Before the second Persian invasion of Greece, the Athenians consulted the Delphic Oracle, which delivered a dire warning but also a cryptic message that only a 'wooden wall' would not fail them. Themistocles famously interpreted this to mean the Athenian navy, convincing the city to evacuate and fight at sea. This interpretation led directly to the Greek naval victory at Salamis, saving Greek civilization.

The 'wooden walls' prophecy is one of the most famous oracular pronouncements in Western literature, immortalized in Herodotus's Histories and Plutarch's Lives. It has become a symbol of strategic interpretation and political decision-making, resonating in later poetic works that explore the tension between divine will and human agency, from Aeschylus's The Persians to modern political allegories.