<P> The Persian fleet began to retreat towards Phalerum, but according to Herodotus, the Aeginetans ambushed them as they tried to leave the Straits . The remaining Persian ships limped back to the harbour of Phalerum and the shelter of the Persian army . The Athenian general Aristides then took a detachment of men across to Psyttaleia to slaughter the garrison that Xerxes had left there . The exact Persian casualties are not mentioned by Herodotus . However, he writes that the next year, the Persian fleet numbered 300 triremes . The number of losses then depends on the number of ships the Persian had to begin with; something in the range of 200--300 seems likely, based on the above estimates for the size of the Persian fleet . According to Herodotus, the Persians suffered many more casualties than the Greeks because most Persians did not know how to swim . Xerxes, sitting on Mount Aigaleo on his throne, witnessed the carnage . Some ship - wrecked Phoenician captains tried to blame the Ionians for cowardice before the end of the battle . Xerxes, in a foul mood, and having just witnessed an Ionian ship capture an Aeginetan ship, had the Phoenicians beheaded for slandering "more noble men". According to Diodorus, Xerxes "put to death those Phoenicians who were chiefly responsible for beginning the flight, and threatened to visit upon the rest the punishment they deserved", causing the Phoenicians to sail to Asia when night fell . </P> <P> In the immediate aftermath of Salamis, Xerxes attempted to build a pontoon bridge or causeway across the straits, in order to use his army to attack the Athenians; however, with the Greek fleet now confidently patrolling the straits, this proved futile . Herodotus tells us that Xerxes held a council of war, at which the Persian general Mardonius tried to make light of the defeat: </P> <P> Sire, be not grieved nor greatly distressed because of what has befallen us . It is not on things of wood that the issue hangs for us, but on men and horses...If then you so desire, let us straightway attack the Peloponnese, or if it pleases you to wait, that also we can do...It is best then that you should do as I have said, but if you have resolved to lead your army away, even then I have another plan . Do not, O king, make the Persians the laughing - stock of the Greeks, for if you have suffered harm, it is by no fault of the Persians . Nor can you say that we have anywhere done less than brave men should, and if Phoenicians and Egyptians and Cyprians and Cilicians have so done, it is not the Persians who have any part in this disaster . Therefore, since the Persians are in no way to blame, be guided by me; if you are resolved not to remain, march homewards with the greater part of your army . It is for me, however, to enslave and deliver Hellas to you with three hundred thousand of your host whom I will choose . </P> <P> Fearing that the Greeks might attack the bridges across the Hellespont and trap his army in Europe, Xerxes resolved to do this, taking the greater part of the army with him . Mardonius handpicked the troops who were to remain with him in Greece, taking the elite infantry units and cavalry, to complete the conquest of Greece . All of the Persian forces abandoned Attica, however, with Mardonius over-wintering in Boeotia and Thessaly; the Athenians were thus able to return to their burnt city for the winter . </P>

Athenians saw the battle at salamis in 480 bc as