Xerxes I.

Xerxes I., king of Persia in 485-465 B.C., was the son of Darius and Atossa, and succeeded when Darius died in the midst of his preparations for a third expedition against Greece. He first subdued the rebellious Egyptians, then started with an army consisting of immense hordes of men from all parts of the vast Persian empire, and an enormous fleet furnished by the Phoenicians. He crossed the Hellespont by a bridge of boats, an English mile in length, and when the bridge was destroyed by a storm is said to have ordered 300 lashes to be given to the rebellious sea. Another bridge, consisting of a double line of boats, was built, and a canal cut through Mount Athos. The preparations were completed in 481 B.C., and in the autumn of that year Xerxes arrived at Sardis, where he wintered. Next year the vast assemblage began to march towards the Hellespont; it took, says Herodotus, seven days and nights to pass the bridge. After crossing the Hellespont the march was continued along the Thracian coast towards the plain of Doriscus on the Hebrus, where the army was numbered. Herodotus puts the whole number of fighting-men at 2,641,610; the ships of war at 1207, besides 3000 smaller vessels. This immense force moved on without resistance till it reached Thermopyle (q.v.), where it was brought to a stand by Leonidas and his 300 Spartans. After these were all slain Xerxes marched onwards through Phocis and Boeotia, and on arriving at Athens in the summer of 480, three months after crossing the Hellespont, he found it deserted, and destroyed alike temples and houses. Meantime the two fleets had sailed round from Eubœa in the narrow strait between Salamis and the Attic coast, where took place the famous naval battle of Salamis (q.v.). Xerxes witnessed the fight from a lofty throne which he had erected. Confounded at the result of all his mighty preparations, he fled with all haste towards the Hellespont. Mardonius was left with 300,000 men to carry on operations in Greece, and his hopes of conquest died with him on the fatal field of Plataea (479 B.C.). Xerxes was murdered by Artabanus in 465, and was succeeded by his son Artaxerxes.