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ESPIONAGE IN ANCIENT GREECE

21

REPELLING THE PERSIANS

Homer’s story of the Trojan Horse—with later additions by

the Roman writer Virgil in the first century

bce—comes from

the mists of history and myth, but the Persian invasion of

Greece in 480

bce provides a solidly documented account

of Greek skill in deception. A large Persian fleet had forced

the Greeks to abandon Athens and assemble their own

smaller fleet, composed of ships from several city states,

in the narrow straits by the island of Salamis. The Athenian

commander Themistocles hoped that this confined stretch

of water would nullify the Persians’ numerical superiority

in a battle.

A traitorous Greek slave named Sicinnus approached the

Persian admiral, informing him that the non-Athenian Greek

ships were preparing to flee. He asserted that, should this

happen, the loyalty of Themistocles to the Greek cause

would be uncertain. Unknown to the Persian admiral,

however, Sicinnus was operating as a double-agent.

He was a trusted slave of Themistocles, and his task was

to encourage the Persians to attack the Greek positions.

Sicinnus was extremely plausible as a traitor and the

Persians fell for his ruse, rowing their ships into the narrows

in expectation of an easy victory. Aware that defeat would

mean enslavement, the Greeks launched a ferocious counter-

attack. The tightly packed Persian ships were now unable

to maneuver effectively, and they were vulnerable to

the underwater rams of the Greek triremes. After losing

300 vessels—roughly half their original fleet—the Persians

fell back in disarray. Salamis was a turning point in the war

and following a later land defeat, the Persians retreated

back to Asia Minor for good.

HIDDEN MESSAGES

The Greeks were pioneers in the sending

of concealed messages, whether hidden

inside another innocuous text or in clothing or

footwear. Messages placed inside the sole of

a traveler’s sandal were popular, but they were

an obvious hiding place and easily discovered.

A more ingenious method involved message

boards. These were wooden tablets coated

in wax, with messages inscribed into the

wax—a common means of communication at

the time. Writing on the art of war in the fourth

century bce, Greek general Aeneas Tacticus

proposed writing a secret message directly onto

the wooden board and then coating it with the

wax, into which an innocent message was then

inscribed. This method was successfully used

to convey intelligence of the proposed Persian

invasion of Greece to the King of Sparta, giving

him time to mobilize his forces.

Above: The invading Persians were led by their ambitious king, Xerxes I, pictured

(left) approaching the gods on his tomb at Naqsh-e Rostam in modern-day Iran.