The Creature

Dan throw

Hi, today I'm going to tell you a nice story about a poor family. There was one upon a time a family that was very poor and lived in a hood all isolated from the people. One bad day there was a storm and it was raining and the family was all scared because they where all isolated from the people and they hadn't altruistic because they liked to live at the poor way and like this they shouldn't pay altruistic. The family was composed from Jon the father and Jake the sun. One night a very dark night something scorched the door. The father was all scared and decide to go down and look what it was, arrived down with his gun he fended nothing so he thought it was his imagination, but it wasn't. The day after the same thing happened and they so the creature because they decided to look down ho it was and they so something but it was to dark and they so only a strange thing in the dark. The day after they Wendy out and looked for some clues that could help them and understand what it was. They where all scared and Jack needied to go in city to get some food and he needed to be quick because in the night the creature would appear. Jack Wendy away and with him he brought the gun for security so he would be more secure in the night he decided to sleep in the city so in the way to the return he wouldn't have problems. The day after he returned at home and fended the door decoded but the father was steal alive because he closed him self in the bedroom and with him had a sword in case of the creature. The night came and Jon and Jack decided to kill the creature so to have a better life and to be more secure in the house, so in the night they waited the creature and when it entered they closed it in prison and in the morning they looked who it was. It was a dog and with this they had a good life and a new pet at home.

The battle of Salamis

• The Battle of Salamis
  The March south and the sack of Athens
  Xerxes and Delphi
  The Battle
  The aftermath
  
• The March south and the sack of Athens
  The Greeks that are left from Thermopylae make their may back to their communities and there is no further residence north of the isthmus.
  Xerxes continues to recruit from northerners and the central Greeks and we hear of no objections. Xerxes does also seem to embark on terrorism on the Greeks that he finds. He beheads Leonidas and shows off his body as a deterrent. He also physically branded the Thebans who surrendered at Thermopylae. He also ravishes Phocis by sending off a detachment to trash the place on as a reprisal for not offering earth and water.
  
• Xerxes and Delphi
  According to Herodotus his army is approaching with the intention to attack and cause damage (bk. 8:36-39) and they are only prevented from doing so by a series of supernatural events: thunderbolts, collapsing mountains, sacred weapons that move themselves, giant ghostly hoplites. We are asked to believed that the contingent panics and is overwhelmed by the people of Delphi. Herodotus's source is definitely from someone who comes from Delphi, and his is presented with some rocks that supposedly crushed the Persians. However it is far more likely that this is a story built up afterwards showing that the people were a target for the Persians, but they defended themselves as a king of self justification smoke screen to Herodotus.
  The Persians then send their army to Boeotia and basically detachments go to each city to confirm homage - note that Alexander himself had supplied officers to go to Boeotia as go-betweens. However two towns are handed over to Persia for destruction: Thespiae and Plataea. Remember that these two cities are resisting only because of their hatred to Thebes.
  Meanwhile the Athenians were evacuating their city and it seems that the bulk of their population was exported to Salamis or Troezen. However there are those who resisted Themistocles's idea of the wooden walls. They prefer to believe that the wooden wall was the wall that used to run around the top of the acropolis - not the ships -. So they barricade themselves in.
  The Persians arrive and hit Athens in September 480. They feel that this is revenge for Lade and Marathon - they loot the temples, trash the acropolis, and start ravishing the whole city. The Athenians see all this from a distance in Salamis, which must have stirred up a lot of emotion.
  Meanwhile the Persian fleet lick their wounds at Artemisium having lost a large part of their fleet., for about a week. They sail down the Euripus channel. As they go, they trash the Euboea coastline. However when the Greeks were fleeing themselves, the previous week - Themistocles had written messages urging the people to rebel. The Persians beach themselves at Phalerum - the old port of Athens - clearly in view of the Athenians in Salamis.
  During September there is a stand off situation with the Greek fleet at Salamis and Persians at Phalerum. Any Greek army that still exists is involved in building a wall across the isthmus and shelter behind it. This operation is led by Leonidas's younger brother Cleombrotus. For the Athenians in Salamis there is little sign of a forward defence strategy and the they see this as a lack of support from their neighbours.
  On the Persian side, they send a lot of time in Athens, but launch the odd raid on Megara. The question is the fleet: Herodotus tells us that a large number of Greeks submit to Persia, which enables them to restock and build their numbers back up to 1,200. This is unlikely because:
  · The Persian stand off tactic suggests similar numbers, and caution
  · There is no evidence of raids of the Peloponnesian league, as numbers are too low
  · It is unlikely that there are still 600 ships in the whole of Greece left to be submitted to the Persians
  At this point Herodotus draws out the story line, building up the tension, and registering in the readers‘ mind that this is a pivotal battle,
  The Greeks are divided - and Herodotus spends a lot of time showing arguments between Themistocles (and his largest contingent of ships) and Eurybiades. It appears the Spartan position is that they want to retreat to the Isthmus and use the fleet to back this up. However the Spartans are persuaded to do otherwise by the Athenians who are keen to defend Salamis. Herodotus suggests that there is little support for defending the island, and only the Athenians are in favour of the proposal, although this too is unlikely because presumably Megara and Aegina would want to defend north of the Isthmus.
  There is a lot of direct speech designed by Herodotus - which we cannot date.; The audience are drawn in and it is resolved by a threat by Themistocles: If you don't fight at Salamis - we will withdraw the Athenian fleet to Sicily. This is apparently what tips the balance as Athens represents at least half the fleet. This all shows how extreme tensions are at the time.
  Xerxes tried to increase the pressure himself - by building out a jetty or mole across to Salamis which will install panic, as once this is completed the Persians could march on foot to Salamis. This is a similar tactic to the one used at Lade, as delaying tactics combined with pressure hopefully will crumble the opposition.
  Herodotus claims 380 ships were on the Athenian side - which is a quite specific figure for the man who usually deals with multiples of 300, however Aeschylus's play "the Persians" gives us the figure of 310 ships, and Aeschylus was there at the battle himself. The Persians are probably nearly double in numbers: 500-600 - although again Herodotus gives us the figure of 1,200.
  Herodotus then tells us of a debate on the Persian side. Nearly everyone in Xerxes's council is favourable of attacking immediately. However, a female tyrant: Artemisia of Halicarnassus speaks of delaying tactics. She is given a positive press from Herodotus, as being a wise person as she sees that the Greeks will tear themselves to pieces, and suffer from starvation and lack of water. This will force the Greeks into attacking on Persian terms. This, like the story of Artabanus, is Herodotus's way of expressing opinions with the benefit of hind-sight. So it is an example of personal comment amalgamated into the story. There is also presentation of Persian arrogance against the one point of reason
  Themistocles is credited by Herodotus of having a really cunning plan which is the beginning of tales of Themistocles's intelligence an ability for trickery. It probably reflects highly ambiguous attitudes of Athens towards a man who 10 years later ends up exiled in Persia. What he does is send a slave called Sicinnus to Xerxes with a message from Themistocles saying that Themistocles is really on the Persian side and if they attack immediately - they will win a great victory because there is such tension among the Greeks that they will all slip away. He continues by saying that if they are attacked aggressively - some of the Greeks will go over to the Persians side. This is complicated: is it straightforward deceit to the Persians or is he covering his own back in the event that the Athenians loose the battle.
  The Persians take the bait and so they prepare for an assault on the Greek fleet at Salamis. They make two sensible moves: on the island of Psyttaleia a heavy detachment of the army is place. He also blocks off the other end of the channel by sending the Egyptians to wait in Eleusis (about 30% of the army). The source of this move is Diondorus Siculus in the 1st Century BC, drawing from 4th century Ephors who is regarded as very reliable - although we don't have his text.
  On the night before the battle, Aristides manages to slip through the Persian troops with a message: the Persians have sent out the Egyptians and are preparing to attack. During the night, they prepare to launch themselves as soon as Persia appears. We are told Persia launches very early, and they spend a long time waiting for attack.
  
