Ajax or Aias ( or ; ) was a mythological Greek hero, the son of Telamon and Periboea, and king of Salamis.

Ajax, who in the post-Homeric legend is described as the grandson of Aeacus and the great-grandson of Zeus, was the tutelary hero of the island of Salamis, where he had a temple and an image, and where a festival called Aianteia was celebrated in his honour.

The identification of Ajax with the family of Aeacus was chiefly a matter which concerned the Athenians, after Salamis had come into their possession, on which occasion Solon is said to have inserted a line in the Iliad ( 2. 557 – 558 ), for the purpose of supporting the Athenian claim to the island.

It certainly maintained strong Phoenician sympathies, for it was its refusal to join the philhellene league of Onesilos of Salamis which provoked the revolt of Cyprus from Achaemenid Persia in 500-494BC, when Amathus was besieged unsuccessfully and avenged itself by the capture and execution of Onesilos.

About 385-380 BC the philhellene Evagoras of Salamis was similarly opposed by Amathus, in conjunction with Citium and Soli ; and even after Alexander the city resisted annexation, and was bound over to give hostages to Seleucus.

In 480, Aeschylus was called into military service again, this time against Xerxes I's invading forces at the Battle of Salamis, and perhaps, too, at the Battle of Plataea in 479.

Ion of Chios was a witness for Aeschylus's war record and his contribution in Salamis.

Salamis holds a prominent place in The Persians, his oldest surviving play, which was performed in 472 BC and won first prize at the Dionysia.

According to the 2nd-century AD author Aelian, Aeschylus's younger brother Ameinias helped acquit his brother by showing the jury the stump of the hand that he lost at Salamis, where he was voted bravest warrior.

It is the more remarkable that no incidents are recorded in the period between Marathon and Salamis, since at the time of the Isthmian Congress the war was described as the most important one then being waged in Greece,

It was to Aegina rather than Athens that the prize of valour at Salamis was awarded, and the destruction of the Persian fleet appears to have been as much the work of the Aeginetan contingent as of the Athenian ( Herod.

She was forced into patriotism in spite of herself, and the glory won by Salamis was paid for by the loss of her trade and the decay of her marine.

This is corroborated by Benedict of Peterborough's graphic account of Greece, as it was in 1191, where he states that many of the islands were uninhabited from fear of pirates and that Aegina, along with Salamis and Makronesos, were their strongholds.

Although the date, place, and circumstances of his death are historically unverifiable, Christian tradition holds that Barnabas was martyred at Salamis, Cyprus, in 61 AD.

It relates that certain Jews coming to Syria and Salamis, where Barnabas was then preaching the gospel, being highly exasperated at his extraordinary success, fell upon him as he was disputing in the synagogue, dragged him out, and, after the most inhumane tortures, stoned him to death.

However, defeat at the Battle of Salamis would be the turning point in the campaign, and the next year the expedition was ended by the decisive Greek victory at the Battle of Plataea.

Traditional accounts of the author's life are found in many commentaries and include details such as these: He was born on Salamis Island around 484 BC, the son of Mnesarchus, a retailer who lived in a village near Athens.

The apocryphal account that he composed his works in a cave on Salamis island was a late tradition and it probably symbolizes the isolation of an intellectual who was rather ahead of his time.

The Persian fleet was defeated there at Artemisium and finally destroyed at the Battle of Salamis a year later.

According to Herodotus, after the loss of the battle Xerxes attempted to build a causeway across the channel to attack the Athenian evacuees on Salamis, but this project was soon abandoned.

He died during the blockade of Citium, though the fleet won a double victory by land and sea over the Persians off Salamis, Cyprus.

It is probable that the power of Aegina had steadily declined during the twenty years after Salamis, and that it had declined absolutely, as well as relatively, to that of Athens.

In 1693 Morosini resumed command, but his only acts were to refortify the castle of Aegina, which he had demolished during the Cretan war in 1655, the cost of upkeep being paid as long as the war lasted, by the Athenians, and to place it and Salamis under Malipiero as Governor.

The history of Salamis during the early Archaic and Classical periods is reflected in the narrations of the Greek historian Herodotus and the much later speeches of the Greek orator Isocrates.

The " cultural centre " of Salamis during the Roman period was situated at the northernmost part of the city, where a gymnasium, theatre, amphitheatre, stadium and public baths have been revealed.

Though Salamis maintained direct links with the Near East during the 8th and 7th centuries BC, there were bonds with the Aegean as well.

Federation engineers converted the mining asteroid Luna II into a major military base and rolled out the Salamis and Magellan-class warships during this time period.

However, he was forced to submit to Persia during the invasion of Greece by Darius ' son Xerxes I, and he acted as a representative of the Persian governor Mardonius during peace negotiations after the Persian defeat at the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC.

Schematic diagram illustrating events during the Battle of Salamis

* April 23 – German Junkers Ju 87 dive bombers sink the Greek battleships Kilkis and Lemnos off Salamis Island, Greece, during the German invasion of Greece.

Miltiades conquered the island from Persia after the battle of Salamis ; the colony was established about 450 BC, during the first Athenian empire, and was retained by Athens ( with brief exceptions ) for the next six centuries.

