What Happened in the Aftermath of Salamis? (480 BC) DOCUMENTARY

In this history documentary we continue our Avenging Leonidas series which covers the Second Greco Persian War. We began with the Battle of Thermopylae and the Aftermath of Thermopylae which opened the flood gates for the advance of the Persian Army into Greece that ultimately culminated in the sack of Athens. In our last episode we covered the climactic Battle of Salamis in which the massive navies of both sides clashed for the fate of the war.

Now we take a moment to appreciate the human stories which took place in the hours and days of battle. This includes seeing what defeat of an individual Trireme looked like before expanding this out to look at the defeat of an entire fleet. We then look at the Greek pursuit and rescue operations that followed. And finally we explore the debris strewn site of battle itself.

Sources and Suggested Reading
Campbell, B. (ed). The Oxford Handbook of Warfare in the Classical World. Oxford University Press, USA, 2013.
Fields, N. Ancient Greek Warship. Osprey Publishing, 2007.
Herodotus & John M. Marincola & Aubrey de Salincourt. The Histories. Penguin, 2003.
Hornblower, S. The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Oxford University Press, USA, 2012.
Kinzl, K.H. (ed). A Companion to the Classical Greek World. Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.
Shepherd, W. Salamis 480 BC. Osprey Publishing, 2010.

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
02:12 Nature of a Naval Defeat
03:43 Defeat of a Warship
08:11 Defeat of a Fleet
12:26 The Day After
15:43 Return to Salamis
17:09 Celebrations

Credits:
Research = Invicta
Script = Invicta
Narration = Invicta
Artwork = Penta Limited

#history
#documentary
#greek

[InvictaHistory]

What aftermath stories should we cover next?

[KashTube-ny]

We need a video of the Battle of Platea and Mycale after this. With your production value they would be great. Also the campaigns of Spartan King Agesliaus would be great.

[sststr]

The book "Shattered Sword", about the battle of Midway, closes out with some anecdotes of what happened on those doomed carriers after the battle had concluded. The one that stands out in my memory best is a group of sailors trapped in the infirmary by fires in all surrounding corridors. They opened the portholes, tossed out the wounded capable of having a chance in the water, jumped out themselves, leaving behind the severely wounded, and one perfectly healthy guy who was just too big to fit through a porthole :( We obviously will never know exactly how those doomed sailors went, whether they burned to death in the fire, suffocated to death for lack of oxygen before the fires arrived, or if the one healthy guy stuck there put a knife to the wounded to end them quickly rather than endure one of the alternatives. And then you think about how many sailors were lost on those ships and you have to wonder how many of them had survived the battle but were trapped somewhere below decks having to wait for a rescue that never came... Things that rarely get talked about, or even thought about, no doubt because of how incredibly depressing the thought of it is.

[adzsrulz]

Feels like Deja Vu lol watched this yesterday 👀

[mm-irii]

this video gave us a better picture of ancient sea warfare than any movie or documentary as far as i know, thank you so much

[elitely]

Amazing video again Invicta, incredibly well made quality content every time especially the art and animations. Can't wait to see what's next!

[zamzamazawarma]

I love when you take us to the ground (sea) level to learn more about the actual, material realities of the ancient world (just like the cannae documentary). I find it's what's lacking the most in the media (books included): a real boots-in-the-mud account of what *actually* happened.

[konstantinossalonikis]

Themistocles strategized to have the battle in water rather than land and he planned accordingly by studying their ships and naval might. He then went to build lighter Athenian ships and equipment plus had only archers on board as he considered speed and ship bow critical factors. The Persian ships loaded with soldiers were too slow and were hunted down by the Greeks who with a single blow at the flank and the resulting panic of the crew would do the rest. Thank you for the video.

[solocanaanite]

2:06 I was rolling and i literally cracked my neck when i heard “Pog”

[blaxson]

Triremes float.
One of the issues often not touched on is that wood floats. Unlike steel hulls or those carry heavy armaments once a trireme is abandoned by its crew it will float. If broken in half the two halves can float. The amount of ballast on the bottom is rather slight overall as the man mass carried is all the rowers, who presumably rapidly transition to beach assault whenever possible.

[navalencyclopedia]

Hi Invicta, nice vid and anims as always ! I just want to add some precision about naval warfare at that time. Warships did not "sank" due to their construction, 99% wood with a few fresh water purses, food amphoras and some ballast. Metal was limited to some critical parts of the construction. Even punctured after ramming they stayed afloat. Out of service, mostly submerged, but still afloat. Many were captured, as shown by the monument of actium, where the Romans presented one bronze ram for every type of ship captured after the battle. Another good evidence is the Tetrere of Marsala, the only warship wreck found so far to my knowlegde, and for a good reason, she was used a blockade runner by the Carthaginians, and so filled to the brim with amphorae like any cargo ship, of which wrecks are legion throughout the Med.