• The Battle
  Dawn approaches and the line of ships make their way up the channel. Herodotus lists the continents of the Persian side. We are told that at a certain point the Greeks launch attack on the flanks. They also head off the front of Persia by sending a line of ships across like a net. Two factors assist the Greeks: the wind makes the water choppy, which reduces maneuverability of the Persian side. The other thing is they are fighting in an enclosed space which brings advantage to the heavier and stronger Greek ships.
  According to Diondorus Siculus 40 of the Greeks ships are captured or sunk, but Herodotus instead of facts and figures gives a set of individual episodes - which is typical of Herodotus's personification of battles. Herodotus is forced into this as witnesses don't give the big picture. There are also literary reasons: epic poetry is about battles, and in Homer, battles are always described with individual heroic acts. However the pendulum gradually swings to Greece.
  According to Herodotus, the Corinthian fleet had tried to escape towards the bay of Eleusis, but then they turned back, due to the appearance of ghostly pretences. Note when Herodotus is writing the Corinthian Athenian relationship was at an all time low, and it may be that the Athenian sources were responsible for this account. The idea that the Corinthians played no part in the battle therefore is not to be trusted. Note that in Herodotus's time the battle and the deeds of the people still acquires great prestige. Plutarch writes in his essay the malice of Herodotus (1st Century AD) and specifically condemns that this is totally untrue, as says that Herodotus is consistently anti-Corinthian. We should remember that Plutarch was Corinthian himself. However this is unfair as Herodotus isn't that one sided - for example in pg. 476 he says that the Corinthians did play a large part in the war.
  On the interpretation of these events, there are two points of view: maybe the Corinthians are going on the orders of Eurybiades to block any move by the Egyptians. Another point of view is that there is no way of knowing what happened, as we only know of the events in reflection with jealous, bitter and narrow minded picture of the 450s.
  Meanwhile the Persians were scared. The Phoenician fleet flee, and the Ionians fight it out to the bitter end. Xerxes himself is apparently sitting high above the channel watching all. He sees the Greek conscripts fighting with all their effort, and the rest were useless. Herodotus records Xerxes moaning that the Greeks fought like men and his men fought like women.
  Once the rest of the fleet flee, we are told they pass their narrow moorings and sail straight towards the Hellespont. According to Diondorus they had lost 200 ships so far. The soldiers who were left in Psyttaleia were slaughtered by Aristides and his hoplites.
  
• The aftermath
  The Greek fleet go to the mooring place of the Persians, and find it deserted - so instead of chasing them, they immediately start reprisals on other Greek states: Andros, Paros and Carystos.
  They ravish the land and raise taxes. This shows how the defeat of Persian is an excuse for strife between the Greeks.
  Herodotus them talks about a conference held between the naval commanders on the Greek side. Themistocles urges Athens to take the fleet to the Hellespont and cut the bridge. However this was opposed by the Spartans and Eurybiades: "we mustn't push on too greater distance." as there is a risk - typical Spartan caution. So instead the Greeks attack Greeks as Sparta is in charge.
  This allows Xerxes and the bulk of his army to evacuate Athens and made their way rapidly to the Hellespont and cross back to Persia.