Battle of Salamis (480 BC)

Themistocles' Greek fleet destroyed the Persian navy of Xerxes I in the narrows of Salamis in 480 BC, ending Persia's attempt to conquer Greece. The Athenian democratic city-state survived, allowing the subsequent flowering of philosophy, drama, science, and art that defines classical antiquity. If Persia had conquered Greece, the intellectual tradition from which the European Renaissance descends might never have taken root.