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King xerxes history. Army of Xerxes. Transparent solar cells

Xerxes is the king of Persia and the pharaoh of Egypt, best known for his conquests against Hellas. Most of the information about his biography has come down to our time thanks to ancient Greek historians, in particular the works of Ctesias of Cnidus, who lived in Persia for 17 years. Also, archaeologists have deciphered 20 cuneiform inscriptions in Old Persian, Elamite and Babylonian languages.

Portrait of Xerxes

The Greeks ridiculed Xerxes, calling him weak and vain. Persian authors praised the king as a wise ruler and a victorious warrior. Most contemporaries agree that the king was tall, strong in body and hardy, which allowed him to endure the hardships of military campaigns and leave numerous healthy offspring.

Childhood and youth

Xerxes, whose name translates as "Ruler of Heroes", was born in 520 BC. Maternally descended from Cyrus II the Great, the founder of the Achaemenid Empire. Xerxes was the eldest son of Atossa, daughter of Cyrus II, and Darius I. Of the six sons, King Darius, going on another campaign, chose Cyrus as heir.


The legal system of ancient Persia did not strictly regulate the order of succession to the kingdom, and the transition of power was usually accompanied by riots and massacres. But in this case, everything went smoothly, the brothers agreed with their father's will, and in November 486 BC, after the death of Darius I, Xerxes I took the throne.

Governing body

Xerxes inherited an empire, parts of which sought to gain independence. Even under the reign of Darius, an uprising broke out in Egypt, which the young king suppressed in 484 BC. Xerxes I removed the treasures from the Egyptian temples, dealt with the local nobility who supported the rebellion of Psammetik IV, and appointed his brother Achaemenes as the new governor.


The Persian kings who ruled the Egyptians before took on a new name along with the title of pharaoh, but Xerxes abolished this tradition. He also refused to worship the gods of Egypt and listen to the advice of the priests.

In Noam Murro's 300: Rise of an Empire, Xerxes is made into a living god, which is not historically true. It was the Egyptians who deified their pharaohs, and for the population of Persia, their despot was the most powerful person, but not a deity.


However, Xerxes had to fight the gods. After the suppression of the uprising in Babylon, the army of the Persian king took the golden statue of Marduk from the capital of the rebellious province to Persepolis.

The destruction of the supreme idol of Babylon was not just part of the sack of the city, but also the humiliation of the vanquished. It took the Persian forces three years to put down the rebellion, so after the victory, the king gave the order to destroy the city walls and defenses and deprive the Babylonians of the protection of their deity.


Having established his power in the empire, the king begins to prepare an aggressive campaign in Greece. In 492, during a campaign led by Darius I, the fleet of the Persian commander Mardonius suffered from a storm off the coast of Athos, which caused a retreat.

Xerxes solved the problem of a safe sea route to Greece by ordering a canal to be dug across the peninsula. The width of the channel allowed two triremes to move simultaneously. A stationary bridge was built across the Strymon River, the Hellespont was crossed with the help of prefabricated pontoon bridges, each of which was more than a kilometer long.


In Thrace, guarded fortified food warehouses were equipped. Persian diplomats worked in the Persian-friendly countries of the Balkan Greece and Carthage. Consisting of autonomous city-states, Hellas did not rally in the face of a military threat.

The rulers of Argos and Thessaly took the side of Persia, the inhabitants of Crete and Kerkyra pledged to remain neutral. Even in Athens, pro-Persian sentiments were strong. The union of states ready to repulse the invaders was headed by Sparta. The military council decided to block the road for the ground forces at Thermopylae, and for the fleet - at the island of Euboea.


The position at Thermopylae was a narrow road, squeezed by rocks and sea, so that it could be held by a relatively small number of people. The army of 6.5 thousand Greeks was led by the Spartan king Leonid I. The heroic confrontation of the Spartans against the superior enemy forces is sung in the epic and continues to inspire writers and screenwriters.

After many small skirmishes, in 479 BC. e. near the city of Plataea, on the border of Attica and Boeotia, a Greek army of thirty thousand and twice as many invaders met in battle. Despite being outnumbered, the Persians were defeated and fled. This battle turned the tide of the war, and in the future the main struggle unfolded at sea.


In 468 B.C. The Greek naval commander Kimon, son of Meltiades, defeated the Persian fleet near the mouth of the Eurymedon River. After this defeat, the Persian fleet no longer entered the Aegean, and Xerxes' plans for conquest were doomed. Failures in the Greco-Persian wars hastened the disintegration of the Achaemenid state. The center, weakened by wars, was forced to again suppress the rebellions of individual satrapies of the empire.

