Xerxes

(reigned 486-465 b.c.)

   An Achaemenid Persian king who succeeded his father, Darius I, and is most famous for his attempted invasion of mainland Greece in 480 b.c. Darius, who in a highly fruitful reign had extended the boundaries of the Persian Empire far beyond Iran and Mesopotamia, had three sons by his first wife. He also had four more sons by his second wife, Atossa. Of the two women, Atossa enjoyed the most influence with the king and his court. So when Darius passed away in 486 b.c., her eldest son, Xerxes (ZERK-seez), ascended the throne. An inscription on a tablet uncovered by archaeologists in the ruins of one of the Persian capitals, Persepolis, reads, "Darius also had other sons, but by the will of Ahura-Mazda [the chief Persian god] he made me [Xerxes] the greatest after himself. When Darius, my father, passed away, by the will of Ahura-Mazda I became king."

   Once king, Xerxes was immediately faced with the nagging reality that he had inherited his father's vendetta against the Greeks - in particular the Athenians - for their defeat of a Persian army at Marathon, near Athens, in 490 b.c. At first the young ruler expressed little interest in pursuing his father's plans for revenge. These plans had included initiating a conquest of Europe as well as laying waste to Athens. Over time, however, some of Xerxes' advisers, who had earlier urged Darius to wage a war in Europe, began to work on him. The new king's brother-in-law, Mardonius, for example, argued that the Athenians must not go unpunished and added that Europe was a beautiful, bountiful region ripe for Persian exploitation. Eventually Xerxes relented and actually showed considerable enthusiasm for the venture. "I have found a way to win for Persia not glory only but a country as large and as rich as our own," he told his chief followers, and at the same time to get satisfaction and revenge. ... I will bridge the Hellespont [today the Dardanelles, the strait separating Anatolia from northern Greece] and march an army . . . into Greece, and punish the Athenians for the outrage they committed upon my father and upon us. . . . We shall so extend the empire of Persia that its boundaries will be God's own sky, so that the sun will not look down upon any land beyond the boundaries of what is ours. With your help I shall pass through Europe from end to end and make it all one country. (Quoted in Herodotus, Histories 7.8-9)

   Egyptian Campaigns But before Xerxes' dreams of European conquest could be realized, he was forced to deal with some problems closer to home. Shortly before Darius's death, Egypt had risen in rebellion. His son's first priority after assuming the throne was to bring this valuable asset back into the imperial fold. By 484 b.c. Xerxes had managed to put down the Egyptian insurrection. To make it clear that he would tolerate no more such revolts, he confiscated many of the lands belonging to Egypt's local temples and imposed stricter rules and penalties on the natives. He also appointed as the Persian satrap, or governor, of Egypt someone he felt he could trust implicitly, his brother Achaemenes, named after the founder of the Achaemenid dynasty.

   The trouble in Egypt had no sooner been disposed of when Xerxes faced another major challenge. In 483 b.c. the Persian satrap of Babylon, Zopryas, was murdered and his killer, a man named Shamasheriba, declared himself king of Babylon. Quick to respond, Xerxes sent his best general, Megabyzus, to deal with the usurper. Megabyzus easily recaptured Babylon, and per Xerxes' orders, his soldiers tore down the city's defensive walls, demolished several of its temples, and confiscated the estates of its wealthiest citizens.

   Xerxes' handling of the two rebellions showed that he was a formidable ruler who would act swiftly against would-be rebels and transgressors. Another strength he shared with his father was his patient and thorough approach to war preparations. This became apparent in the ongoing military buildup for the invasion of Greece and Europe. Far in advance of the army's arrival, Persian engineers and laborers constructed impressive boat bridges over the Hellespont to facilitate the crossing into Europe. According to Herodotus:

   Galleys and triremes [warships] were lashed together to support the bridges - 360 vessels for the one on the [Anatolian] side, and 314 for the other. They were moored slantwise . . . and at right angles to the Hellespont, in order to lessen the strain on the cables. Specially heavy anchors were laid out both upstream and downstream. . . . Once the vessels were in position, the cables [made of flax] were hauled taut by wooden winches ashore. . . . The next operation was to cut planks equal in length to the width of the floats, lay them edge to edge over the taut cables, and then bind them together on their upper surface. That done, brushwood was put on top and spread evenly, with a layer of soil, trodden hard, over all. Finally a paling [fence] was constructed along each side, high enough to prevent horses and mules from seeing over and taking fright at the water. ( Histories 7.36-37)

   Invasion of Greece It was across this makeshift but sturdy bridge that Xerxes led what turned out to be the largest single invasion force ever launched in ancient times. It consisted of roughly two hundred thousand foot soldiers and up to a thousand ships, plus tens of thousands of support personnel and camp followers. After making his way into mainland Greece, Xerxes won a technical victory at the pass of Thermopylae by killing the handful of Greeks who were defending the pass, and were led by Sparta's King Leonidas. But before they died, these few Greeks slew some twenty thousand Persians, fully a tenth of Xerxes' land forces. Though furious over these losses, the Persian monarch marched on and did manage to occupy and burn Athens. In his view, this fulfilled his father's revenge on that city. However, Xerxes' war fleet was disastrously defeated by a Greek fleet soon afterward at Salamis, southwest of Athens, as he watched in horror from a nearby hilltop. He was forced to retire to Anatolia. To make matters worse, the land army he left behind under the command of Mardonius was almost annihilated by the Greeks in the following year.

   Little of a substantial nature is known about the remainder of Xerxes' reign. But a few bold highlights stand out, including the defeat of another of his armies at the hands of the Greeks circa 469 B.c.atEu-rymedon in southern Anatolia; his construction of several fine public buildings, including a huge ceremonial gateway, in his capital of Persepolis; and the addition of magnificent sculpted reliefs on the massive, elegant staircases leading to the entrance of the grand audience hall in that city. Xerxes was ultimately assassinated by a group of palace conspirators and was succeeded by his eighteen-year-old son, Artaxerxes I.

   See also: Darius I; Greeks; Persepolis; Persian Empire