Second Persian invasion of Greece

The Battle of Salamis was a naval engagement fought between an alliance of Greek city-states, led by Themistocles and the Spartan commander Eurybiades, and the fleet of the Achaemenid Empire under Xerxes I. The Greek alliance, though outnumbered, secured a victory over the Persian fleet, which fielded a force recorded at 1,207 vessels and included commanders such as Artemisia I of Caria, Ariabignes, Achaemenes, Tetramnestos, and Damasithymos. The Persian defeat at Salamis was a decisive moment in the Second Persian invasion of Greece, checking Achaemenid naval power and undermining Xerxes' capacity to sustain operations in the Greek theater. By defeating the larger Persian fleet, the Greek alliance preserved its ability to contest control of the Aegean and denied Xerxes the naval supremacy that would have been necessary to consolidate an occupation of Greece.

The Battle of Thermopylae was fought over three days at Thermopylae between the Achaemenid Persian Empire under Xerxes and an alliance of Greek city-states led by Sparta under Leonidas I. The Greek force numbered approximately 7,000 against a Persian army estimated at between 120,000 and 300,000. Greek casualties reached 4,000 against approximately 20,000 Persian dead. The engagement is recorded as one of the most prominent battles of both the Second Persian invasion of Greece and the wider Greco-Persian Wars. The disparity in casualties relative to force sizes reflects the nature of the contest: a substantially smaller Greek alliance inflicted disproportionate losses on the Persian force under Xerxes, with the Spartan contingent under Leonidas I joined by Thespian forces under Demophilus and Theban forces under Leontiades on the Greek side, and Persian command including Mardonius, Hydarnes, and Artapanus alongside Xerxes.