Xerxes I

Xerxes I(Xerxes the Great)zûrk´sēz [key], d. 465 BC, king of ancient Persia (486–465 BC). His name in Old Persian is Khshayarsha, in the BibleAhasuerus. He was the son of Darius I and Atossa, daughter of Cyrus the Great. After bringing (484 BC.) Egypt once more under Persian rule, Xerxes prepared for an invasion of Greece (seePersian Wars) by constructing a bridge of boats across the Hellespont and cutting a canal through the isthmus of Athos. Setting out from Sardis, he marched through Thrace and Macedonia and, despite the bravery ofLeonidasand his 300 Spartans, overthrew (480) the Lacedaemonians atThermopylae. He then occupied and pillaged Athens. In the same year his fleet was destroyed at Salamis. Leaving an army under his general, Mardonius, he retired into Asia. He was slain by the captain of his bodyguard and was succeeded by his sonArtaxerxes I.

See P. Green,Xerxes at Salamis(1970).

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