Despite Athens' victory at Marathon, the Persians remained masters of Thrace and Macedonia. Darius' death and the uprisings that followed on Xerxes' ascent to the throne delayed the second Persian expedition. Preparations included the bridging of the Hellespont, so that the army could cross into Europe, and the opening of the isthmus of Athos, so as to avoid a repeat of the disaster to the fleet that had happened during the previous expedition. The Great King's plan envisaged the occupation of the Hellenic peninsula by land forces, with the fleet blocking diversionary operations by the Hellenes and securing the army's communication and supply lines. At the same time he encouraged the Carthaginians to attack Sicily (so we are told by Diodorus), so as to prevent the sending of reinforcements to Hellas.

In the summer of 481 B.C., on Athens' initiative, an assembly of delegates from Hellenic cities was called at Corinth, in order for the decision to be taken about what defensive tactics should be followed. Eventually, the only delegates (members of the congress) who turned up were those from the cities of the Peloponnesian alliance and from Plataea and Thespiae. The Thessalians and the ethnos-type states from central Hellas were ready to medize, while Argos remained neutral, in the hope that Persian victory would upset Spartan dominance in the Peloponnese. The congress was unable to agree about which line of defence the Hellenic forces should be drawn up on. In the spring of 480 B.C. there was a new congress at Corinth. At this, delegates from the cities of Thessaly bound themselves to defend the pass of Tempe, provided they were supplied with reinforcements. But when a body of troops landed in Thessaly under the leadership of the Spartan Euaenetus and Themistocles, the Thessalians did not keep their promise to put up resistance to the Persian advance, and the Hellenes withdrew.



In August of the same year, Leonidas king of Sparta blocked the pass of Thermopylae with troops from the Peloponnese, Thespiae, Opuntian Locris, and Phocis. Simultaneously, the Athenian fleet took up position in the Oreos strait, off cape Artemisium, blocking the entrance to the Gulf of Euboea. The Hellenes would have repulsed the Persian attack at Thermopylae, had not Ephialtes betrayed to the Persians the existence of the track at Anopaea, which brought them to the Hellenes' rear. The Spartans, though, did not quit their post, and held out until death. The sea battle of Artemisium started well for the Hellenes, since one third of the Persian fleet was wrecked in a storm off Magnesia. Despite severe losses, the Hellenes continued to prevail against the Persians, but were forced to abandon the strait once news of the fall of Thermopylae arrived.

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