"Ten years after Marathon," says a Greek
historian, "the 'barbarians' returned with the vast armament which was to
enslave Hellas." [5] Darius was now dead, but his son Xerxes had
determined to complete his task. Vast quantities of provisions were collected;
the Hellespont was bridged with boats; and the rocky promontory of Mount Athos,
where a previous fleet had suffered shipwreck, was pierced with a canal. An
army of several hundred thousand men was brought together from all parts of the
Great King's domain. He evidently intended to crush the Greeks by sheer weight
of numbers.
Xerxes did not have to attack a united Greece. His mighty
preparations frightened many of the Greek states into yielding, when Persian
heralds came to demand "earth and water," the customary symbols of
submission. Some of the other states, such as Thebes, which was jealous of
Athens, and Argos, equally jealous of Sparta, did nothing to help the loyal
Greeks throughout the struggle. But Athens and Sparta with their allies remained
joined for resistance to the end. Upon the suggestion of Themistocles a
congress of representatives from the patriotic states assembled at the isthmus
of Corinth in 481 B.C. Measures of defense were taken, and Sparta was put in
command of the allied fleet and army.