Personal life

AT written sources included the name of only one wife of the king. Amestrid, daughter of Onophus, gave birth to her husband three sons. The eldest received the name Darius in honor of his grandfather and was supposed to inherit his father. The middle Hystaspes later became the satrap of Bactria. Artaxerxes, the younger, took the royal throne after the death of his father and older brother and ruled Persia in 465-424 BC. e.


The names of other wives and concubines of Xerxes did not go down in history, but it is known that the Persian king had three more sons: Artarius, who became the ruler in Babylon, Ratashap and Tifravst, as well as two daughters - Amitis and Rodogune. There were terrible legends about the love affairs of the ruler, incestuous relationships and intrigues at the royal court, one of which was retold by Herodotus.

Xerxes' brother, Macista, was married to a beauty who did not reciprocate the king's love. Wanting to get close to an impregnable woman, Xerxes married his son Darius to the daughter of Macista. The young woman turned out to be as beautiful as her mother, but much less impregnable, and became the king's mistress. The jealous Persian queen Amestrid blamed Macista's wife for everything.


On her husband's birthday, the queen begged for herself as a gift the right to dispose of the life of the one that she considered the culprit of the problems, Xerxes did not strongly object: why does he need a woman who neglects the royal caresses? Amestrid killed her rival with particular cruelty, and Xerxes offered his brother new wife instead of the dead one.

In order to strengthen intra-family ties, it was planned this time to marry Macista to the king's daughter (his niece, respectively), but he refused and tried to escape to Bactria with his sons. The king's soldiers caught up with the rebels on the way and killed them.

Death

Xerxes lived to a respectable age - 54 years, twenty of which ruled the Persian state. If not for the struggle of competitors for power, he would have lived for several more years. By old age, the king became less energetic, fell under the influence of the head of his own guard Artaban and the eunuch Aspamitra. The crop failure that occurred in 467 BC. e., led to famine in Persia. The barns were empty, food prices had risen sevenfold, and the population of the satrapies was in revolt.


Over a year, Xerxes removed more than a hundred officials from their posts, but a change in leadership did not help save the situation. In August 465 B.C. e. Artabanus and Aspamitra, whom the king completely trusted (as far as it is possible to trust the courtiers), conspired with Artaxerxes, the younger prince, and killed Xerxes during a night's rest in the palace. Babylonian, Egyptian and Greek sources retell this event in different ways.

One narrator claims that the conspirators acted on the direct orders of Artaxerxes and immediately killed the king and his heir. The author of another text believes that the eunuch and the head of the guard were accused of killing Xerxes Darius, the eldest king's son, and Artaxerxes executed his brother on false charges.

Memory

  • 1962 - the film "300 Spartans"
  • 1998 300 graphic novel by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley
  • 2006 - the film "300 Spartans"
  • 2007 - computer game 300: March to Glory
  • 2011 – Xerxes Canal in Halkidiki declared an archaeological park
  • 2014 - the film "300 Spartans: Rise of an Empire"

In all likelihood, there were several uprisings. Initially, the Babylonians rebelled under the leadership of Bel-shimanni. It is possible that this uprising began under Darius, under the influence of the defeat of the Persians at Marathon. The rebels captured, in addition to Babylon, the cities of Borsippa and Dilbat. In two cuneiform documents found in Borsippa, dated "the beginning of the reign of Bel-shimanni, king of Babylon and the Countries." The witnesses who signed this contract are the same as those found on documents from the second half of the reign of Darius and the first year of Xerxes. Obviously, Bel-shimanni rebelled against Darius and took the daring title of "king of the Countries", which had not yet been encroached upon by the False Buchadnezzers. But two weeks later in July 484 BC. e. this uprising was put down.

Crossing the Hellespont

Warriors of the army of Xerxes. Reconstruction according to the description of Herodotus, archaeological finds and drawings on Greek vases. From left to right: Persian standard-bearer, Armenian and Cappadocian warriors.

Warriors of the army of Xerxes.
From left to right: Chaldean foot soldiers formed the first rank of the Persian phalanx of archers; Babylonian archer; Assyrian infantry. The warriors are wearing quilted jackets stuffed with horsehair - a typical type of oriental armor of that time.

Warriors of the army of Xerxes from Asia Minor. On the left is a hoplite from Ionia, whose weapons are very reminiscent of the Greek, but he is wearing a soft quilted shell, widespread among Asian peoples (in this case, Greek cut); on the right - a Lydian hoplite in a bronze cuirass and a kind of frame helmet.

