The Old Sailor promised to tell all: the battle at Salamis and the events leading up to it. That's why he said it was going to be a long story. Because it was!

First the Greeks tried to prevent the Persians from invading Greece by land, at Thermopylae (the Hot Gates). We've seen θερμαίνω to heat, warm up in the Cyclops story:

πρώτον μὲν θερμαίνουσιν τὸ ῥόπαλον ἐν τῷ πυρί,
ἔπειτα δὲ ἐλαύνουσιν αὐτὸ εἰς τὸν ἕνα τοῦ Κύκλωπος ὀφθαλμόν.

As far as new usage is concerned, why not learn how to compare people and things. Like:

Jamie is clever, as clever as Tommy.
Billy is cleverer, cleverer than Jamie
but I am cleverest of all.