek navy during the Second Persian invasion of Greece
(480–479 BC).

Biography

Eurybiades was the son of Eurycleides, and was chosen as commander in 480 BC because the Peloponnesian

city-states led by Sparta, worried about the growing power of Athens, Greece as a whole did not want to serve under an Athenian[1] despite the Athenians' superior naval skill. For all the enmity between the two, Eurybiades was ultimately assisted by the Athenian naval commander Themistocles
.

His first act as commander was to sail the fleet to Artemisium, north of Euboea, to meet the Persian fleet.[2] When they arrived the Greeks found that the Persians were already there, and Eurybiades ordered a retreat, although the Euboeans begged him to stay. Instead, they bribed Themistocles to keep the fleet there, and Themistocles used some of his bribe to pay off Eurybiades (at least according to Herodotus).[3] The subsequent Battle of Artemisium was indecisive, and the Greeks removed their fleet to Salamis Island.

Initially at Salamis, Eurybiades wanted to move the fleet to the

bridge of ships that Xerxes had built there. He wanted Xerxes to be able to escape rather than have him remain in Greece where he would possibly renew the land war.[5]

Back in Sparta Eurybiades was rewarded with an olive wreath for his success at Salamis; Themistocles was given a similar reward.[6]

References

  1. ISBN 9781906142636
    .
  2. ^ Herodotus, 8.4.
  3. ^ Blösel, W., "The Herodotean Picture of Themistocles: A Mirror of Fifth-century Athens," in N. Luraghi (ed.), The Historian's Craft in the Age of Herodotus (Oxford 2001).
  4. ^ Herodotus, 8.49.
  5. ^ Herodotus, 8.108.
  6. ^ Herodotus, 8.124.

Sources

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