The navy created by the people of Athens in ancient Greece was one of the finest fighting forces in the world and the model for national navies that followed. Its defeat of the Persian fleet at Salamis in 480 BC launched an Athenian Golden Age that would last until the rise of Philip of Macedonia and Alexander the Great. Historian and archaeologist John Hale here presents a gripping history of the battles, the fighting ships, and the men—from extraordinary leaders to seductive rogues—who established Athens's supremacy.
"Hale's simple but vigorous sentences prick up your ears from the first page.... One hopes to hear more from him."—NYTimes
