While Xerxes march continued through Europe, the Greek fleet came to rest at Salamis to make more battle plans. Those from the Peloponnese wanted to fortify the isthmus and not worry about the rest of Greece. The Athenians needed a chance to evacuate their city and to save their families.
At Salamis, more ships joined the fleet, making it stronger than it was at Artemisium. It was, however, still commanded by Eurybiades, and the Athenians still had the biggest contingent. The new bigger fleet held a council of war to decide where to engage the Persians next. While debating, news came that the Persians had sacked Athens. "The march of the Persian Army from the Hellespont to Attica had taken three months-and the actual crossing of the strait an additional one (VIII, 50)." The Athenians had abandoned the city for the most part, but some people remained in the temple of Athene Polias who "though in imminent and deadly peril, refused to give in or even listen to the proposals which the Pisistratidae made to them for a truce (VIII, 52)." Xerxes laid siege to the Acropolis and eventually burned it to the ground and plundered its treasures.