Warriors of the army of Xerxes. Reconstruction according to the description of Herodotus and archaeological finds. From left to right: an Ethiopian warrior armed with a powerful bow, half of his body painted in White color; an infantryman from Khorezm, a Bactrian infantryman; Arian cavalryman.

Battle of Thermopylae

Fleet actions

Devastation of Attica

The Persians were now free to move into Attica. Boeotia submitted to the Persians, and in the future Thebes provided them with active support. The land army of the Greeks stood on the Isthmus Isthmus, and Sparta insisted on creating a fortified defensive line here to protect the Peloponnese. Athenian political figure, the creator of the Athenian fleet Themistocles believed that it was necessary to give the Persians a sea battle off the coast of Attica. Defending Attica at that moment, of course, was not possible.

The situation in the State

These failures in the Greco-Persian wars intensified the process of disintegration of the Achaemenid state. Already under Xerxes, symptoms dangerous for the existence of the state appeared - the rebellions of the satraps. So, his own brother Masista fled from Susa to his satrapy of Bactria in order to raise an uprising there, but on the way, warriors loyal to the king caught up with Macista and killed him along with all the sons accompanying him (c. 478 BC). Under Xerxes, intensive construction was carried out in Persepolis, Susa, Tushpa, on Mount Elvend near Ecbatana and in other places. To strengthen state centralization, he carried out a religious reform, which amounted to a ban on the veneration of local tribal gods and the strengthening of the cult of the pan-Iranian god Ahuramazda. Under Xerxes, the Persians stopped supporting local temples (in Egypt, Babylonia, etc.) and seized many temple treasures.

Assassination of Xerxes as a result of a conspiracy

According to Ctesias, by the end of his life, Xerxes was under the strong influence of the head of the royal guard Artaban and the eunuch Aspamitra. Probably, the position of Xerxes at this time was not very strong. In any case, we know from Persepolis documents that in 467 BC. e. , that is, 2 years before the assassination of Xerxes, famine reigned in Persia, the royal barns were empty and grain prices increased seven times compared to usual. In order to somehow calm the dissatisfied, Xerxes removed about a hundred government officials during the year, starting with the most senior ones. In August 465 B.C. e. Artaban and Aspamitra, apparently not without the intrigues of Artaxerxes, the youngest son of Xerxes, killed the king at night in his bedroom. Exact date of this conspiracy is recorded in one astronomical text from Babylonia. Another text from Egypt says that he was killed along with his eldest son Darius.

Xerxes was in power for 20 years and 8 months and was killed at the age of 55. About 20 cuneiform inscriptions in ancient Persian, Elamite and Babylonian have survived from the reign of Xerxes.

Wives and children

Queen Amestrid

  • Darius
  • hystaspes, satrap of Bactria

Unknown wives

  • Aratry satrap of Babylon.
  • Ratashap
Achaemenids
Predecessor:
Darius I

Film directors and screenwriters, making films about historical figures, often distort history in the direction of drama and heroism. This technique is necessary for a more interesting and exciting plot. We decided to compare what historical figures looked like in the movies and in reality.

(Total 10 photos)

1. Xerxes I. "300 Spartans"

Xerxes is a Persian king from the Achaemenid dynasty, who ruled from 486-465 BC. He ascended the throne at the age of 36. According to ancient legends, Xerxes was lethargic, narrow-minded, spineless, easily subject to foreign influence, but distinguished by self-confidence and vanity. Eastern sources depict a completely different personality. They portray Xerxes as a wise statesman and skilled warrior. Xerxes himself, in an inscription found near Persepolis and, however, essentially being only a copy of the inscription of Darius I, declares that he is wise and active, a friend of truth and an enemy of lawlessness, protects the weak from the oppression of the strong, but also protects the strong from injustice by the weak , knows how to control his feelings and does not make hasty decisions, punishes and rewards everyone in accordance with his misdeeds and merits.

2. Achilles. "Troy"

Achilles is the hero of the Trojan War, the son of Peleus, king of the Myrmidons in Phthia (Thessaly), and the sea goddess Thetis. The bravest of the heroes in the ancient tales of the ancient Greeks. The legend says that Thetis dipped the baby into the waters of the Styx, which is why no weapon could damage the body of Achilles. Only the heel remained vulnerable, for which his mother held him, lowering him into an underground river. After Thetis left Peleus, Achilles was handed over by his father to be raised by the centaur Chiron, who fed him the entrails of lions and wild boars, taught him healing, the art of singing and playing the lyre. According to the canonical version of the myth, Achilles was killed by Paris, whose arrow Apollo sent to the only weak spot of the hero - his heel.

