Ancient Times
Although the Egyptians built the first sea-going ships, the Minoans of Crete were the first great seafarers of the Mediterranean Sea. Little is known of their ships, but they reportedly traded pottery as far west as Sicily, and their King Minos conquered the islands of the Aegean (according to Thucydides).
The Battle of Salamis occurred in September 480 BC, when the Greeks, with 371 triremes and ‘’pentekonters’’, routed a Persian force of over 1,200 ships under the command of King Xerxes. Persian losses amounted to some 200 ships and 20,000 men. The battle was fought near Athens, Greece, in the straits between Piraeus and Salamis.
Read more about this topic: Maritime History Of Europe
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