Xerxes I of Persia

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Xerxes I of Persia in Persian: Khashayarsha(خشایارشا) ) was a King of Persia (reigned 485–465 BC) of the Achaemenid dynasty. Xérxēs (Ξέρξης) is the Greek form of the Old Persian throne name Xšayāršā, meaning "Ruler of heroes". The English pronunciation is .

Political career

Xerxes was son of Darius the Great of Persia and Atossa, the daughter of Cyrus the Great. After his accession in October 485 BC, he suppressed the revolts in Egypt and Babylon that had broken out the year before and appointed his brother Achaemenes as governor or satrap over Egypt (Old Persian: khshathrapavan). In 484 BC, he took away from Babylon the golden statue of Bel (Marduk, Merodach), the hands of which the legitimate king of Babylon had to seize on the first day of each year, and killed the priest who tried to hinder him. Therefore Xerxes does not bear the title of King in the Babylonian documents dated from his reign, but King of Persia and Media or simply King of countries (i.e. of the world). This proceeding led to two rebellions, probably in 484 BC and 479 BC.

Invasion of the Greek mainland

Darius left to his son the task of punishing the Athenians, Naxians, and Eretrians for their interference in the Ionian Revolt and their victory over the Persians at Marathon. From 483 BC Xerxes prepared his expedition: A channel was dug through the isthmus of the peninsula of Mount Athos, provisions were stored in the stations on the road through Thrace, two bridges were thrown across the Hellespont. According to the Greek historian Herodotus, Xerxes' first attempt to bridge the Hellespont ended in failure when a storm destroyed the flax and papyrus bridge; Xerxes ordered the Hellespont (the strait itself) whipped three hundred times and had fetters thrown into the water. Xerxes' second attempt to bridge the Hellespont was successful. Xerxes concluded an alliance with Carthage, and thus deprived Greece of the support of the powerful monarchs of Syracuse and Agrigentum. Many smaller Greek states, moreover, took the side of the Persians, especially Thessaly, Thebes and Argos. Xerxes set out in the spring of 480 BC from Sardis with a fleet and army which Herodotus claimed was more than two million strong.

Xerxes was victorious during the initial battles. At the Battle of Thermopylae, a small force of warriors, led by King Leonidas of Sparta, resisted the much larger Persian forces, but were ultimately defeated, after a Greek man called Ephialtes betrayed his country by telling the Persians of another pass around the mountains. After Thermopylae, Athens was captured, and the Athenians and Spartans were driven back to their last line of defense at the Isthmus of Corinth and in the Saronic Gulf. At Artemisium, large storms had destroyed ships from the Greek side, and so the battle stopped prematurely as the Greeks received news of the defeat at Thermopylae and retreated. Xerxes was induced by the message of Themistocles (against the advice of Artemisia of Halicarnassus) to attack the Greek fleet under unfavourable conditions, rather than sending a part of his ships to the Peloponnesus and awaiting the dissolution of the Greek armies. The Battle of Salamis (September 29, 480 BC) was won by the Athenians. Although the loss was a setback, it was not a disaster, and Xerxes set up a winter camp in Thessaly. Due to unrest in Babylon, Xerxes was forced to send his army home to prevent a revolt, leaving behind an army in Greece under Mardonius, who was defeated the following year at Plataea. The defeat of the Persians at Mycale roused the Greek cities of Asia.

Missing later years

Little is known of Xerxes' later years. He sent out Sataspes to attempt to circumnavigate Africa. He left inscriptions at Persepolis, where he added a new palace to that of Darius, at Van, now in present day Turkey, and on Mount Alvand (western pronunciation: Elvend) near Ecbatana. In these texts he merely copies the words of his father. In 465 he was murdered by his vizier, Artabanus, who raised Artaxerxes I.

In the Bible

Stories of Xerxes can be found in the Bible, especially in the book of Esther, although some scholars think that the Bible is referring to another Xerxes or king.' Daniel 9:1 mentions "Darius son of Ahasuerus", which is Hebrew for Achashverosh. The name is generally thought to be equivalent to Xerxes, both being derived from the original Persian Khashayar-sha. (See "Identity of 'Darius the Mede'" under Book of Daniel.).

The Greek Septuagint version of the Hebrew Bible identifies Esther's husband as Artaxerxes I, rather than Xerxes himself, as does the Judeo-Roman historian Josephus.

Josephus took the historical existence of Vashti and Esther as fact, though the works of Herodotus suggest that Xerxes had a Queen consort named Amestris, daughter to Otanes. But those in favour of the book of Esther argue that the annual Jewish feast of Purim provides strong argumentation for the validity of the Esther account.

It must also be noted that those who believe that Ahasuerus is Xerxes argue that the name Ahasuerus is derived from the Latin transliteration of Áchashwerosh. This also being the Hebrew equivalent of the Babylonian Achshiyarshu, both of which are transliterations from the Old Persian Xšayāršā (also spelt Khsayârshâ). Hence the conclusion that Ahasuerus is Xerxes the Great.

Thus it is thought that the Septuagint translators mistook Xerxes the Great for Artaxerxes I (Longimanus). For if a mistake was made by the Egyptian Jewish translators of this portion of the LXX, it could explain how other later Jewish historians such as Josephus could come to similar conclusions.

Assuming that Xerxes is the Biblical Ahasuerus, then this would make the six months of festivities for "all his princes and his servants; the power (i.e. the armies) of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces,..." a political maneuver to show "the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honour of his excellent majesty many days". For it was in the "third year of his reign" (483 BC), which adds an insight: for these festivities would have been just prior to his invasion of Greece, and just after his successful suppression of the Egyptian and Babylonian revolts. Which makes his feast a celebration as well as a political stunt to boost morale and support for his Grecian campaign after his father Darius the Great had failed in his quest to conquer the Greeks at the battle of Marathon.

Children

By queen Amestris

Amytis, wife of Megabyzus
Artaxerxes I
Darius, the first born, murdered by Artaxerxes and Artabanus.
Hystaspes, murdered by Artaxerxes.
Rodogyne

By unknown wives

Artarius, satrap of Babylon.
Ratashah

In popular culture

In The 300 Spartans (1962), King Xerxes is portrayed by actor David Farrar.
In 300 (2007), produced by Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., King Xerxes is portrayed by Brazilian actor Rodrigo Santoro. Based on the Frank Miller graphic novel, the film fictionalizes the Battle of Thermopylae, in which the advancing armies of the Persian Empire battled an alliance of Greek city-states.
In One Night With the King (2006), King Xerxes is portrayed by Luke Goss.
A fictionalized portrait of Xerxes appears in Creation by Gore Vidal.
Xerxes is a pivotal character in L. Sprague de Camp's historical novel The Dragon of the Ishtar Gate. He sends the two protagonists on their quest to the source of the Nile.
An "utukku" djinni by the name of Xerxes appears in the first book of the Bartimaeus Trilogy, The Amulet of Samarkand.
Xerxes is portrayed by a Persian club owner in the South Park episode: D-Yikes!
Xerxes is portrayed by Ken Davitian in the comedy-spoof Meet The Spartans.
The onboard AI of the experimental starship Von Braun in the computer game System Shock 2 is named Xerxes.