👑Xerxes I
Emperor of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, Launcher of the Second Greco-Persian War
Those Who Fought the Map Into Being · Generals & Conquerors
The Achaemenid EmpireThe Second Greco-Persian WarThe Battle of Thermopylae
Who they are
Xerxes I (reigned c. 486–465 BC) was a son of Darius I, who on his accession, to avenge his father’s defeat at Marathon, mobilized the resources of the whole Persian Empire to launch the Second Greco-Persian War of unprecedented scale, leading his army across the Hellespont (present-day Dardanelles) on an expedition to the Greek mainland. At the famous Battle of Thermopylae the Spartan king Leonidas I led three hundred elite troops to defend the narrow pass to the death, and though at last wiped out to a man, their terrible sacrifice greatly slowed the advance of the Persian army, and this battle thereafter became a classic symbol in Western historical narrative of "facing overwhelming odds and death without flinching." The Persian army then for a time took and burned the city of Athens, but suffered decisive defeats in turn at the naval Battle of Salamis and the Battle of Plataea and was forced to withdraw, the Second Greco-Persian War ending at last in Persian failure, marking the halt of the Persian Empire’s momentum of expansion into Europe.
Primary sourcesHerodotus, The HistoriesPersepolis inscriptions
Key stories
The Battle of Thermopylae: The Three Hundred
In 480 BC the Spartan king Leonidas I led three hundred Spartan elite and a small Greek allied force to hold the narrow terrain of Thermopylae to the death, resisting a Persian army far larger than their own for several days, at last wiped out to a man when a Greek traitor guided the Persians along a mountain path to encircle them — this tragic delaying battle thereafter became a classic symbol in Western culture of the spirit of "facing overwhelming odds and going gladly to death," repeatedly adapted into literature and film.
The Rout at Salamis
Xerxes I’s navy was crushingly defeated in the narrow waters of the Strait of Salamis by the Greek allied fleet the Athenian general Themistocles had carefully lured in; the vast Persian fleet could not deploy its numerical advantage in the narrow waters and suffered terrible losses — this decisive naval defeat forced Xerxes I to return early to the Persian homeland, and cleared the road for the Greek land army’s utter repulse of the Persian expedition at the later Battle of Plataea.
Version differences
Herodotus’s image of Xerxes I bears a marked Greek perspective (stressing his arrogance and errors of judgment), while the royal inscriptions Persia left present a more dignified, favorable monarch; the difference between the two sources’ stances reminds the reader to note the limits of "the victor writes history."
Echoes today
Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.
The film 300The Hollywood film cast Xerxes I as an exaggerated giant villain, a visual rendering that is purely artistic license, far from the real image of the historical record, and one that once provoked protests from the Iranian side over Western cultural products distorting the historical image of Persia.