The Repulse of Persia and tJie Athenian Empirr 175 ■day, and when darkness settled on the Bay of Salamis the Persian fleet had been almost annihilated. The Athenians were masters of the sea, and it was impossible for the army of Xerxes to operate with the same freedom as before. By the Fig. 86. Pir^us, the Port of Athens, and the Strait and Island of Salamis The view shows the very modern houses and buildings of this flourish- ing harbor town of Athens (see map, p. 173). The mountains in the back- ground are the heights of the island of Salamis, which extends also far over to the right (north), opposite Eleusis (see map, p. 146), as we saw in Fig. 80. The four steamers at the right are lying at the place where the hottest fighting in the great naval battle here (p. 174) took place. The Persian fleet advanced from the left (south) and could not spread out in a long front to enfold the Greek fleet, because of the little island just beyond the four steamers, which was called Psyttaleia. The Greek fleet lying behind Psyttaleia and a long point of Salamis came into action from the right (north), around Psyttaleia. A body of Persian troops stationed by Xerxes on Psyttaleia were all slain by the Greeks creation of its powerful fleet Athens had saved Greece, and Themistocles had shown himself the greatest of Greek statesmen. Xerxes was now troubled lest he should be cut off from Asia by the victorious Greek fleet. Indeed, Themistocles made every
