" This is particularly relevant on the influence of religion in that period. It was not uncommonly for wars to be delayed or even abandoned because of the predictions of oracles and the one in Delphi, which had a primary role in the Greeks' religious life, had a long history of interference in the Greek politics.
There must also be mentioned that the feelings of sympathy towards the Persians were also determined for most of the Greek cities by the approach of the Persian Army. An example is the people of Thessaly, which submitted only after the Greeks evacuated the valley of Tempe.
Overall, it was the combination of these factors that led to the fact that in the year 480 B.C. only about 30 of a few hundred Greek cities decided to oppose the Persian power. Fortunately for Greece, two of the cities who decided to make a stand were Sparta, which had the most powerful land army among the Greek cities, and Athens, which had the best fleet and sailors of that time. This land and naval forces, led by people with the character of Leonidas or genius of Themistocles changed the history in this part of the world and spared the Greek world, and with it, maybe the whole of Europe, of the terrible faith of being the tributaries of East for who knows how many years.
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