Defeat at Marathon left a bitter taste on Darius’s tongue; not only had Athens not been punished for their part in the burning of Sardis, but now, outnumbered, they had humiliated his forces in open battle. The king hastened to send envoys to all corners of his empire to prepare all towns and cities to muster troops and launch an even bigger all-out attack on Greece. Every community was pressured to send even more troops, horses, supplies, ships - everything they could provide. Unsurprisingly, this took a toll on the empire, a toll which turned into a four year long turmoil as supplies dwindled, until, eventually, Egypt revolted. If Darius was to expand his empire, he would need the lands he already controlled to be stable, especially the bread-basket that was the land of the Nile.

Check out my previous Persian post on Darius the Great's expansion of the Persian Empire

Check out my previous Greek post on the Battle of Marathon, 490 BC

THE FALL OF DARIUS

In his preparations to march on Egypt and Greece, an internal dispute arose; it was customary that a Persian king should have a clear successor to the throne before going on campaign. Darius already had seven sons - three from his first wife and four from his second - so the eldest of each set of sons were his primary considerations: the eldest of the three was Artobazanes, and the eldest of the four was Xerxes. Artobazanes was the eldest of the two, so he used this to argue that he should be king. However, Xerxes was the son of Darius’s second wife, Atossa, who was in turn the daughter of Cyrus the Great, the man who gained the Persians their freedoms in the first place and forged the empire himself. It was here that Demaratus, a deposed and self-exiled Spartan king once ruling alongside Cleomenes, arrived in Asia. Getting word of the succession dispute, he came to Xerxes. Demaratus told him that it was customary in Sparta for the throne to pass to the youngest son whenever the eldest was born before their father became king, and when the youngest was born after their father’s ascension to the throne. This was the case for Xerxes and Artobazanes, so Demaratus told Xerxes to use this as his argument too. The argument worked, and Xerxes was made the heir.

Once Xerxes was appointed as his successor, Darius turned his attention to Egypt. However, one year into their rebellion, Darius suddenly died. He would never oversee the punishment of the Egyptians, or indeed the Athenians. Darius reigned from 522 to 486 BC, a total of thirty-six years, and he had brought the empire to its territorial height, at which point it has been estimated that Persia ruled over up to 45 percent of the world’s population at the time, a much higher percentage than any other empire throughout history. Despite all the great he had done for his empire, his time was now up - Xerxes was now the King of Asia.

[ABOVE: Darius's tomb at Naqsh-e Rostam, 12km north-west of Persepolis]

XERXES

[ABOVE: "Xerxes", by Ernest Normand, 1888]

Described as tall and handsome, “Xerxes” is the Greek translation of the Old Persian “Xshayārshā”, his throne name, a compound of “xshayā” (“Shah/King”) and “ārshān” (“male” or “masculine”), with his name thus meaning “king who is a true man”, “hero among kings”. Xerxes also appears in Esther 1:1 of the Bible under the name “Ahasuerus”, who “ruled over one-hundred and twenty-seven provinces stretching from India to Kush”.

[ABOVE: "Xerxes" ("Xašayaruša/Ḫašayaruša") in Egyptian hieroglyphs]

An inscription written in three languages at Persepolis details the nations that Xerxes ruled over at the start of his reign:

Saith Xerxes the King: when that I became king, there is among these countries which are inscribed above (one which) was in commotion. Afterwards Ahuramazda bore me aid; by the favour of Ahuramazda I smote that country and put it down in its place. And among those countries there was (a place) where previously false gods were worshipped. Afterwards by the favour of Ahuramazda, I destroyed that sanctuary of the daevas, and I made proclamation, “The daevas shall not be worshipped”. Where previously the daevas were worshipped, there I worshipped Ahuramazda and Arta reverently.

Xerxes, Persepolis H 28-41

[ABOVE: The Caylus Vase, an alabaster jar engraved with four languages, including cuneiform and hieroglyphic inscriptions in the name of "Xerxes, the Great King", now held in the Cabinet des Médailles, Paris]

PLANS FOR GREECE

Despite being reluctant to attack Greece, Xerxes did still wish to follow his father’s wishes in putting down the Egyptian revolt, so armies were still being raised at the start of his reign. However, Mardonius, Darius’s nephew and Xerxes’s cousin, was in the Persian court. Holding more sway with the king than any other, and wishing to be the Satrap over the Greeks, he argued that it was wrong for Athens to go unpunished for their actions, and that they should be dealt with once Egypt had. Not only would it improve his reputation, but it would make other outsiders rethink ever attacking the empire. Xerxes was won over to Mardonius’s argument.

