Saronic Gulf
Saron was a legendary king of Troezen, the most important of the early cities on the substantial peninsula which divides the Gulf of Argos from the Saronic Gulf. It seems strange that he should have given his name to the whole Gulf, when the name of Theseus is more vividly connected in legend and literature with both Troezen and Athens. All we know about Saron is that he was so fond of hunting that he chased a stag into this sea and was drowned in it. The adven¬tures of Theseus arc too well known to enumerate, but he was brought up in Troezen by his grandfather, and it was there that his son Hippolytus became disastrously entangled with his own stepmother, Phaedra.
The two largest islands in the Gulf, Salamis and Aegina, are closely connected in many ways with Athens, and both figure promi¬nently in classical history; the other three principal members of the group - Poros, Hydra and Spetses - arc geographically extensions of the Troezen peninsula and have little independent history. Several lesser islands could strictly be included, but Angistri and Moni are entirely dependent on Aegina, as is Spetsopoula on Spetses, while Dokos off Hydra is all but uninhabited. Methana, the ‘all-but-island’ of the southern Gulf, only fails to qualify by reason of a very narrow neck of land joining it to the Peloponnese.
The main islands are quickly and easily - some might say too easily — reached from Piraeus, and during the summer they get un¬comfortably crowded. That is not to say that away from the harbours there are no places of beauty and interest, and the sheltered waters around them are a profitable fishing ground and a marvellous play¬ground for yachtsmen. Ships of many centuries and many peoples have left their wakes here: Theseus on his way to Crete and back, Agamemnon’s fleet bound for Troy, Athenian expeditions against Sparta and Syracuse, invaders from Persia and Rome, traders from Byzantium and Venice, Saracen raiders and Turkish corsairs, Rus¬sian, French, German and British warships. Piraeus has become one of the great commercial harbours of the world, and now the cruise
liners of the west queue to enter the Gulf through the Corinth canal on their way to Athens, Delos and the other delights of the Aegean. More than anywhere on the mainland, more than Athens herself, these waters are at the heart of Greece.
channels to west and east of Salamis, at the same time occupying the | small island of Psittaleia midway between the Kynosura (’Dog’s | Tail’) peninsula and the mainland. This suited Themistocles, as it forced an engagement on his unwilling allies while the enemy fleet was divided, and in waters which favoured the more manoeuvrable Greek triremes - waters which were known to the Greeks as only seamen and fishermen can know a stretch of sea by which they have
been born and bred.
The Greek fleet, outnumbered by about two to one, feigned a retreat into the more open waters of the bay of Eleusis, but in fact withdrew only out of sight behind a convenient promontory. As the Persians advanced up the eastern channel, necessarily in close