Salamis 480 BC [Paperback]

Salamis 480 BC is another Osprey take on an ancient classic, in this case Herodotus. The epic clash at Thermopylae has already been covered in Campaign 188, so this volume adds in the equally important naval dimension of the Greco-Persian War. If you've already read Herodotus, the main value is the maps and artwork, along with some of the author's insight on how the battle played out. Herodotus did not provide modern, detailed descriptions of events but employed a literary style that leaves many military issues vague. The author seeks to connect these missing dots with the best available logic. If you haven't read Herodotus, this volume is either a useful introduction (now go and read Herodotus) or your one-stop-shopping event for knowledge about this campaign. Most of the volume really focuses on the nature of the Greek trireme and is actually similar to a New Vanguard series approach. The author has numerous photos of the modern Greek reconstructed trireme, the Olympias, which is more interesting than the photos of bottle stoppers and pottery fragments that grace the pages of many Ancient era titles. Overall, this an erudite, well-thought out narrative on the campaign, although the style is plodding at times and the actual battle of Salamis is covered in just six pages of text. I found that when I put this volume down that it became harder to pick up each time - it's a very attractive volume, just not that engaging. The author is writing on a scholarly level but that is the audience that has likely already read Herodotus, while general audiences are likely to fret that they have to wade through half a volume discussing the intricacies of Greek boat construction before any action occurs.

The volume begins with an introduction that explains how the revolt of the Ionian Greeks against the Persians, led to war between the major Greek states (led by Athens, Sparta and Corinth) against the expanding Persian Empire. A short section then discusses opposing commanders, which mainly serves as an introduction for the Greek Themistocles. The 15-page opposing forces section discusses the Greek and Persian fleets, including tactics, in some detail. One thing that would have been useful here is a color plate depicting the various ramming maneuvers. Opposing plans are covered in a brief 4-page section. An intermediary section, `the Campaign to Salamis,' discussing the Persian invasion, the indecisive naval battle at Artesium (and how it related to the simultaneous Battle of Thermopylae) and the Persian capture of Athens.

The actual battle of Salamis is covered in the final one-third of the volume. On the one hand, there is not exactly a lot new here on the battle but on the other hand, the author makes a valiant effort to connect the dots on events that Herodotus left vague. In essence, this is an effort to transform an ancient literary account of the battle into a coherent narrative that explains the actual course of the battle. It is a very good effort, although the human drama element - the fact that Greece was fighting for survival - seems covered up with wooden beams at times. The volume has three impressive battle scenes by Peter Dennis, along with one 3-D BEV map (less than the normal two or three) and five 2-D maps. I was surprised that there was no mention of modern underwater archaeological surveys of the Salamis battlefield, which have been going on for several decades.

Salamis 480 BC by William Shepard proves to be a well written and well researched book based on Osprey's Campaign series. The book goes into good details on the campaign of Salamis without getting bogged down by previous events already written about in other books like Marathon and Thermopylae. He make good use of the modern reconstruction of the Greek trireme Olympias and the trials that ship under went to describes how it must have been back during the days of the ancient Greeks. It was interesting to note that it took these modern day Greek cadets only a few weeks to get the hang of the rowing system so it must have been bit faster in the ancient days. The book comes well equipped with photographs, drawings and pretty decent although not great maps. I thought there could be a clearer maps of the actual battle and the movement of the fleets prior. The photos of the trireme Olympias proves quite useful in his narrative. On the downside, maybe he spent bit too much on that and not enough on the campaign at hand. But that is more subjective to your taste. But here lies the strength of the book while the campaign narrative doesn't get too original from the original sources and Barry Strauss.

The author however made it clear that he owes a great deal of debt to Barry Strauss and his book, Battle of Salamis. In many ways, this book is more like the lite beer version of the full body beer of Strauss. So depending on what you like, less filling or more body taste, this book may be subjective in that nature. But I thought it read quite well and it may proves to be a good introductory to Barry Strauss' book that is more in details. For those who like these Campaign books like I do, I thought this book was a worthy addition to the the other two books relating to this war (Marathon and Thermopylae).

Nice addition to the "Campaign" series, yet another of those Osprey series publications that provide a quick and dirty look at the subject. The focus here is the critical naval battle of Salamis, which turned back the Persian forces that had broken through the thin Spartan line at Thermopylae.

The book begins by describing the background to Xerxes' invasion of Greece. Then, the book traces the invasion route, culminating in the sacking of Athens. The Greek forces then turned to their fleet to protect them from the Persian host.

The book then turns to describing the naval battle, in which the Persian fleet was wrecked and Greece saved. The book finishes by noting some of the key leaders on both sides (including the female admiral on Xerxes' side--Artemesia.

Nice brief description of a major battle. . . .

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