But there was more: the Aleuadae, the ruling family of Thessaly, offered up their fullest support for a Persian invasion of Greece, as did the Pisistratidae, currently family residents in Susa and former Athenian tyrants. They had brought with them to Asia a man called Onomacritus, who specialised in collecting oracles. Whenever the Pisistratidae went to visit the king in Susa, they would shower him with compliments, while Onomacritus would tell him of oracles he had collected. One oracle he recited to Xerxes was that a Persian was destined to bridge the Hellespont into Europe. Temptations of military aid and oracles such as this greatly swayed Xerxes, winning him over to attacking Athens.

CRUSHING REVOLTS

[ABOVE: An engraving of Babylon, by H. Fletcher, 1690]

As well as in Egypt, a revolt broke out in Babylon, likely in 485/4 BC. This revolt was small and is thus not well documented, as is a second revolt by Babylon in 482-1 BC. These other revolts likely broke out over Xerxes’ less tolerant attitude towards outside religions, or over-taxation. Xerxes first marched on Egypt in 485 BC. Once Egypt was put down, Xerxes appointed his brother, Achaemenes, in charge of the Satrapy, after reducing the Egyptians to the harshest of slavery and death sentences for their revolt. Achaemenes would be killed by a Libyan not long after, but, for now at least, Egypt was back under Persian control. He then marched on Babylon, crushing it by 484 BC until the second revolt broke out in 482 BC, being crushed again the following year. These two revolts together would anger Xerxes greatly, evident through the fact that he dropped the title of “King of Babylon” from his long list of titles, and divided the Babylonian satrapy up into smaller and more manageable units.

PREPARING FOR GREECE

After securing his empire from rebels, Xerxes summoned a collection of noble Persians to a meeting, keen for them to hear of his next intentions; he told them how Persia had never not been at war since Cyrus’s reign. It was Ahura Mazda who steered them in this direction, and it was his guidance in these ways that would lead them to prosperity, as it had always done. He told them, then, that he intended to bridge the Hellespont and cross into Europe. He also detailed his intentions to go beyond Greece, encompassing all of Europe “so that the sun will not shine on any land beyond our borders.” Most at the meeting, including Mardonius, agreed with Xerxes’ proposals, but one, Artabanus, Xerxes’ uncle, said otherwise, stating that Persia had failed before on expeditions like this, particularly in the case of Darius’s failed invasion of Scythia, and as he stated that the Greeks were more honourable, brave and warlike than the Scythians, Xerxes should reassess his idea. Xerxes claimed that Artabanus’s personal relation to him was the only thing keeping him safe. Xerxes “punished” him by leaving him behind in Persia while he and his army would go to Greece, stating that should he fail, he wished to not be descended from Darius, Cambyses or Cyrus.

Now worried that the invasion may fail, Xerxes had a change of heart. It’s here that Persian sources state that at night, a figure appeared to him in a dream, telling him to stick to his original plan. Xerxes ignored this dream at first, telling his generals to cancel their war preparations, but the figure appeared to him in a dream the following night, warning that ignoring him will result in him swiftly being laid low. Terrified, Xerxes summoned Artabanus, telling him of his visions and how he was worried it could be a sign from heaven that the invasion should go ahead. Xerxes thus decided it would be a good idea to dress Artabanus up in his royal regalia, sit on his personal throne while Xerxes was away, and later sleep in his personal bed. Reluctantly, Artabanus agreed to this plan. Doing as was planned, that night, he too was visited by the figure, warning him he would be punished for dissuading Xerxes of his planned invasion by burning his eyes out with hot skewers. Scared, he rushed to Xerxes, stating he only ever wished to be cautious for him since Cyrus’s failed invasion of the Massagetae, Cambyses’s failed expedition against the Ethiopians, and Darius’s failed expedition against the Scythians. But since finding out that Xerxes’ wishes were God-given, he told Xerxes to tell his generals of his vision while he would back down from dissuading the invasion, now being in full support of it.

