Xerxes observed the battle from Mount Aegaleos expecting to savor a great victory but instead he saw his commanders routed and his fleet destroyed. One of the few exploits to make him smile involved his female commander, Queen Artemisia. Pursued by an Athenian ship, she purposely rammed another Persian ship to make it appear she was Greek. The pursuers took the bait and broke off pursuit of her. When Xerxes heard about this, he remarked, “today our women are fighting like men and our men like women.”
Defeated, Xerxes chose to withdraw his main army from Greece and leave a small force to winter there. Those troops lead by Mardonius camped at Boetia, far enough from Athens to allow its citizens to return to their ruined city.