3. Maximinus I Thracian. "Gladiator"

The prototype of General Maximus from the movie "Gladiator" - Gaius Julius Ver Maximin Thracian. Roman emperor from March 20, 235 to March 22, 238, the first "soldier emperor" and the first emperor to rise to this position from the very bottom. He stood out for his enormous growth and physical strength. AT early childhood he was a shepherd, and also the leader of the youth, set up ambushes against robbers and guarded his own from their attacks. He began military service in the cavalry under Septimius Severus. He stood out for his enormous height (according to unverified data - over 2.5 m) - a woman's bracelet could only be put on a finger, and he was also distinguished by valor, courageous beauty, indomitable temper, was stern and arrogant, contemptuous in handling, but often showed justice.

4. William Wallace. "Brave heart"

William Wallace - Scottish knight and military leader, one of the leaders of the Scots in the war for independence from England. Guardian of Scotland (regent) in 1297–1298. Revered in Scotland as a patriot and folk hero. In the film, the image of Wallace is very different from the real prototype (William is presented as a peasant who fights without armor, etc.).

5. George VI. "The King Speaks"

George VI has been King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Canada, Australia and South Africa since December 11, 1936. George VI is the father of the current Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain.

6. Cleopatra VII Philopator. "Cleopatra"

The last queen of Hellenistic Egypt from the Macedonian Ptolemaic dynasty. Glorified thanks to the dramatic love story for the Roman commander Mark Antony. During the years of her reign, Egypt was conquered by Rome, Cleopatra herself committed suicide so as not to become a prisoner of the first Roman emperor Octavian Augustus. Cleopatra has become one of the most popular ancient characters in films and literary works.

7. Leonid I. "300 Spartans"

Leonidas is the king of Sparta from the Agids clan, who ruled in 491-480 BC, the son of Anaxandrid. He was considered a descendant of Hercules in the 20th generation. During the ten years of his reign, Leonidas did nothing significant, but immortalized his name with the battle of Thermopylae. With six thousand soldiers (including a personal guard of 300 Spartans), he defended the Thermopylae Pass during the advance of the Persian troops and died in battle.

8. Alexander the Great. "Alexander"

Macedonian king from 336 BC from the Argead dynasty, commander, creator of a world power that collapsed after his death. In Western historiography, he is better known as Alexander the Great. Even in Antiquity, Alexander was entrenched in the glory of one of the greatest generals in history. Having ascended the throne at the age of 20 after the death of his father, the Macedonian king Philip II, Alexander secured the northern borders of Macedonia and completed the subjugation of Greece by defeating the rebellious city of Thebes. In the spring of 334 BC. Alexander began the legendary campaign to the East and in seven years he completely conquered the Persian Empire. Then he began the conquest of India, but at the insistence of the soldiers, tired of a long campaign, he retreated.

The cities founded by Alexander, which today are the largest in several countries, and the colonization of new territories by the Greeks in Asia contributed to the spread of Greek culture in the East. Almost reaching the age of 33, Alexander died in Babylon from a serious illness. Immediately his empire was divided by his commanders (Diadochi) among themselves, and a series of wars of the Diadochi reigned for several decades.

9. Pu Yi "The Last Emperor"

The last emperor of the Manchu Qing Dynasty - Aisinjuelo (in Manchu - Aisin Giro, "golden family") was born on February 7, 1906, and already in 1908 he was enthroned. As a result of the 1911 revolution, Pu Yi abdicated on February 12, 1912. Power passed to President Yuan Shikai. After living for 13 years in "preferential conditions", Pu Yi was expelled in 1924 by the Republican army. In 1932, he became the supreme ruler of Manchukuo. August 19, 1945 - the last day of the reign of the last emperor of China.

10. Spartacus. "Spartacus: Blood and Sand"

A former warrior from Thrace who was captured by the Romans and turned into a gladiator slave. He led an uprising in the territory of modern Italy in the period 74–71 BC. His army, which consisted of fugitive gladiators and slaves, defeated several Roman legions in a number of battles, including two consular armies. These events went down in history as the Spartacus uprising - the third largest slave uprising in Rome after the first and second Sicilian uprisings.


Participation in wars: Invasion of Greece. Internecine wars. Wars with the Saks.
Participation in battles: Thermopylae. Salamis.

