Ancient Greece
Athens is north of Corinth and had a navy. The Athenian leader Themistocles wanted to fight the Persians by the island of Salamis. Xerxes decided to send his fleet against the Greek fleet before the Greek ships could go to the Peloponnese. The Greek fleet defeated the Persians at the Battle of Salamis. Xerxes then went home with many of his soldiers, but a Persian army stayed in Greece. It was defeated at the Battle of Platea in 479 BC.