I sent Xerxes away on board his flagship, but the historian Herodotus said he left by land, taking a large part of the army with him. That probably explains why a great part of his battered fleet ended up at Samos for repairs. As is often the case, the real history is slower than I would like – and more detailed than I can always fit in. Xerxes departed, yes, but there was time enough for the Athenians to send a messenger to him, asking how he expected to pay for all the damage of his invasion! He cannot be said to have ever really understood the Greeks. In confusion, Xerxes pointed to Mardonius and said they should look for payment from him. He may have meant it as a threat, but Mardonius actually would pay with his life at Plataea.

It is also true that Mardonius was not hell-bent on war, that he first tried to arrange for Athens to surrender with the help of one Alexander of Macedon. (This particular Macedonian king was the ancestor of Alexander the Great.) At this time, Macedonia had become a loyal ally of Persia. Alexander visited Athens as an envoy and put the Persian case.

Note: I wrote a Spartan shaking hands with Cimon at the isthmus of the Peloponnese. There is a modern myth that ancient Greeks and Romans did not shake hands. It may not have been as common, but there are references to shaking hands on greeting that go back to the ninth century BC . The gesture is mentioned in Homer, sealing agreements and as proof of trust, so the meaning seems not to have changed a great deal. It was also carved in images on gravestones from this period in Athens, often as a final handshake between the deceased and a loved one.

When the Spartans heard Mardonius and Alexander of Macedon were making overtures to Athens, they sent a party to Athens to demand an end to negotiations – and offered to pay to support the women of Athens. That scene is reported in Herodotus. The Athenian council was furious at the implication. They formally rejected both the Spartan and the Persian offer – and in reply, Mardonius marched south to sack Athens again. He was a man of his word and his threat had been quite clear. For a second time, the Athenian fleet ferried the people to safety. For a second time, the soldiers of Persia despoiled and destroyed everything the Athenians had been rebuilding. I do not think this is general knowledge, but it is one of the most extraordinary events of the period. Persia sacked Athens, not once, but twice in a few months, in 480/479 BC .