Eurybiades

Eurybiades commanded the combined Greek fleet against Persia in 480 BC because Sparta insisted on it, and Themistocles had to persuade him to fight. He was a Spartan, and Sparta had almost no navy. The Athenians had supplied around 180 of the roughly 370 Greek ships, and Themistocles had built them; but the allied contingents from the Peloponnese refused to serve under an Athenian, and Athens conceded the command rather than lose the alliance. Eurybiades therefore held nominal authority over a fleet whose largest component and whose ablest commander were both Athenian. He fought the holding action at Artemisium in parallel with Thermopylae, and withdrew when Leonidas fell and the position became untenable. The decisive argument came at Salamis. With Athens evacuated and burning, the Peloponnesian commanders wanted to fall back to the Isthmus of Corinth and defend the wall being built there. Themistocles argued that in open water the greater Persian numbers would tell, while in the narrows of Salamis they could not be deployed, and that a withdrawal would dissolve the fleet as each city sailed home. Herodotus has Eurybiades raise his staff to strike him, and Themistocles answer: strike, but hear me. Eurybiades came round and held the council to the decision. The battle in September 480 destroyed a large part of the Persian fleet and ended the invasion's momentum. The Spartans awarded him the prize for valour and Themistocles the prize for wisdom. Herodotus is the only substantial source for him, and his handling of the council is the whole of his historical importance. Without Salamis there is no classical Athens.

• Lived: 540 BCE – 470 BCE
• Nationality: Spartan
• Roles: general