Histories

The army with Xerxes had made its way through Boeotia (department), Central Greece and Euboea, Greece, Europe Boeotia and burnt the city of the Thespians, who had abandoned it and gone to the +Peloponnese [22,37.5] (region), Greece, Europe Peloponnese, and Plataea [23.2667,38.2] (Perseus) Plataea likewise. Now the army had come to Athens [23.7333,37.9667] (Perseus)Athens and was devastating everything there. The army burnt Thespia and Plataea [23.2667,38.2] (Perseus) Plataea upon learning from the Thebans that they had not medized.

Since the crossing of the Canakkale Bogazi (strait), Canakkale, Marmara, Turkey, Asia Hellespont, where the barbarians began their journey, they had spent one month there crossing into Europe (continent)Europe and in three more months were in Attica [23.5,38.83] (department), Central Greece and Euboea, Greece, Europe Attica, when Calliades was archon at Athens [23.7333,37.9667] (Perseus)Athens.

When they took the town it was deserted, but in the sacred precinct they found a few Athenians, stewards of the sacred precinct and poor people, who defended themselves against the assault by fencing the acropolis with doors and logs. They had not withdrawn to Salamis (island), Attica, Central Greece and Euboea, Greece, EuropeSalamis not only because of poverty but also because they thought they had discovered the meaning of the oracle the Pythia had given, namely that the wooden wall would be impregnable. They believed that according to the oracle this, not the ships, was the refuge.

The Persians took up a position on the hill opposite the acropolis, which the Athenians call the Areopagus, and besieged them in this way: they wrapped arrows in tar and set them on fire, and then shot them at the barricade. Still the besieged Athenians defended themselves, although they had come to the utmost danger and their barricade had failed them.

When the Pisistratids proposed terms of surrender, they would not listen but contrived defenses such as rolling down boulders onto the barbarians when they came near the gates. For a long time Xerxes was at a loss, unable to capture them.