The Battle of Salamis was a naval battle fought between an alliance of Greek city-states under Themistocles, the Persian Empire under King Xerxes in 480 BC. It resulted in a decisive victory for the outnumbered Greeks; the battle was fought in the straits between the mainland and Salamis, an island in the Saronic Gulf near Athens, marked the high point of the second Persian invasion of Greece. To block the Persian advance, a small force of Greeks blocked the pass of Thermopylae, while an Athenian-dominated Allied navy engaged the Persian fleet in the nearby straits of Artemisium. In the resulting Battle of Thermopylae, the rearguard of the Greek force was annihilated, whilst in the Battle of Artemisium the Greeks had heavy losses and retreated after the loss at Thermopylae; this allowed the Persians to conquer Phocis, Boeotia and Euboea. The Allies prepared to defend the Isthmus of Corinth while the fleet was withdrawn to nearby Salamis Island. Although outnumbered, the Greek Allies were persuaded by the Athenian general Themistocles to bring the Persian fleet to battle again, in the hope that a victory would prevent naval operations against the Peloponnese.

The Persian king Xerxes was eager for a decisive battle. As a result of subterfuge on the part of Themistocles, the Persian navy rowed into the Straits of Salamis and tried to block both entrances. In the cramped conditions of the Straits, the great Persian numbers were an active hindrance, as ships struggled to maneuver and became disorganized. Seizing the opportunity, the Greek fleet scored a decisive victory. Xerxes retreated to Asia with much of his army, leaving Mardonius to complete the conquest of Greece. However, the following year, the remainder of the Persian army was decisively beaten at the Battle of Plataea and the Persian navy at the Battle of Mycale; the Persians made no further attempts to conquer the Greek mainland. These battles of Salamis and Plataea thus mark a turning point in the course of the Greco-Persian wars as a whole; the Greek city-states of Athens and Eretria had supported the unsuccessful Ionian Revolt against the Persian Empire of Darius I in 499-494 BC, led by the satrap of Miletus, Aristagoras.

The Persian Empire was still young, prone to revolts amongst its subject peoples. Moreover, Darius was a usurper, had spent considerable time extinguishing revolts against his rule; the Ionian revolt threatened the integrity of his empire, Darius thus vowed to punish those involved. Darius saw the opportunity to expand his empire into the fractious world of Ancient Greece. A preliminary expedition under Mardonius, in 492 BC, to secure the land approaches to Greece ended with the conquest of Thrace and forced Macedon to become a client kingdom of Persia. In 491 BC, Darius sent emissaries to all the Greek city-states, asking for a gift of'earth and water' in token of their submission to him. Having had a demonstration of his power the previous year, the majority of the Greek cities duly obliged. In Athens, the ambassadors were put on trial and executed; this meant that Sparta was now at war with Persia. Darius thus put together an amphibious task force under Datis and Artaphernes in 490 BC, which attacked Naxos, before receiving the submission of the other Cycladic Islands.

The task force moved on Eretria, which it besieged and destroyed. It moved to attack Athens, landing at the bay of Marathon, where it was met by a outnumbered Athenian army. At the ensuing Battle of Marathon, the Athenians won a remarkable victory, which resulted in the withdrawal of the Persian army to Asia. Darius therefore began raising a huge new army with which he meant to subjugate Greece. Darius died whilst preparing to march on Egypt, the throne of Persia passed to his son Xerxes I. Xerxes crushed the Egyptian revolt, quickly restarted the preparations for the invasion of Greece. Since this was to be a full-scale invasion, it required long-term planning, stock-piling and conscription. Xerxes decided that the Hellespont would be bridged to allow his army to cross to Europe, that a canal should be dug across the isthmus of Mount Athos; these were both feats of exceptional ambition, which would have been beyond any other contemporary state. By early 480 BC, the preparations were complete, the army which Xerxes had mustered at Sardis marched towards Europe, crossing the Hellespont on two pontoon bridges.

