Xerxes I

Biography

Xerxes I inherited from his father Darius I an empire stretching from the Aegean to the Indus, along with an unfinished vendetta against Athens. For four years he prepared the most ambitious military expedition the ancient world had ever seen — bridging the Hellespont with a pontoon of boats, digging a canal through the Athos peninsula to spare his fleet the dangerous cape, and assembling an army ancient sources described in millions (modern scholars estimate 100,000–300,000). His campaign began brilliantly. Thermopylae fell, Athens was burned, and for weeks Xerxes sat on his golden throne watching what seemed like inevitable triumph. Then Salamis shattered his fleet in a single afternoon. He watched the battle from his throne on the shore, reportedly ordering court officials strangled every time a Greek ship appeared to be winning. After the disaster he returned to Asia, leaving Mardonius to finish the conquest — who also failed, dying at Plataea. Xerxes never returned to Greece. His later years were consumed by harem intrigues, construction projects at Persepolis, and the endless administration of empire. He was assassinated in 465 BC by the commander of his palace guard. His ambition had been vast; his legacy was the proof that even the greatest empire in the world could be stopped by determined freemen fighting for their homes.

Key Battles