Costas Komborozos

300 Costas Komborozos

The storm passed, but then the battle resumed. Unstable seas, unstable currents unleashed the monstrous human noise of war. I was there when the Athenians and Spartans made a resilient effort to stave off the Persian advance. The three-hundred Spartans stood strong against the Persian multitudes while the Athenians aimed to diminish the Persians' naval power. General Themistocles was fiercely determined to eliminate the Persian naval fleet. He was keenly aware of how the Persian transport ships were the key to forcing the Persians to retreat. But the Persians protected the transport ships. The Greeks captured many Persian ships, but the Persians forced the Greeks to leave Artemisium. At Thermopylae, king Xerxes watched as Leonidas breathed his last breath. The battle was over, but the Athenians reveled in the knowledge that many Persian ships were lost in the storm. The Athenians now had the military strength to defeat the Persians.