(Xerxes I of Persia) Persian king from the Achaemenid dynasty, son of Darius I

Xerxes was the son of Darius I and Atossa, daughter Cyrus the Great, the first king of the Achaemenid state. Darius I, who had six more sons, finally chose Xerxes, perhaps on the grounds that he was born first when Darius himself became king (522). In 486 BC Darius I, preparing a new campaign against Greece and intending to crush the uprising in Egypt, died at the age of sixty-four. Xerxes ascended the throne in November

During the first years of his reign Xerxes was forced to strengthen his power and, above all, declared his loyalty to the moral and ethical principles previously formulated by his great father. In 484 BC The king ruthlessly suppressed the rebellion in Egypt and in the future treated this country as a conquered province. The next uprising (summer 484) took place in Babylon, it was suppressed only by March 481 BC. e. After the city was taken by storm, the fortifications and city walls of Babylon were torn down, the main sanctuaries of the city were damaged, most of the priests were beheaded, and most importantly, the golden statue of the supreme god Marduk was taken to Persepolis and, probably, melted down into coins. It brought down Babylon in the position of one of the lower satrapies, the capital of the Babylonian kingdom, formally considered separate and part of the Persian Empire, lost its political significance.

In 483 BC Xerxes officially ordered to begin all the necessary preparations for a campaign against the Greeks. So that the fleet does not fall victim to the storm, as happened in 492 BC. near Cape Athos, it was decided to dig a channel through a sandy isthmus in the eastern part of the Halkidiki peninsula. On the Hellespont, near Abydos, two pontoon bridges about 1300 meters long were built. All this work took about three years. In addition, provisions were prepared, and warehouses were set up along the coast of Thrace and Macedonia. The company began in 481 BC, when a grandiose Persian army, led personally by the great king, left Cappadocia and, having crossed the Halys, arrived through Lydia and Phrygia to the Hellespont. However, another storm destroyed both bridges, and an enraged Xerxes ordered to scour the rebellious sea, and then immerse shackles in its waters. In the spring of 480 BC. the Persian army, having crossed the strait, without meeting any resistance, moved through Thrace, Macedonia and Thessaly. At Thermopylae August 11, 480 BC Greeks and Persians first met on land, while several battles had already taken place at sea (near Cape Artemisium). These battles showed Xerxes that it would not be easy to subdue the Greeks. The next battles at Salamis, Mycale and Plataeus forced the Persians to abandon their plans to conquer Greece. Xerxes himself, after the battle of Salamis, was forced to hastily go east, because a new uprising broke out in Babylon.

Reign period Xerxes after the Greek company is known much worse. The Greeks, who did not abandon the idea of ​​liberating Asia Minor, continued to expand the zone of hostilities, but conflicts broke out again between the main participants Sparta and Athens, so that the Persians got a respite. The recent conquerors of the Persians are the Athenian Themistocles and spartan Pausanias- fell into disgrace and began to actively cooperate with the satraps Xerxes. Themistocles managed to escape to the Persians, and Pausanias, accused of treason, was sentenced to death and starved to death in one of the sanctuaries. Military operations in the west of the Persian Empire were carried out with varying success, but in the east Xerxes pursued an enterprising aggressive policy: thus, for the first time, the Saka tribe of the Dakhs, who lived to the east of the Caspian Sea, was conquered. Under Xerxes, large-scale construction was going on in Susa, Persepolis, Van and other places. Despite external successes, the position of the Persian king was not strong and in 465 BC. Xerxes, not without the intrigues of his youngest son Artaxerxes, was stabbed to death by the eunuch Aspamitra and the commander of the royal guard Artaban. Soon the rest of the sons of Xerxes were killed, and the new great king became Artaxerxes I.

The Persian king Xerxes I is one of the most famous characters ancient history humanity. Actually, it was this ruler who led his troops to Greece in the first half of the 5th century. It was he who fought with the Athenian hoplites in the battle of Marathon and with the Spartans in the battle of Thermopylae, which is widely promoted today in popular literature and cinema.

Marathon battle

The first general battle of the Persian landing and the Greek troops was the Battle of Marathon, which took place in 490 BC. Thanks to the talent of the Greek commander Miltiades, who skillfully used the hoplite system, their long spears, and sloping terrain, the Athenians won the victory, stopping the first Persian invasion of their country. Interestingly, the modern sports discipline of marathon running, which is a distance of 42 km, is associated with this battle. That is how much the ancient messenger ran from the battlefield to Athens to announce the victory of his compatriots and fall dead. Preparations for a more massive invasion were thwarted by the death of Darius. The new Persian king Xerxes I ascended the throne, continuing the work of his father.

