How the Persian king nearly bankrupted his country and other little-known facts from the life of Xerxes I

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Renowned for his failure to conquer Greece, King Xerxes is arguably one of the most famous Achaemenid Persian kings. Xerxes I was famous for harsh punishments, debauchery and devastation of the treasury of the Persian Empire. He built huge palaces and other projects in Persepolis and left his mark on the history of both Europe and Asia. Here are nine facts about the life and rule of one of the most unpredictable kings.

1. The throne

Before his death in 486 BC, Darius the Great named his son Xerxes as his successor. However, Xerxes was not the eldest son in the family. His half-brother Artabazan was born even before Darius ascended the throne. Initially, Artabazan claimed the royal mantle. However, Xerxes' mother was Atossa, daughter of Cyrus the Great, the Persian king who founded the Achaemenid empire. Artabazan's mother, on the other hand, was a commoner. King Xerxes was about thirty-five years old when he came to power, and he spent more than ten years as a satrap of Babylonia.

2. Uprising

One of the first tasks of Xerxes after his accession to the throne was to suppress the rebellion in Egypt. The rebellion began under Daria, but he died before he could suppress it. King Xerxes led the Persian army to crush the revolt around 484 BC. However, the unrest was not over yet, as another rebellion broke out in Babylon.

Both Cyrus and Darius revered Babylon as a special part of the empire, recognizing themselves as "King of Babylon", however Xerxes I renounced this title, instead calling himself "King of the Persians and Medes." He divided the Babylonian satrap into smaller provinces and greatly increased taxes. This apparently provoked a series of uprisings.

As a result, Xerxes took the uprising as a personal insult. The city was besieged, and it was reported that the newly made king had destroyed one of the sacred statues of Marduk. Modern historians dispute this, believing that even Xerxes would not have committed such a blasphemous act. Despite this, the uprisings were brutally suppressed. Xerxes planned to continue his father's plans for a second invasion of Greece, but revolts delayed his preparations.

3. Xerxes tried to follow in his father's footsteps

Xerxes I occupies a notorious place in the annals of Greek history thanks to his massive invasion in 480 BC. He longed to avenge his father's defeat at Marathon ten years ago. After the naval victory at Artemisia, the Persians destroyed the troops of the Spartan king Leonidas at Thermopylae. Xerxes' army then went berserk in Greece and Athens was sacked.

Then, when Xerxes seemed to secure a successful outcome to his campaign, the Greeks won an incredible victory at the naval battle of Salamis, which turned the tide of the conflict. From the top of a cliff that towered over the battle, King Xerxes watched as his armada fell due to the cunning trick of the Athenian general Themistocles. His fleet was defeated. After the defeat, Xerxes withdrew most of the remaining forces back to Persia. He believed that the burning of Athens was a sufficient victory, and left his general and brother-in-law Mardonius to continue the conquest of Greece.

However, Mardonius was killed and the Persians were defeated at Plataea in 479 BC. Around the same time, the third naval battle of Mikala destroyed most of the remaining Persian fleet. Xerxes' imperial ambitions in Greece were thwarted, and almost none of his people returned to Persia.

4. King Xerxes tried to cross the Hellespont

To launch the invasion of Greece, King Xerxes planned to cross the Hellespont. Known today as the Dardanelles, this key channel guards the chasm between mainland Asia and the Gallipoli Peninsula. Xerxes ordered the construction of a series of linen and papyrus pontoons across the Hellespont that would enable his huge army to cross.

However, the water turned out to be turbulent, and the storm destroyed the pontoons. Angered by what had happened, Xerxes decided that the Hellespont should be punished for his disobedience. He ordered the sea to receive three hundred lashes and also threw a pair of shackles into the water. According to Herodotus, Xerxes ordered the beheading of the first engineering brigade. The next unit did better, and the Persian army finally crossed the Hellespont.

Herodotus claimed that Xerxes threw five million people across the bridges, which took seven days. However, modern historians believe that this was exaggerated to make it more effective and epic. By modern estimates, Xerxes crossed the Hellespont with an army of three hundred and sixty thousand men. Then the army moved through Thrace, in today's Balkans, and entered Greece, passing through Macedonia, one of the vassal states of Persia.

5. Harsh punishments and debauchery

To create his army for the Greek invasion, King Xerxes introduced military service throughout his empire. Among the summoned were the five sons of Pythias, the ruler of Lydia. The Pythias asked that his eldest son remain his heir. Xerxes was offended, believing that the Pythias doubted the success of the invasion. According to rumors, he ordered to cut the son of Pythias in half, put the corpse on both sides of the road, along which he later led his army.