Xerxes would later have a third dream, in which he was wearing a garland made of olive tree sprigs whose branches cast a shadow over the entire earth. Soon, the garland vanished from Xerxes’ head. This dream was interpreted as Xerxes being destined to rule the world. With this, each member who attended Xerxes’ meetings went back to their Satrapies, keen to become Xerxes’ favourite in their rush to obey his orders and recruit more and more soldiers for the Greek campaign to come.

PERSIAN PREPARATIONS IN EUROPE

With this, nearly all of Asia and half the known world would be, for four straight years, recruiting and equipping soldiers. Xerxes collected the cavalry from all satrapies himself, and commanded them towards Greece personally. By the fifth and final year of its recruitment, the army’s sheer size dwarfed that of all known armies that had ever existed before it to as far back as the Trojan War. It was said to be so vast, it drank rivers it marched by completely dry. It's very likely that this army was too big for Greek topography, and relied too much on Greek diplomatic brittleness, a reflection of Xerxes' over-determination to carry out what his father couldn't finish. This force now crossed the Bosporus Straights, landed in Europe, and took over all of Thrace and everything up to the Ionian Sea. Vast canals were dug by soldiers practically enslaved to work across Greece, so that transport ships would have a swifter journey towards southern Greece.

[ABOVE: Multi-ethnic soldiers in the army of Xerxes, shown on the tomb of Xerxes, at Naqsh-e Rostam]

CARTHAGE

[ABOVE: The Carthaginian Republic, shown covering much of the western Mediterranean]

While gathering troops from Asia, Xerxes sent embassies to Carthage. The Carthaginians were descendants of Phoenician colonisers and a North African mercantile republic, with the city of Carthage itself located at modern-day Tunis, Tunisia. They covered much of north-west Africa, Corsica, Sardinia, the Balearic Isles and southern Spain, as well as western Sicily. Since eastern Sicily was heavily populated with Greeks, Xerxes, keen to halt as much potential for Greek reinforcements towards mainland Greece, allegedly told the Carthaginians to attack Sicily. Three years of assembling their armies later, Carthage had mustered three-hundred-thousand soldiers and two-hundred warships.

CANALS AND BRIDGES - MOUNT ATHOS

[ABOVE: The canal dug through Mount Athos, Chalkidiki, northern Greece]

One canal dug was through Mount Athos, located in the region of Chalkidiki in northern Greece, which was worked on for a total of three years before the expedition into mainland Greece. A straight line across the isthmus was drawn, and locals from the region were made to dig large sections of land, until the canal became so deep that men had to step into the ditch to carry on digging while passing up the dirt to people on platforms above. The canal would become so deep that multiple levels of platforms had to be installed. As the canal started to collapse in on itself due to its near-vertical walls, local Phoenicians brought into the workforce made the top twice as wide, lessening the workload for everyone else, and narrowing the bottom of the trench.

What was once open fields soon became a business centre and marketplace for the workforce. This canal would be wide enough for two entire warships to travel down it side-by-side. Bridges were also constructed by these same workforces, made of cables made of papyrus and flax, to cross the several rivers along the way. While the ships could have simply been dragged through the isthmus without the need for a giant canal, it’s likely that Xerxes wanted to leave a monument of his grand campaign for all of time. This canal can still be seen today.

PYTHIUS; FROM CAPPADOCIA TO SARDIS

[ABOVE: The army's march from Cappadocia to Sardis, before crossing into Europe]

Meanwhile, the main land force gathered in Cappadocia, set to reach Sardis. On the way, a Lydian named Pythius, the grandson of Croesus, joined Xerxes’s force, providing meals for him and his soldiers and promising to finance the expedition further. Recognising him, Xerxes’ soldiers said that Pythius was the man who gave his father, King Darius, a golden plane-tree and vine, and was, other than the king himself, the richest man alive. Pythius told Xerxes that he had 2,000 talents of silver, and just under 4 million gold Daric staters to give Xerxes; his slaves and farmland would continue to generate money back home. Pleased with Pythius’s offer and happy with how he had treated his army, Xerxes gathered the extra gold needed to get Pythius up to 4 million exactly, letting Pythius keep his money, and carrying on his way towards Sardis. Reaching Sardis, Xerxes once more sent messages to all over Greece - except Athens and Sparta - to ask for the “Earth and Water” submission; while Darius had tried this before, Xerxes thought that the sheer size of his army would intimidate them this time to comply.

