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Xerxes

The document discusses the Persian king Xerxes' invasion of Greece in 480 BC. It describes his large army and navy that he assembled. It then discusses some of the key battles, including Thermopylae where the Persians were initially stopped by Spartans but later broke through, and the Greek victory at Salamis where the Persian navy was defeated, forcing Xerxes to retreat back to Asia.

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19 views1 page

Xerxes

The document discusses the Persian king Xerxes' invasion of Greece in 480 BC. It describes his large army and navy that he assembled. It then discusses some of the key battles, including Thermopylae where the Persians were initially stopped by Spartans but later broke through, and the Greek victory at Salamis where the Persian navy was defeated, forcing Xerxes to retreat back to Asia.

Uploaded by

ht101
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as TXT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Persian king Darius the Great died while in the process of preparing a second

army to invade the Greek mainland, leaving to his son Xerxes, successor to the
throne, the task of punishing the Athenians, Naxians, and Eretrians for their
interference in the Ionian Revolt, the burning of Sardis, and their victory over
the Persians at Marathon. From 483 BC, Xerxes prepared his expedition: The Xerxes
Canal was dug through the isthmus of the peninsula of Mount Athos, provisions were
stored in the stations on the road through Thrace, and two pontoon bridges later
known as Xerxes' Pontoon Bridges were built across the Hellespont. Soldiers of many
nationalities served in the armies of Xerxes from all over his multi-ethnic massive
Eurasian-sized empire and beyond, including the Assyrians, Phoenicians,
Babylonians, Egyptians, Jews, Macedonians, European Thracians, Paeonians, Achaean
Greeks, Ionians, Aegean islanders, Aeolians, Greeks from Pontus, Colchians, Indians
and many more.

According to the Greek historian Herodotus, Xerxes's first attempt to bridge the
Hellespont ended in failure when a storm destroyed the flax and papyrus cables of
the bridges. In retaliation, Xerxes ordered the Hellespont (the strait itself)
whipped three hundred times, and had fetters thrown into the water. Xerxes's second
attempt to bridge the Hellespont was successful. Many smaller Greek states, took
the side of the Persians, especially Thessaly, Thebes and Argos. Xerxes was
victorious during the initial battles.

Xerxes set out in the spring of 480 BC from Sardis with a fleet and army which
Herodotus estimated was roughly one million strong along with 10,000 elite warriors
named the Immortals.

At the Battle of Thermopylae, a small force of Greek warriors led by King Leonidas
of Sparta resisted the much larger Persian forces, but were ultimately defeated.
According to Herodotus, the Persians broke the Spartan phalanx after a Greek man
called Ephialtes betrayed his country by telling the Persians of another pass
around the mountains. At Artemisium, large storms had destroyed ships from the
Greek side and so the battle stopped prematurely as the Greeks received news of the
defeat at Thermopylae and retreated.

After Thermopylae, Athens was captured. Most of the Athenians had abandoned the
city and fled to the island of Salamis before Xerxes arrived. A small group
attempted to defend the Athenian Acropolis, but they were defeated. Xerxes ordered
the Destruction of Athens and burnt the city, leaving an archaeologically attested
destruction layer, known as the Perserschutt. The Persians thus gained control of
all of mainland Greece to the north of the Isthmus of Corinth.

Xerxes was induced, by the message of Themistocles (against the advice of Artemisia
of Halicarnassus), to attack the Greek fleet under unfavourable conditions, rather
than sending a part of his ships to the Peloponnesus and awaiting the dissolution
of the Greek armies. The Battle of Salamis (September, 480 BC) was won by the Greek
fleet, after which Xerxes set up a winter camp in Thessaly.

According to Herodotus, fearing that the Greeks might attack the bridges across the
Hellespont and trap his army in Europe, Xerxes decided to retreat back to Asia,
taking the greater part of the army with him. He left behind a contingent in Greece
to finish the campaign under Mardonius, who according to Herodotus had suggested
the retreat in the first place. This force was defeated the following year at
Plataea by the combined forces of the Greek city states, ending the Persian
offensive on Greece for good.

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