The Athenians had been preparing for war with the Persians since the mid-480s BC, in 482 BC the decision was taken, under the guidance of the Athenian politician Themistocles, to build a massive fleet of triremes that would be necessary for the Greeks to fight the Persians. However, the Athenians did not have the manpower to fight on sea. In 481 BC, Xerxes sent ambassadors around Greece asking for earth and water, but made the deliberate omission of Athens and Sparta. Support thus began to coalesce around these two leading states. A congress of city states met at Corinth in late autumn of 481 BC, a confederate alliance of Greek city-states was formed, it had the power to send envoys asking for assistance and to dispatch troops from the member states to defensive points after joint consultation. This was remarkable for the disjointed Greek world, especially

Man Up is the third album by the Danish blues-rock group The Blue Van. It was released on October 27, 2008 on iTunes under Iceberg Records; the song "Silly Boy" was featured in an advertisement for the Samsung T919 Behold. It was featured in the Showtime's Shameless, in the movie The First Time during the beginning credits; the song "Man Up" has been featured in the TV series 90210 and a commercial for the eighth season of Scrubs. It appeared in the soundtrack for the video game, MLB 09: The Show. "Be Home Soon" was used at the end of the pilot for USA Network's Royal Pains. "There Goes My Love" has been featured in the iPad commercial that aired during the Oscars on March 7, 2010. Be Home Soon Man Up Silly Boy There Goes My Love Lay Me Down And Die The Socialite In Love With Myself Out Of Control True I'm A Man Stop Thinking Of Yourself Trees That Resemble Put My Name In The Sand Young and Proud I Can Feel It You'll Never Grow Old Guilty Just As I In Our Hearts Tonight Lay Me Down And Die A Don's Life

The Public Execution of Mister Personality / Quasi Day Room: Live at the Moore Theatre is a 2006 double album by Boulder, Colorado-based avant-rock and folk jazz music group Hamster Theatre, led by Dave Willey. It was released in the United States by Cuneiform Records, consists of a studio CD and a live CD, the latter recorded at the 2002 Progman Cometh Festival in Seattle, Washington; the studio disc contains new material, while the live disc includes music from Hamster Theatre's earlier albums, Carnival Detournement and Siege on Hamburger City, Willey's solo album, Songs from the Hamster Theatre. Both CDs were mastered by Bob Drake. John Kelman wrote at All About Jazz that on this album, Hamster Theatre does more than "dissolv artificial boundaries between musical styles", they "just plain nuke them", he said they make liberal use of counterpoint, their music "is a complex intertwining of themes and influences", including Swedish accordionist Lars Hollmer, Erik Satie, Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa and RIO groups Henry Cow and Univers Zero.

Kelman described the album as "a challenging but evocative and enthralling listen". In a review at AllMusic, Dave Lynch called the album "a landmark two-disc studio/live set proving that the European RIO-based sounds of the'70s and'80s have taken root and can sprout up anywhere in the post-millennial Rocky Mountain State", he said the music has "the complexity and technical skill of prog rock and includes occasional startling intrusions of abrasive textures and experimental noise", but added that Willey's accordion introduces "an appealing European folk melodicism mixed with a classicist's sense of composition". A reviewer at Musique Machine described the album as "thoroughly entertaining", added that the tracks on the studio disc "reveal an imaginative mind" with "a strong theatrical aspect", while the live disc is "energetic" and "shed a different light" on the studio set. All tracks except where noted. Source: AllMusic, Discogs. Dave Willey – accordion, bass guitar, cymbals, guitar, handclapping, keyboards, percussion, electric piano, prepared piano, ukulele, vocals, whistling Jon Stubbs – bass guitar, keyboards, trombone Mike Johnson – guitar, lap steel guitar, banjo, fretless banjo, percussion Mark Harris – clarinet, bass clarinet, reeds, percussion, vocals Raoul Rossiter – drums, percussion Matt Spencer – bass guitar Brian McDougall – bass guitar Emily Bowman – viola Source: AllMusic, Discogs.

CD 1 recorded at The Tar Paper Shack, The Rendezvous, The Detroiter, Mike's Dank Cellar, September School, Alexander Dawson School and Brave New Audio CD 2 recorded live at The Moore Theatre/Progman Cometh Festival, August 2002, Washington Dave Willey – engineer Jon Stubbs – engineer Mike Johnson – engineer Mark McCoin – engineer Brian McDougall – engineer Bob Drake – mixing, masteringSource: AllMusic. The Public Execution of Mister Personality / Quasi Day Room: Live at the Moore Theatre at Cuneiform Records