Greek Victory At The Battle Of Thermopylae

Early life King Xerxes was born in the Achmachid Empire in CA 518 B.C.E. as Khshayarsha, Xerxes, being the more commonly known Greek interpretation. His mother was Attosa, his father was Darius the Great. He had many siblings, mostly half siblings owing to the king’s enormous harem. Today, there are no records of Xerxes going to school. However, a greek philosopher tells of how the Persian royals were normally educated. They were taught by court eunuchs in riding and archery.

Tutors taught them the Persian virtues of wisdom, justice, prudence and bravery. They were also taught the religion of Zoroaster.

Obstacles. The king faced many obstacles in his career, some due to his own family members! Upon his accession to the Persian throne in 486 BCE, Xerxes I had to first remove a usurper satrap from Egypt. He crushed these usurpers. The Babylonian revolt was worse though. He punished Babylon without mercy and destroyed the statue of Marduk, their chief god, that stood in the town square.

As the king had many siblings and relatives, this brings up the question of how these siblings affected the king. Well, his brother-in-law was his commander-in-chief. Mardonius, the commander-in-chief, was part of the reason for Xerxes’ downfall. He was one of the most outspoken people in favor of renewing the campaign against Greece. Incidentally, he was also the one who finished it. Xerxes’ uncle and advisor tried to dissuade Xerxes from that path, but to no avail.

When Xerxes returned from the campaign with the few hundred men that was left of the once great army, he had every right to say,” I told you so!” Later, Mardonius would counsel Xerxes to fight the battle of Salamis, which cost the persian army deeply.

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It was a huge mistake. Whether trying to make it up to Xerxes, or to gain power, Mardonius stayed behind as co-ruler when Xerxes retreated to Persia. Mardonius stayed strong for a year, but after that one year, he was defeated and killed in the battle of Plataea. This marked the end of the Persian campaign against Greece. As predicted, Xerxes returned home with a fraction of what had recently been the largest and most glorious army then known to man. The reason behind this mass bloodshed was, in fact, Xerxes’ father. History was repeating itself through two generations. Darius the Great had previously tried to punish Athens for their support of the Ionian colonies’ revolt in 499 B.C.E.

He had launched an invasion on Greece in 492 B.C.E, and was defeated in the battle of Marathon in 490B.C.E. Unfortunately, he was murdered in 486 B.C.E before being able to mount another attack. This inspired his sons thirst for vengeance and drove him to attack Greece, ending in yet more ill fate. Xerxes’ grandfather, the rather more well none Cyrus the Great, who founded the Achaemenid Empire, surely gave his grandson this thirst for world conquest. This was not, however, the only time Xerxes lost to Greeks. In 466 B.C.E., Xerxes lost Asia Minor to an Athenian general, and upon trying to regain control, lost yet again. He had hoped to use Asia Minor to invade Greece again, and to redeem his own earlier mistakes. On losing that battle, however, he abandoned all hope of ever conquering Greece.

His war with the Greeks. King Xerxes decided to attack the Greeks. He gathered the world’s largest army, over 180,000 men and ships. He gathered supplies too, which required three years to complete (484–481 BCE). Herodotus(an ancient Greek historian) notes that never before had such an effort been undertaken. Troops were taken from all the satrapies, and a navy that was intended to be the army’s supply line was gathered. This was undoubtedly the biggest operation ever undergone in preparation for war. The care Xerxes took proves that. He left at the head of his army to the Hellespont, where he would cross. However, before they crossed, a bad open appeared. A horse gave birth to a hare. It meant that although Xerxes would start strong, he would return hove with his tail between his legs.

