Thermopylae and Salamis

The army of Xerxes crosses the Hellespont on a bridge of boats and moves south. In the narrow pass at Thermopylae a small force under the Spartan king Leonidas holds it for several days; outflanked by a mountain path, the defenders die, and the road to Athens lies open — the city is burned, its people carried to the islands. But in the strait of Salamis the heavy Persian fleet, pinned between the shores, loses its advantage in numbers and is defeated, and the next year the land army is broken at Plataea. Greece remains independent, and Athens, saved by its fleet, becomes a sea power.