Search  >  
HomeAboutLogin
      Select  >  WhoWhatWhenWhereWhichWidgets
         
Timeline
   

Item

         
  More info About: Xerxes I, Persian King
  Xerxes I, Persian King  >  new window

Persian king (486 – 465 BC) of the Achaemenian dynasty. The son of Darius I, he had been governor of Babylon before his succession. He ferociously suppressed rebellions in Egypt (484) and Babylonia (482). To avenge Darius's defeat by the Greeks at the Battle of Marathon, he spent three years raising a massive army and navy. When a storm destroyed the bridges he had built to cross the Hellespont, he had them rebuilt and for seven days oversaw the crossing of his army, numbering 360,000 troops by modern estimates, supported by more than 700 ships. The Persians broke through at the Battle of Thermopylae and pillaged Athens, but then lost their navy at the Battle of Salamis (480). Xerxes returned to Asia, leaving the army behind; it withdrew after its defeat at the Battle of Plataea (479). In Persia he began an extensive building campaign at Persepolis. Drawn unwittingly into palace intrigues, he killed his brother's family at the queen's demand. He was murdered by members of his court. His setback in Greece was regarded as the beginning of the decline of the Achaemenid dynasty.

        More on this Website  >  new window
• http://www.answers.com/topic/xerxes

Related LinksAdd URL  >  new window
       
       
 
  Cyrus The Great, Founder of Persia
Cyrus was the first Achaemenid Emperor. He founded Persia by uniting the two original Iranian Tribes- the Medes and the Persians. Although he was known to be a great conq...
         
 
  Darius The Great, King of Persia
Darius I: king of ancient Persia, whose reign lasted from 522 to 486. He seized power after killing king Gaumâta, fought a civil war (described in the Behistun inscriptio...
         
 
  Leonidas, King of Sparta
Leonidas was a king of Sparta, the 17th of the Agiad line. He was one of the sons of King Anaxandridas II of Sparta, descendant of Heracles. He succeeded his half-brother...
         
 
  The Persian Wars
Series of conflicts fought between Greek states and the Persian Empire. The writings of Herodotus, who was born c.484 B.C., are the great source of knowledge of the histo...
         
 
  Battle of Marathon
In 490 B.C., 25,000 Persians under Darius landed on the Plain of Marathon. The Spartans were unwilling to provide help for the Athenians in time, so with the help of 1,00...
         
 
  Herodotus, Father of History
Herodotus of Halicarnassus was a Greek historian who lived in the 5th century BC in Halicarnassus, Caria; Bodrum in modern Turkey. He is regarded as the "Father of Histor...
         
 
  Battle of Thermopylae
In the Battle of Thermopylae of 480 BC, an alliance of Greek city-states fought the invading Persian Empire at the pass of Thermopylae in central Greece. Vastly outnumber...
         
 
  Battle of Salamis
The Battle of Salamis was a naval battle between the Greek city-states and Persia in September, 480 BC in the strait between Piraeus and Salamis Island, a small island in...
         
 
  Battle of Plataea, Defeat of the Persians
Battle between Greek and Persian forces near Plataea (modern Plataiaí) in Boeotia on the slopes of Mount Cithaeron. A largely Spartan force, including helots, defeated th...
         
     




 • : double-click any word