[thomasc.]

Another great video! It's very interesting to see the smaller details which are often overlooked, for example the fate of all the rowers

[JeddieT]

This was very interesting. I often wonder what happens in the aftermath of great battles. Thanks for including this part of history.

[leemarlin]

Question: Would those very lightly built ships have actually sunk. Would they have not just settled somewhat in the water and drifted like a raft.

[ivandicivan]

Not just the marines but most of the ship crews during those battles were equipped for hand to hand combat, and would board enemy ship (if there was need to, which is doubtful if they punched a hole into the enemy ship which is now sinking), they also participated in land fighting (raiding and even fighting as life infantry, and fighting in sieges, this was commonly seen in Peloponesian wars, Sicilian wars, First Punic war etc). This distinction that we have today between different branches of armed forces wasn't so clear in the antiquity.

[Lochamp]

Great animations and story telling! Love the content

[Kvasir]

I literally just finished reading Herodotus histories yesterday! This is perfect!

[ThePalaeontologist]

When it comes to the matter of the sharks, I would hazard a guess that there were some pretty big Great White Sharks around at this time. In times when the waters were less heavily fished and when the seas of the world were generally just that bit wilder. Large Great Whites are recorded in the Mediterranean, including the Adriatic. It is sometimes considered that the Aegean has rarer sightings of the Great White Shark, though it is also known very clearly that large adult Great White Sharks have been recorded (including making fatal human attacks) around certain parts of the Mediterranean (e.g. in places that some might not expect, like off the coast of Montenegro) 6 to 7 metre adults seem relatively common, or were at least in the last 100 years as far as I can tell.

All the same, the sightings of Great White Sharks off Montenegro are apparently getting a lot rarer, perhaps due to fishing getting more intense there or something (I don't know, I'm only seeing rumours about this based on shark attack videos regarding different regions) If word of mouth on YouTube is to be believed, that would be possible. Otherwise, there could just be more of them deeper down in the water column we're just not seeing. And that would seem more likely. Great White Sharks are just fine at some very deep depths (literally thousands of feet if necessary) I think sighting figures can be misleading.

There are some suggestions of Great Whites using parts of the Mediterranean to give birth in what is for them, a more sheltered place, which may be why there seem to be a diametric range of usually very large or very small Great Whites being found there. It should be said though that sightings are getting rarer and naturally, some coastal communities around the Aegean and elsewhere in the Mediterranean may not be so inclined to shout so loudly about shark sightings (for rather obvious, tourism related reasons) It seems unwise to think just because the sightings are getting rarer that there are necessarily far fewer sharks. It could be a direct correlation though I wouldn't be too sure about it either which way. It's too subjective. It could just be a run of bad luck for sightings (or perhaps we might say, from a certain point of view, a run of good luck?) I suppose that depends upon one's perspective in life.

There have been big ones (very big ones) seen off Malta. It seems pretty likely that with this many warships fighting with so many wounded and/or dying combatants and so much blood going into that water, there'd inevitably be some sharks being drawn. I am wondering if the sheer noise of screeching hulls and groaning planks, the clash of steel etc, the screaming of those in the water or about to be, might have scared them off. Sharks can be quite wary and skittish. It can be easy to read into things too much, or expect hundreds of sharks to be there like it is some kind of cartoon. That said, they might have been. Who knows how wild the Mediterranean really was during the 5th Century BCE. I'd imagine it'd be quite a lot wilder today, as is heavily implied elsewhere.

However, I do not think that the sounds of a dying vessel scared off the sharks from the sinking of HMS (or alternatively HMT) _Birkenhead_ in 1852, off the horribly aptly named 'Danger Point', along the Gansbaai coast of what is now South Africa. This was a troop transport ship carrying some civilians but mainly British soldiers from a number of different units. This is the original of the 'Birkenhead Drill'. Women and children first, and the courage of the soldiers. It was a harrowing ordeal for all involved, no doubt. The exact types of sharks at the scene were speculated, though I think the presence of some Great White Sharks would make plenty of sense in that region. I've heard it said that there were no Great White Sharks though I find this unlikely at best.