Xerxes I was also said to be a womanizer. He persecuted the wife of his brother Masistes, but could not get her. Instead, he had an affair with Artainte, the daughter of Masistes. Upon learning of the adventures of his brother with his daughter, Masistes rebelled, but Xerxes killed him along with the conspirators.

6. He nearly bankrupted Persia

After an unsuccessful and costly Greek campaign, King Xerxes turned his attention to a number of lavish construction projects. Dealing with the royal city of Persepolis, which was founded under his father Darius, he completed the palace of Darius and the apadena (audience hall), where he also added a beautiful enamel façade on top of the outer one.

Then Xerxes I began building his own palace. In an effort to outshine his predecessors, he built his palace twice the size of his father's and connected them through a terrace. Next to his monumental palace, Xerxes also built the mighty Gate of All Nations, as well as the Hall of the Hundred Columns. Modern historians believe that the latter was Xerxes' treasury. He also kept the Persian royal road between Susa and Sardis in order.

The cost of these projects put the treasury of the Achaemenid Empire under an even greater burden. After the huge expense of his invasion of Greece, Xerxes heavily taxed his satrapies and subjects in order to fund his extravagant projects. This undoubtedly caused unrest and discontent throughout the empire and may have contributed to the subsequent assassination of Xerxes.

7. Failure in the conquest of Greece

After the defeats at Plataea and Mikala, Persian power in the Aegean Sea was undermined. The Greeks, initially led by Pausanias of Spartan, launched a counteroffensive aimed at liberating the Greek colonies in Asia Minor. Athens and its other city-states allies, which formed the Delhi League, also made a great contribution.

First, the Greeks cleared out the Persian garrisons in Thrace. Then, in 478 BC, Pausanias conquered Byzantium. He led the Greeks during their victory at Plataea, making peace with King Xerxes. Despite the defeat in Greece, Persia was still a major superpower and a serious threat. However, an Athenian general named Cimon defeated Pausanias in 475 BC and declared Byzantium the Delhi League.

Xerxes began to prepare new forces to fight the Greek invaders. In 466 BC, Cimon defeated the Persians twice on the same day at the Battle of Eurymedon, on the southern coast of Asia Minor. First, he defeated the Persian fleet sent to him to intercept. He then defeated the Persian ground forces on the shore, despite being outnumbered. Events in mainland Greece prevented Cimon from continuing his campaign, but defeat at Eurymedon ensured that Persia would never invade Greece again.

8. Xerxes had a terrible reputation

Since no authentic Persian records have survived since the Achaemenid Empire, the main sources of information come from Greek sources. While many Greek scholars admired his predecessors Cyrus and Darius, Xerxes I is portrayed as an effeminate tyrant.

In the play "The Persians" by the Greek playwright Aeschylus, Xerxes is depicted as a figure consumed by his own arrogance. The play takes place during Xerxes' invasion of Greece and, in particular, the Battle of Salamis. The main characters of the play are the mother of Xerxes Atoss and the ghost of his father Darius. Aeschylus forces them to discuss his son, claiming that he considers himself above even the Gods.

The Persians helped to strengthen the belief of the Greeks that the inhabitants of the East, as they called the Persians, were the opposite of Greek values. Xerxes became an easy target, serving as a front man for the Greek belief that he was unable to control his emotions. He is often depicted raging against the Greeks and mourning his defeat.

9. King Xerxes was killed by his own advisor

After draining the Persian treasury with his failed military campaigns and lavish construction projects, it is possible that King Xerxes has ceased to be a popular ruler. In 465 BC, Xerxes and his son Darius were assassinated by Artaban, an influential figure in the Persian court. The origin of Artaban is unclear. He was probably one of the top officials of Xerxes, or perhaps even a member of the royal bodyguards.

Artabanus may have also enjoyed the support of Megabyzus, a Babylonian satrap who was married to one of Xerxes' daughters. However, once Xerxes was killed, Megabyz betrayed Artaban. In revenge, the surviving son of Xerxes, Artaxerxes I, killed Artaban and his sons and regained the throne.

New uprisings then broke out in provinces such as Egypt and Bactria, and led to further clashes with Greece. Ironically, Artaxerxes' reign began in exactly the same way as his father. Xerxes, even after his death, remained a mocking figure in Greece. When Alexander the Great invaded Persia more than a century later, he targeted Xerxes' palace at Persepolis in revenge for the sack of Athens.

And in continuation of the topic, read also about as the father of Xerxes, Darius the Great fought for the throne and tried to conquer Greece.