BRIDGING THE HELLESPONT, LASHING THE SEA

Xerxes next prepared to march to Abydus, while his men bridged the Hellespont to cross by land from Asia to Europe. Phoenicians and Egyptians tasked with the Mount Athos canal were now brought over to construct his bridge, but a strong storm destroyed their efforts. In an angry response, Xerxes ordered the sea to be whipped three-hundred times, whilst shouting “Bitter water!” and “This is your punishment for wronging your master when he id no wrong to you!” He also ordered soldiers to throw a pair of hand shackles into the sea, and may have even ordered soldiers to brand the Hellespont like a farm animal as further punishment. In further anger, Xerxes beheaded the bridges’s supervisors.

[ABOVE: Xerxes and his army lashing and chaining the Hellespont, drawn in 1909]

A second attempt to bridge the Hellespont was eventually successful; a solid wall of 360 and 314 warships side-by-side, each allegedly weighing around 100 tonnes, were all massed together, after which anchors were let down to keep them in place. Gaps between the boats were also made to allow smaller transport ships easy passage. Cables tethered to the land at both ends kept the ships ruggedly tied together. Large, flat planks were laid down over the ships, topped with brushwood and soil, to allow the army and its animals to travel more easily and smoothly over the bridge. Fences on both edges were also installed to stop animals from becoming scared by the sight of the sea. Due to this bridge’s sheer size and all the engineering and resources that went into it, it’s safe to say that this was an engineering marvel for its time.

MARCH FROM SARDIS TO ABYDUS

With the Hellespont bridge and the Athos canal both completed, Xerxes waited out the coming winter of 481-480 BC to carry on his march, now heading for Abydus. Early on this march, the sun is said to have vanished on a cloudless day. This was obviously a solar eclipse, but Xerxes was keen to have this sign interpreted by the Magi; they said that since the sun symbolised themselves, the Greeks would come to abandon their homes during the invasion. This delighted Xerxes, who continued with his march. However, Pythius was concerned with that this darkened sky actually meant. Confident he was on the king’s good side since his generous offer, he approached Xerxes and asked if he would allow his eldest of his five sons (the other four had joined Xerxes’ army) to return home to his estate to tend to Pythius in old age. This enraged Xerxes, who reminded Pythius that he was still merely a slave compared to him, and how he too had brought his whole family and friends on this expedition with him - Pythius would not be exempt. As punishment, his eldest son was cut in half by soldiers. Each half was left on each side of the road they travelled, so that the entire army would pass the corpse.

On the way towards where Troy once stood, several hundred men were killed in vicious storms. At the remains of Troy, (really called “Ilium”) Xerxes was told of the Trojan War, and had a thousand cattle sacrificed to Athena of Ilium. The army soon reached Abydus, where Xerxes surveyed his entire army. While watching his army march over the Hellespont bridge from a nearby cliff, and watching the Phoenicians win a friendly race against other nationalities in the army, Xerxes felt great pride in himself, and wept. After a long, philosophical conversation with his uncle Artabanus about life, Artabanus was sent back to Susa. Xerxes then summoned his generals to a meeting, asking them to pray, and prove their valour in the war to come, knowing that the Greeks would indeed be a formidable force and that defeating them would prove Persia as the master of the world. The rest of that day was spent preparing to cross the full army into Europe once and for all, as Xerxes poured a libation from a gold cup into the sea, asking God to protect him and his army from any coming misfortunes, after throwing the cup and a sword into the sea as offerings. Seven days would pass until the entire force had crossed.