Below is a survivor's harrowing account of the dramatic scenes and his experiences of that dreadful day:

_"I remained on the wreck until she went down; the suction took me down some way, and a man got hold of my leg, but I managed to kick him off and came_ _up and struck out for some pieces of wood that were on the water and started for land, about two miles off. I was in the water about five hours, as the_
_shore was so rocky and the surf ran so high that a great many were lost trying to land. Nearly all those that took to the water without their clothes on_
_were taken by sharks; hundreds of them were all round us, and I saw men taken by them close to me, but as I was dressed (having on a flannel shirt and_ _trousers) they preferred the others. I was not in the least hurt, and am happy to say, kept my head clear; most of the officers lost their lives from losing_
_their presence of mind and trying to take money with them, and from not throwing off their coats."_

— Letter from Lieutenant J.F. Girardot, 43rd Light Infantry, to his father, 1st March 1852.

Now, the tragic sinking of HMS _Birkenhead_ is thought to have involved about 638-643 people, and 9 horses, although it is impossible to know exactly how many people of different distinctions were on board, as the ship's log and muster rolls went down with the ship, now over 171 years ago. Based on the type of ship in question, it is likely that it was transporting about that many people. As far as I am aware, about 193 people survived, including all of the women and children (specifically because the British soldiers lined up on the deck and were ordered to stand to attention as the ship began to break apart, as so not to potentially swamp the lifeboat launch, upon which the women and children were put first, in one of the earliest examples of that practice in maritime history)

There was what must have been a truly nightmarish 2-3 mile swim to shore and those that did not drown or die from some form of exposure, were taken by sharks. Some areas of the nearshore coast were covered in dense kelp forests, too, tangling exhausted men up in waters abound with sharks. Just how many died from which causes, is of course unknown. Like with a lot of mass shark attack stories, it's possible a lot of the attacks were on already drowned men, though if the survivor's words above are anything to go by (and I'd believe him before I'd believe a cynical, naysaying undergrad marine biologist 171 years after the fact, likely acting a little too smug about it from a place of complete safety; sorry not sorry, it's just something I've noticed with these things) then I wouldn't be so sure about that.

I am not discounting or disbelieving the notion of many of those several hundred whom perished, having more likely drowned. Though again, we shall never exactly know and anyone claiming to is simply lying if they do. The odds are it was a horribly even affair, with a bit of a feeding frenzy going on, but also lots of men just drowning for lack of an ability to swim. Compulsory swimming lessons wouldn't be a thing for a very long time back in 1852 and in all fairness even at the best of times, if a ship is sinking, even those that can swim might be caught up in the whole panic and not behave how advised. S happens, so to speak. And things don't always happen how the advice booklet or guidance manual would tell you to behave in such situations. Clearly, it is a horrendous and morbid situation.

8 of the 9 horses actually made it to shore and were rumoured to have formed herds with local horses there for years to come. The one that I think drowned, had broken it's leg when it was put into the water. The British (and perhaps others) by the year 1852, had a policy by which they put the horses into the water first then gave them some distance. This was because in previous wrecks/sinking disasters, when people and horses went into the water _together_ people were dying in droves (either outright or because of being drowned while knocked unconscious) because of being kicked in the head by panicking horses swimming in front of them. Horses legs are very powerful and they do not mess around.

They will try and head straight for the nearest land and good luck if you are right behind one of them. I have no idea if the horses could sense sharks in the water but it wouldn't surprise me. Whatever the case, they were either left alone or their hoof kicks may have (I speculate) _maybe_ put the sharks off? Another thing we can just never know unless we had a live camera on it underwater in 1852. Did the horses get buzzed by the sharks? Did the horses sometimes accidentally kick sharks underneath them in the nose/head, when they came to have a look at them? Or did the sharks completely ignore the larger and more dangerous horses and focus on the relatively helpless humans? Probably the latter. Who knows.




Obviously the scale of the numbers of people involved at the Battle of Salamis is on an entirely different level. I know this might sound grim but the thing is, with that many human bodies going into the water it would basically be a feeding frenzy for a broad section of the marine ecosystem at that time. Crabs, small fish, all sorts, not just big sharks. I think it's almost inevitable that plenty of those men were being actively predated though probably more were just eaten as carrion. Again, this is just speculation, and we don't know if there even were any sharks there. Maybe there weren't. I just find that wildly unlikely. It makes me think about the Punic Wars and all those Roman fleets destroyed in storms, too. Grim.

[vhgskno]

Im loving this series and its art, heres hoping we go all the way to the egyptian expeditions

[SquirrelGrrl]

What a gripping tale of battle you’ve presented!