Histories

Those who were with Xerxes waited for a few days after the sea-fight and then marched away to Boeotia (department), Central Greece and Euboea, Greece, Europe Boeotia by the road by which they had come. Mardonius wanted to give the king safe conduct and thought the time of year unseasonable for war; it was better, he thought, to winter in +Thessaly [22.25,39.5] (region), Greece, Europe Thessaly, and then attack the +Peloponnese [22,37.5] (region), Greece, Europe Peloponnese in the spring.

When they had arrived in +Thessaly [22.25,39.5] (region), Greece, Europe Thessaly, Mardonius first chose all the Persians called Immortals, save only Hydarnes their general who said that he would not quit the king's person, and next, the Persian cuirassiers and the thousand horse and the Medes and Sacae and Bactrians and Indians, alike their infantrymen and the rest of the horsemen.