<P> When the Persians recovered Leonidas' body, Xerxes, in a rage against Leonidas, ordered that the head be cut off and the body crucified . Herodotus observes this was very uncommon for the Persians, as they traditionally treated "valiant warriors" with great honour (the example of Pytheas, captured off Skiathos before the Battle of Artemisium, strengthens this suggestion). However, Xerxes was known for his rage . Legend has it that he had the very water of the Hellespont whipped because it would not obey him . </P> <P> After the Persians' departure, the Greeks collected their dead and buried them on the hill . After the Persian invasion was repulsed, a stone lion was erected at Thermopylae to commemorate Leonidas . A full 40 years after the battle, Leonidas' bones were returned to Sparta, where he was buried again with full honors; funeral games were held every year in his memory . </P> <P> With Thermopylae now opened to the Persian army, the continuation of the blockade at Artemisium by the Greek fleet became irrelevant . The simultaneous naval Battle of Artemisium had been a tactical stalemate, and the Greek navy was able to retreat in good order to the Saronic Gulf, where they helped to ferry the remaining Athenian citizens to the island of Salamis . </P> <P> Following Thermopylae, the Persian army proceeded to sack and burn Plataea and Thespiae, the Boeotian cities that had not submitted, before it marched on the now evacuated city of Athens . Meanwhile, the Greeks (for the most part Peloponnesians) preparing to defend the Isthmus of Corinth, demolished the single road that led through it and built a wall across it . As at Thermopylae, making this an effective strategy required the Greek navy to stage a simultaneous blockade, barring the passage of the Persian navy across the Saronic Gulf, so that troops could not be landed directly on the Peloponnese . However, instead of a mere blockade, Themistocles persuaded the Greeks to seek a decisive victory against the Persian fleet . Luring the Persian navy into the Straits of Salamis, the Greek fleet was able to destroy much of the Persian fleet in the Battle of Salamis, which essentially ended the threat to the Peloponnese . </P>

Through which city did the grand army not pass on its retreat