with brushwood, while a thick layer of earth was placed upon the top.  A solid causeway was thus formed, which was guarded on either side by bulwarks of such a height that the horses which crossed the bridge could not see over them; and thus the cavalry and the sumpter beasts passed from one continent to the other without a suspicion that they had ever had anything but terra firma under them.  The structure served its purpose, but was not found strong enough to defy even for a year the forces of the winds and waves.  Before the return of Xerxes, towards the close of B.C. 480, the autumnal gales had broken it up; and the army which accompanied him had to re-cross the strait in a number of separate ships.[14298]

The fleet which Xerxes collected to accompany his land army and take part in his great expedition amounted, it is said, to a total of 1207 vessels.[14299] Of these the Phoenician triremes were at once the most numerous and the best.  While Egypt furnished 200 ships, Cyprus 150, Cilicia, Ionia, and the Hellespontine Greeks 100 each, and the other maritime nations, all together, 257, Phoenicia singly contributed no fewer than 300.[14300] The superiority of the Phoenician vessels was sufficiently shown, first by the regatta at Abydos, which was won by a Sidonian trireme;[14301] next, by the preference of Xerxes for Phoenician over other vessels;[14302] and, thirdly, by the position assigned them at Salamis, where care was taken to pit them against the Athenians,[14303] who were recognised as superior at sea to all the other Greeks.  If the Phoenician prowess and naval skill did not succeed in averting defeat from the Persians, we must ascribe it first to the narrowness of the seas in which they had to engage the enemy; and, secondly, to the still greater prowess and skill of their principal antagonists, the Athenians, the Eginetans, and the Corinthians.

In the naval combats at Artemisium, the Egyptians, according to Herodotus,[14304] were considered to have borne off the palm on the Persian side; but Diodorus assigns that honour to the Sidonians.[14305] At Salamis the brunt of the conflict fell on the Phoenician contingent, which began the battle,[14306] and for some time forced the Athenian squadron to beat a retreat, but was ultimately overpowered and forced to take to flight, after suffering great losses.  A large number of the ships were sunk; several were taken by the Greeks; comparatively few escaped from the battle without serious injury.[14307] Xerxes, however, who from his silver-footed throne on Mount AEgaleos surveyed the scene,[14308] but, amid the general turmoil and confusion, could ill distinguish the conduct of the several contingents, enraged at the loss of the battle, and regarding the Phoenicians as answerable for the unhappy result, since they formed the nucleus and chief strength of the fleet, laid the whole blame of the failure upon them, and, on some of the captains appearing before him to excuse themselves, had them beheaded upon the spot.[14309] At the same time he also threatened the other Phoenician commanders with his vengeance, and so alarmed them that, according to Diodorus,[14310] they quitted the fleet and sailed away to Asia.