The Children of Adam and Eve

(Persian Khshayarsha) Ascending the throne upon the Death of his father, he subdued a rebellion in Egypt, and then spent three years preparing a great fleet and army to punish the Greeks for aiding the Ionian cities in 498 BC and fortheirvictory over the Persians at Marathon in 490 BC. The Greek historian Herodotus gives as the combined strength of Xerxes' land and naval forces the incredible total of 2,641,610 warriors. Xerxes is said to have Crossed the Hellespont by abridge ofboats More than a kilometer in length and to have cut a canal through the isthmus of Mount Athos. During the spring of 480 bc he marched with his forces through Thrace, Thessaly, and Locris. At Thermopylae 300 Spartans, under theirking,Leonidas I, made a courageous but futile stand, delaying the Persians for ten days. Xerxes then advanced into Attica and burned Athens, which had been abandoned by the Greeks. At the Battle of Salam later in 480 BC, However, his fleet wasdefeated by a much smaller contingent of Greek warships commanded by the Athenian Themistocles. Xerxes thereupon retired to Asia Minor, leaving his army in Greece under the command of his Brother-in-law, Mardonius (fl. 500-479 BC), who wasslain at Plataea thefollowing year. Xerxes was murdered at Persepolis by Artabanus (died 464 BC), captain of the palace guard; he was succeeded by his son Artaxerxes I (reigned 465-425 BC). Xerxes is generally identified as the Ahasuerus ofthe Book of Esther.