[ABOVE: Xerxes' army crosses the Hellespont, drawn in 1882]

THE ARMY

With that, it’s probably a good idea to talk about the actual numerical size of Xerxes’ army. Modern estimates and ancient records vary hugely, with anything between tens of thousands and millions. The army consisted of Persians, Medes, Bactrians, Indians, Arians, Arabs, Libyans, Egyptians, Lydians, Thracians, and Greeks, among several other nationalities. The primary source for the Second Persian Invasion of Greece is Herodotus, and he’s been my primary source of information for my works. It’s likely he may have had access to Persian documents that have since been lost to time, and, being born in a Persian-ruled city, had access to Persian oral tradition. While perhaps not always reliable, it is his numbers I will use here. Like when reading any historical account of anything, be aware that these numbers are likely highly inflated:

• 1,700,000 infantry
• 80,000 cavalry
• 20,000 camel riders / chariots
• 517,610 men in the navy:
  • 1,207 triremes (warships), carrying 36,210 marines and 241,400 men total (230 men per ship)
  • 3,000 Penteconters, ships carrying 80 men per ship: 240,000 men total
• 120 Thracian ships, carrying 24,000 men
• 300,000 foot soldiers from Europe
• TOTAL: 2,641,610

Herodotus also says that the camp followers and non-combatants would have been equal in number to the combatants, doubling his grand total number to 5,283,220. It’s perhaps not impossible for the total expeditionary force to have been this size, especially since Persia would have been in control of around half of the world’s population at its height, although it’s unlikely indeed. It’s also likely that 1,207 warships was the total size of the Persian navy empire-wide, rather than being an account of a singular naval force sent to Greece. If true however, and when comparing this expeditionary force to World War 2’s Operation Barbarossa’s 3 million man-strong force, Xerxes expedition would have been the single largest invasion force in world history.

Diodorus Siculus also says that the fleet was over 1,200 strong, but states that the land force was just over a more reasonable eight-hundred thousand. An epitaph from the battlefield of Thermopylae also says:

Four thousand Peloponnesian once fought three million here.

XERXES AND DEMARATUS

The army was now in Europe, marching straight for Athens. Xerxes called for Demaratus, exiled Spartan king, brother of the former Spartan king Cleomenes and now accompanying Xerxes on his expedition. Being a Greek marching against Greeks, Xerxes asked Demaratus if he thought that the Greek nations would stand their ground more so than other nations would when opposing Persia. Demaratus, asking Xerxes if he’d prefer a comforting lie or the truth and being told to state the latter, told him that enslavement for the Greeks would never be an option for them, and that any Greek states left fighting alone against Persia and other Greeks would continue to fight, outnumbered or not. Xerxes laughed, claiming that Demaratus himself would not wish to fight ten men, let alone a thousand Greeks wishing to fight hundreds of thousands of Persians. Demaratus then mentioned the Spartans’ excellent capability in combat, stating that they’re like other Greeks in a one-on-one but unstoppable as a group. Again, Xerxes laughed, dismissing Demaratus’s advice, and continuing on the march, this time towards Therma.

XERXES REACHES THESSALY

[ABOVE: The Persian fort at Eion (left) and the mouth of the River Strymon (right), seen from Amphipolis]

The army marched from Doriscus to Therma, subjugating all settlements along the way and forcibly taking in more soldiers on the way. At Eion, Xerxes would lay down a fortress for his army which can still be partially seen today, and at Therma, Thessaly, Xerxes was able to view much of Mounts Olympus and Olsa. In the meantime, most heralds that had been sent to all across Greece came back with their requests of “Earth and Water”. In total, only thirty-one out of roughly six-hundred city-states would stand against Xerxes’ army.

The Greeks, meanwhile, were not totally unaware of an oncoming second Persian invasion; a loose coalition was slowly assembling, lead by two of the most famous and powerful states in Greece;

Athens and Sparta were preparing their armies.

NEXT GREEK POST: THEMISTOCLES AND LEONIDAS, 480 BC: Preparing for War

NEXT PERSIAN POST: ARTAXERXES I, 465 - 424 BC: The Long-Handed Shah

SOURCES

• Herodotus's "Histories"
• Diodorus Siculus, "Library of History"
• Oswyn Murray, "Early Greece"
• Robin Osborne, "Greece in the Making 1200 - 479 BC"
• Nic Fields, "Thermopylae 480 BC, Last Stand of the 300"

YOUTUBE LINKS

(I do NOT own these videos)

"XERXES I - PERSIA RISES PART 4 - ACHAEMENID PERSIAN EMPIRE" by "Yore History"

"Xerxes the Great: The God King of Persia" by "Biographics"

"Xerxes & The Invasion of Greece, Thermopylae & the 300 Documentary" by "The People Profiles"

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