History of Athens returned under Darius's son Xerxes. When a small Greek force holding the pass of Thermopylae was defeated, the Persians proceeded to capture an evacuated Athens. The city of Athens got captured and sacked twice by the Persians within one year after Thermopylae. Subsequently, the Athenians (led by Themistocles), with their allies, engaged the much larger Persian navy at sea in the Battle of Salamis. Xerxes built a throne on the coast in order to watch the Greek navy being defeated, but instead, the Persians were routed. This established a great turning point in the war. In 479 BC, the Athenians
Paeonius 420 BC; a few years after the Athenian allies defeated the Spartans at the Battle of Sphacteria in 425 BC. The inscription reads that it was “dedicated by the Messenians and Naupaktians as a tithe of the spoils of their enemies. The Messenians and Naupaktians, allies of the Athenians, are careful not to mention “their enemies,” the Spartans, by name. Pausanias, a travel writer in the 2nd century AD, wrote, “But the Messenians themselves say that the offering is a trophy of the battle in which they fought on the Athenian side in the island of Sphacteria and that they