« Do not try to persuade us to come to an agreement with the barbarian. We shall not be persuaded. And now carry back to Mardonius this message from the Athenians: so long as the sun traverses the same course he traverses now, we shall never make terms with Xerxes. We shall go forth to defend ourselves against him, and we shall find at our sides the gods and heroes whose dwellings and images he has impiously burnt. »

(Herodotus, c. 440 BC)

Xerxes launched a massive invasion that led to the sack of Athens and the burning of the Acropolis. He was defeated at the naval battle of Salamis (480), and later at Plataea (479), which put an end to his Greek ambitions.

Athens survived its political downfall by transforming itself from within.