In Book 9, Herodotus concludes his account of the Persian invasion of Greece under Xerxes and Mardonius. He describes the defeat of Mardonius’ forces at Plataea and the Greek fleet’s destruction of the Persian navy at Mycale in Ionia. In closing, he offers two anecdotes about the Persian emperors Cyrus and Xerxes that emphasize main themes of his work: freedom versus slavery, the influence of poverty and wealth on a nation’s character, and the destructive consequences of hubris and lust.

On receiving the Athenian refusal to form an alliance, Mardonius set out with his army from Thessaly and hurried towards Athens. Arriving in Boeotia, the Thebans encouraged him to make his base there and try to bribe the most powerful men of the independent Greek cities in order to force their subjection by extortion. Mardonius rejected this advice, desiring to capture Athens again, and pressed on to Attica. He found the city deserted, as most of the Athenians had evacuated in their ships for Salamis. Mardonius sent a herald to the island who repeated the Persian offer of alliance to the Athenian council, which was again rebuffed. An Athenian councilor who advocated that Mardonius’ proposal be brought before the citizens’ assembly was stoned to death by the indignant public.