He dismissed this and continued. He came up with the idea of using boat bridges. Then he lashed boats together, and placed wood planks across the decks. Unfortunately for him, a sea storm destroyed them. In his rage, he ordered his men to give the sea 100 lashes with the whips so that,” it may feel the pain it had given him. ”Then he built two new bridges, and crossed. By this time, the Greeks had heard of the invasion. At the narrow mountain called Thermopylae, his way was impeded by 6,000 Spartans. His conquest might have ended there, but for a Greek traitor by the name Ephialtes, who, in return for money, led half of the Persians along an unused goat path around to the other side of the Spartans, surrounding them. This did not go exactly according to plan, for King Leonidas, knowing he would be able to delay Xerxes only, sent most of his troops home.

He himself stayed with 300 of his men. Xerxes offered them one more chance. When Leonidas refused, Xerxes slaughtered all of them. By this time, the Athenians had heard. They panicked and fled to neighboring islands. With only a small garrison defending it, Xerxes easily won and burned Athens to the ground. He received a letter saying that an Athenian Navy general wanted to switch sides, and to come to the Salamis Strait. Xerxes, thinking himself to have won a great victory, went willingly. When he got there, the Greek ships seemed to be retreating, so he followed. But when he came in, he found himself surrounded by Greek ships, all of which had wooden rams in front. On that day, he lost 300 ships, a huge loss. Xerxes left his army with instructions to attack again in the spring. He and a few of his men hurried back to the bridges, afraid that the Greeks might have gotten to them first.

He need not have worried, as another sea storm had destroyed them. He ended up having to ferry his men over by boat. Come spring, Xerxes’ army attacked again, on that fateful day at the Battle of Plataea. They were met by a horde of angry Spartans and Athenians. The Greeks fought for their freedom, and won. As it was predicted, Xerxes came home with a fraction of what he had started out with, humiliated and failed. This last battle marked the end of the Greek-Persian wars. Both times the Greeks won, both kings were humiliated.

Accomplishments. As you heard above, Xerxes had a thirst for war. And in the case above, he failed miserably. However, King Xerxes the first did not lose all his battles. He defeated the Greeks in the battle of Thermopylae. This was where Leonidas, the king of the Spatans, took 300 of his men to hold off the Persians while the rest of Greece prepared for war. The battle was fought in a narrow pass called Thermopylae. It was really ingenious of the Spartans, because in that narrow pass, the size of the Persian army wouldn’t matter. Nonetheless, Xerxes defeated and killed Lenidas and his Spartans. But don’t let this make you think of him as a bloodthirsty monster. He was also quite intelligent. He was an architect. He built the city of Persepolis, which is the same city he died in. He also built a new palace and began work on the monumental Hall of a Hundred Columns. Unfortunately, he never finished it.

Death and Legacy. Xerxes never finished the Hall of a Hundred Columns because he was murdered beforehand. In August of 450BC, he and his eldest son were murdered by his minister, by the name of Artabanus. Some people say that it was on the orders of his son, who came to the throne after Xerxes fell. We shall never know. Not many people were sad, however, because Xerxes very greatly depleted the royal treasury. He did what he liked. Because of his depleting the royal treasury, and the failed invasion of Greece, many historians agree that his reign marked the start of the decline in the Achmachid Empire. Xerxes left a mess for his son to clean up. Xerxes inherited the Persian empire at the age of 35, after governing Babylon for his father. When he inherited it, it was at the height of its power. He was most famous for his failed expedition on Greece, which marked the start of the end of the Achmachid Empire.

Because of that expedition, he is mostly seen as a villain in history. It also inspired many artists. Movies were made, including Frank Miller’s very popular “300”. This is a fictional Battle of Thermopylae from King Leonidas’ point of view. This truly was a historical thing. This man burned Athens to the ground. He nearly conquered all of Europe, but was stopped by a mere 80,000 men. He slaughtered 300 Spartans and their king in the battle of Thermopylae. But did this make him all-powerful? According to legend, he thought of himself as a god. According to history, he called his soldiers immortals. But he was still foolish enough to believe that Athenian captain and was lured into the Salamis strait, where he lost 300 ships. He lost to 80,000 men, and depleted the royal treasury, and started the end of the empire. So, next time you think you would like to be a king, think of Xerxes and ask yourself if you really do.