The second invasion began in 480 BC. King Xerxes led a large army of 200 thousand people. Macedonia and Thrace were quickly conquered, after which an invasion began from the north into Boeotia, Attica and the Peloponnese. Even the coalition forces of the Greek policies could not resist such numerous forces, gathered from the many peoples of the Persian Empire. The weak hope of the Greeks was the opportunity to accept the battle in a narrow place through which the Persian army passed on its way to the south of the Thermopylae Gorge. The numerical advantage of the enemy here would not be so noticeable at all, which left hopes for victory. The legend that the Persian king Xerxes was almost beaten here by three hundred Spartan warriors is some exaggeration. In fact, from 5 to 7 thousand Greek soldiers from different policies, not only Spartan, took part in this battle. And for the width of the gorge, this amount was more than enough to successfully hold back the enemy for two days. The disciplined Greek phalanx kept the line evenly, really stopping the hordes of the Persians. No one knows how the battle would have ended, but the Greeks were betrayed by one of the inhabitants of the local village, Ephialtes. The man who showed the Persians a detour. When King Leonidas found out about the betrayal, he sent troops to the policies to regroup forces, remaining on the defensive and delaying the Persians with a small detachment. Now there really were very few of them, about 500 souls. However, no miracle happened, almost all the defenders were killed on the same day.

In the first years of his reign, Xerxes was forced to concentrate on strengthening his power, but above all, he declared his loyalty to the moral and ethical principles previously formulated by his father. In 484 BC the king ruthlessly suppressed the uprising in Egypt and subsequently treated the country as a conquered province. The next rebellion in the summer of 484 BC. was the uprising of Babylon, which was suppressed only by March 481 BC. After the city was taken by storm, the city walls and fortifications of Babylon were torn down, the main sanctuaries of the city were damaged, some of the priests were executed, and most importantly, the golden statue of the supreme god Marduk was taken to Persepolis and probably melted down. This reduced Babylon to the position of a lower satrapy, and the capital of the Babylonian kingdom, formally considered separate and part of the Achaemenid Empire, lost its political significance.

Preparation and trip to Greece

In 483 BC Xerxes officially ordered that all necessary preparations be made for an expedition against the Greeks. So that the fleet does not become a victim of a storm, as happened in 492 BC. near Cape Athos, it was decided to dig a channel through a sandy isthmus in the eastern part of the Halkidiki peninsula. On the Hellespont, near Abydos, 2 pontoon bridges with a length of about 1300 m were built. All these works required about 3 years. In addition, food was prepared and warehouses were set up along the coast of Macedonia and Thrace. The military expedition began in 481 BC. when a huge Persian army, led by a great king, left Cappadocia and, having crossed the Halys, arrived through Phrygia and Lydia to the Hellespont. However, another storm destroyed both bridges, and the angry Xerxes ordered the scourging of the recalcitrant sea, and then immersing the shackles in its waters. In the spring of 480 BC the Persian army, having crossed the strait, without meeting any resistance, moved through Thrace, Macedonia and Thessaly. At Thermopylae 11 August 480 BC Greeks and Persians first faced off on land, while several battles also took place at sea. These battles showed Xerxes that conquering the Greeks would not be easy. The following battles at Salamis, Plataea and Mycale forced the Persians to abandon the idea of ​​capturing Greece. Xerxes himself, after the Battle of Salamis, was forced to urgently go east, because a new uprising had begun in Babylon.

According to Ctesias, by the end of his life, Xerxes was under the strong influence of the head of the royal guard Artaban and the eunuch Aspamitra. Probably, the position of Xerxes at this time was not very strong. In any case, we know from Persepolis documents that in 467, i.e., 2 years before the assassination of Xerxes, famine reigned in Persia, the royal granaries were empty and grain prices increased seven times compared to usual. In order to somehow calm the dissatisfied, Xerxes removed about a hundred state officials during the year, starting with the highest-ranking ones. In August 465, Artabanus and Aspamitra, apparently not without the intrigues of Artaxerxes, the youngest son of Xerxes, killed the king at night in his bedroom. At the same time, the eldest son of Xerxes, Darius, was also killed.

Sources: fb.ru, www.vokrugsveta.ru, otvet.mail.ru, 900igr.net, istoria.kak-zachem.ru

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