After the Persian invasion, Athens herself was in ruins. The houses and public buildings had been burned and much of the city wall torn down; the temple to Athena had been razed while the Persians were still occupying the city. A lesser people than the Athenians might have given up. But this was the beginning of the Athenian triumph.
Although the Greeks took pride in their public buildings, temples, and statues, they identified themselves most closely with the organized population itself, not with the physical facilities: the Athenians enacted their laws and made their decrees in the name of the demos, the people. They Athenians had moved en masse to the island of Salamis (still in their own territory), giving up their city rather than surrender to the Persians. Their city consisted of the people, not the land they occupied. “Is the city of Athens then not yet despoiled?” asks the Persian queen in Aeschylus’ play that depicts the battle. “Nay, while her sons still live her ramparts are impregnable,” answers the messenger — reporting the safety not of the city walls, but of the people.[22]
Now the Athenians were back, and they resolved to rebuild Athens bigger and better than ever.
The first order of business was the walls. Since Greek cities were constantly at war with one another, a wall was an absolute necessity for everyone — except the Spartans, who prided themselves on not having a wall but rather an invincible army. The Spartans worried when they saw the Athenians rebuilding their walls, fearing their rivals might grow too powerful. They suggested to the Athenians that not rebuilding walls would prove they did not harbor imperial ambitions. In response, the Athenians sent an embassy to Sparta that included the wily Themistocles, who stalled the Spartans, giving the Athenians enough time to build the wall to a defensible height. Working hard with whatever stones were available, including tombstones, they quickly completed a basic wall, and then informed the Spartans that they were too late to dictate to the Athenians on matters of state security.[23]
Life slowly returned to normal; houses and buildings were rebuilt behind the new walls. Builders did a brisk business restoring the city, perhaps including Socrates’ father Sophroniscus. Shops, smithies, and workshops were set up again. Outside the walls, farms were set in order, crops planted, animals bred, fences and barns restored. Down on the coast, the ports of Phaleron and Piraeus were especially busy. Walls were rebuilt around them. More Athenian galleys were built. They sailed in for repairs and supplies, they sailed out to raid enemy territories. The poor men of Athens rowed on their benches and made extra money for their families. When raids were successful, they shared in the spoils and brought home a windfall of loot.
The architect of the new Athens was not Themistocles. After his brilliant management of the Persian War, he became suspect for his extravagant plans and projects. He failed to win a command the year after the Battle of Salamis.[24] His name came up at the ostracism in 472 or 471. At an ostracism the citizens of Athens scratched a name on a potsherd, an ostrakon – the ancient equivalent of scrap paper – and whoever won what was in effect an unpopularity contest, was exiled from Athens for ten years. This procedure was designed to get rid of dangerously powerful individuals who might be tempted to subvert the democracy by a coup d’état. Later, Themistocles’ enemies circulated a rumor that he was communicating with the Persians. He was forced to flee Greece to the court of the Great King Xerxes, whom he had defeated. Themistocles’ machinations during the war had convinced Xerxes that the general had tried to betray the Greeks (and certainly his communications and negotiations with the enemy during the Battle of Salamis were his golden parachute for the future, however things turned out). Themistocles became a valued advisor to King Xerxes and was rewarded with a large estate in Magnesia.[25]
[22].Aeschylus Persians 348-49, trans. Smyth.
[23].Thucydides 1.90.1-93.2.
[24]. Strauss 2004: 240. He may have failed to win election as general that year.
[25].Diodorus Siculus 11.55-58.