The father of Nicocles, the succeeding king of Salamis, he claimed descent from Teucer, the son of Telamon and half-brother of Ajax, and his family had long been rulers of Salamis, although during his childhood Salamis came under Phoenician control, which resulted in his exile.

In 394, in consequence of the attack upon the doctrines of Origen made by Epiphanius of Salamis during a visit to Jerusalem, a fierce quarrel broke out, which found Rufinus and Jerome on different sides ; and, though three years afterwards a formal reconciliation was brought about between Jerome and John, the breach between Jerome and Rufinus remained unhealed.

It was at Ampelakia Bay where the famous Battle of Salamis occurred in 480 BC, during which the Greek ships defeated the Persian fleet of Xerxes.

He commanded the Persian fleet at Salamis Island ( 480 BC ), and was defeated and slain by Inarus, the leader of the second rebellion of Egypt, during the Battle of Pampremis ( 460 / 459 BC ).

We know nothing of the fortunes of Nicocreon after this: but as no mention occurs of his name during the memorable siege of Salamis, by Demetrius Poliorcetes ( 306 BC ), or the great sea-fight that followed it, it seems probable that he must have died before those events.

After the destruction of Salamis by Arab raids in 647, the existing capital of Cyprus, Nicosia became the capital of the island around 965, when Cyprus rejoined the Byzantine Empire.

After the destruction of Salamis by Arab raids in 647, the existing capital of Cyprus, Nicosia became the capital of the island around 965, when Cyprus rejoined the Byzantine Empire.

The Ionian Revolt was primarily of significance as the opening chapter in, and causative agent of the Greco-Persian Wars, which included the two invasions of Greece and the famous battles of Marathon, Thermopylae and Salamis.

St John Damascene, writing in the 8th century AD, also notes of an earlier sect called the " Cathari ", in his book On Heresies, taken from the epitome provided by Epiphanius of Salamis in his Panarion.

Epiphanius of Salamis wrote in the mid-4th century:

In the 8th century ( geometric period ) the number of settlements increases sharply and monumental tombs, like the ' Royal ' tombs of Salamis appear for the first time.

In the 8th century, several Phoenician colonies were founded, like Kart-Hadasht (' New Town '), present day Larnaca and Salamis.

The oldest cemetery of Salamis has indeed produced children's burials in Canaanite jars, clear indication of Phoenician presence already in the LCIIIB 11th century.

At the beginning of the 4th century BC, Euagoras I, King of Salamis, took control of the whole island and tried to gain independence from Persia.

Several earthquakes led to the destruction of Salamis at the beginning of the 4th century, at the same time drought and famine hit the island.

Several earthquakes led to the destruction of Salamis at the beginning of the 4th century.

The first known cleruchy is thought to have been Salamis, captured by Athens from Megara in the 6th century BC.

Although the Assumption ( Latin: assūmptiō, " taken up ") was only relatively recently defined as infallible dogma by the Catholic Church, and in spite of a statement by Saint Epiphanius of Salamis in 377 that no one knew whether Mary had died or not, apocryphal accounts of the assumption of Mary into heaven have circulated since at least the 4th century.

Epiphanius of Salamis ( inter 310 – 320 – 403 ) was bishop of Salamis at the end of the 4th century.

The collection of homilies traditionally ascribed to a " Saint Epiphanius, bishop " are dated in the late fifth or sixth century and are not connected with Epiphanius of Salamis by modern scholars.

According to Epiphanius of Salamis, also of the 4th century, Nicholas, one of the Seven Deacons of, noticed others being admired for their celibacy.

References to the work by Epiphanius of Salamis show that it was in circulation in the 4th century.

Our most detailed understanding of the man Cerinthus ' teachings are from the 4th century Epiphanius of Salamis, onwards, a good few centuries after his death and therefore we do not have a clear understanding of his teachings.

The followers of Basilides, the Basilidians, formed a movement that persisted for at least two centuries after him – St. Epiphanius of Salamis, at the end of the 4th century, recognized a persistent Basilidian Gnosis in Egypt.

The Greek term Aeiparthenos ( i. e. " Ever Virgin ") is attested to by Epiphanius of Salamis from the early 4th century.

* Salamis, Cyprus, renamed Constantia in the 4th century

A century or more earlier than Theocritus, Herodotus in his Book IX mentions an Athenian councillor in Salamis, " a man named Lycidas " who, in proposing to the much put upon Greeks as a whole ( put upon by the Persian king Xerxes ), that they should entertain a compromise of their freedoms as suggested by the king and his ambassadors, who at that time had all Hellas in grip, or so they thought, that the king's proposals should be ' submitted for approval to the general assembly of the people '.

* Panarion, ( medicine-chest ) written by Epiphanius of Salamis ( 4th century ), for a similar purpose

A legend, which was first mentioned by Epiphanius of Salamis in the 4th century AD, purported that Mary may have spent the last years of her life in Ephesus.

In the 8th century ( geometric period ) the number of settlements increases sharply and monumental tombs, like the ' Royal ' tombs of Salamis appear for the first time.

In the 8th century, numerous Phoenician colonies were founded, like Kart-Hadasht (' New Town '), present day Larnaca and Salamis.