Salamis

Certain · island and strait

Home of Telamonian Ajax in Homer, Salamis gave its name to the sea-fight of 480 BCE in the narrow strait between island and Attic shore, where the outnumbered Greek fleet shattered the Persian armada while Xerxes watched from a throne on the hillside. Aeschylus fought there, and his Persians — in this library — stages the battle as its news reaches the enemy’s own court: the only surviving tragedy on a historical event, by an eyewitness.