Quote:
Originally Posted by The 1 Inch Warrior
Although often glossed over because its story is rather unremarkable compared to the battle occuring on land and ultimately they lost, but the Greek fleet at Thermopylae held off the Persian fleet for three days to allow the battle to be fought on land. Thermopylae was obviously fought on land, flanked by the mountains and sea, so the Persians attempted to flank the Greeks on ships. However, the (outnumbered, but the battle at sea, as on land, was fought in limited space, so the numbers disparity played less of a role) Greek fleet twice defeated the Persians allowing the main army to hold their ground and not retreat in defeat. It was on the second day I believe that a storm off the coast destroyed a significant number of Persian ships which were sailing around a nearby island to flank the Greek fleet. That storm thus allowed the Greeks to hold out for another day, allowing the famous last stand of the 300
Indeed, the naval action was far more significant. In strategic terms, the last stand of the "300" (plus a bunch more) was relatively meaningless, except as a rallying call for subsequent Greek military action. After all, the Persians still marched a path of destruction across Greece and sacked Athens after Thermopylae.