Xerxes watched what happened from a nearby hill, and saw how, at dawn, his ships were attacked on their flank. They were almost without a chance. We know that an Egyptian flotilla tried to block the Greek retreat to the north, but it was defeated or neutralized by the Corinthian ships. At nightfall, at least a third of the Persian ships was defeated. Persia had not improved its strategic position and Xerxes recalled his army, which had reached the Isthmus.
The Persians had suffered a serious setback, but it was certainly not a disaster. The Greeks did not pursue the retreating Persian army, which went on to occupy winter quarters in Thessaly. The real decision came in the following year, 479, when the Persian commander Mardonius turned out to have insufficient troops to defeat a united Greek army at Plataea. Things might have been different if the Persian army had received support from its navy: that would have forced to Greeks to divide their attention. The final