490 BC. The Persians were defeated by the Athenians in the battle of Marathon. Ten years later, the Persian fleet returned with Xerxes as a leader. The king was preparing the campaign in Greece for four years. He managed to cross Thrace, Macedonia and Thessaly and arrived at Thermopylae. The 300 Spartans of Leonidas tried to deal with Xerxes and his thousands of soldiers. They fell heroically fighting, but they did not stop him. The Persians arrived in Athens and plundered it without finding any resistance, as its inhabitants and the Greek fleet had resorted to Salamis island. There Themistocles had set up his trap to the Persians. In fact, to persuade other Greeks to fight with him, he had a frantic episode with the Spartan, Evriviades, in which he said the famous phrase “beat me, but listen to me first”…

Xerxes believed he was close to occupying all of Greece. Historians estimate that in the event of a defeat, the hordes of the east would sink into the Peloponnese and dump the cities out of the map. The road to the rest of Europe would open up to the Persians. However, in 480 BC. thanks to Themistocles’ plan, the head of the Athenian naval force, the Persian fleet crashed into the Strait of Salamis, between Kynosoura and Keratsini. It was a strategy triumph that was based on the Athenian supegun. The triremes…

According to historical recordings, Xerxes watched the overwhelming defeat of his fleet from his throne, which was on one of the rocky peaks of Mount Egaleo, in today’s Perama, which was then called Amphiali.

The throne of Xerxes

From there the Persian king had a panoramic view of the area of ​​Psittalia and the Strait of Salamis where the naval battle took place. This peak is called by the inhabitants of Perama “Throne of Xerxes”. Xerxes saw from there 200 of his ships sinking and thousands of his men drowning in the waters of the Saronic Gulf. That was the beginning of the end of his campaign in Greece. The defeat at Salamina’s naval battle caused panic among the Persians. The fleet that survived the battle left and returned to Sardis. This was followed by the battle of Plataea where the Greek infantry broke the Persians, while the final blow came to the battle of Mycali in 479 BC…

Text Source: www.mixanitouxronou.gr