Xerxes 1 the king of Persia

Xerxes was the son of Darius the great and Atossa, daughter of Cyrus the great. Both his parents were descendents of Achaemenes but from different lines. As customary under Persian customary law, the king had to choose a successor before living for serious expeditions. Darius chose his eldest son Xerxes by Atossa as his successor
before leaving to suppress a revolt in Egypt. However, his ailing health prevented him from leading the war and he died in October 486BC. After the death of Darius, Artabazanes, Darius eldest son attempted to claim the throne unsuccessfully. Xerxes was crowned king the same year and succeeded his father at the age of 36. The transition of power from Darius to Xerxes was smooth partly because of his mothers lineage. Xerxes inherited the Persian kingdom at the height of its powers. Before ascending to the throne in Persian, Xerxes was the governor of Babylonia for many years. As a king, he was decisive and ruthless.
Xerxes 1 the king of Persia
Xerxes, Khashayar Shah,” meaning the son of Darius in his native language. Unlike Darius and Cyrus the great, Xerxes ruled with a heavy hand in foreign lands and imposed a Persian style on any foreign land that attempted to revolt against his rule. During his fathers reign, there was a plan to invade Greece; however, the revolts in Egypt and Babylonia delayed this plan until 482BCE. Without internal issues in his kingdom, Xerxes dedicated his time and effort towards finishing what his father had started (Olmstead 85). He commanded the ship builders to build ships both for war and for transport. He sent emissaries to major Greek state requiring them to send back the traditional symbols of allegiance, which include earth and water. He encouraged Carthage to attack Syracuse and prevent it from aiding Greek mainland during his attack. Fleets and ships from his subject lands were to meet at preordained places and time in preparation for the war. The ship builders also built pontoon bridges to enable Xerxes armies to march across the Hellespont (Herodotos 26).
Xerxes planned the greatest military expedition in recorded history. The attack on Greek mainland involved two million soldiers, 1,600 warships, and 3,500 transport ships. The expedition began on April 480BCE in Cappadonia (Kuhrt 17). After passing the Hellespont, Xerxes marched past Troy to make it clear to the Greeks that the attack was about the Trojan wars. The Trojan War was a war waged by the Greeks against the city of Troy because Paris took Menelaus wife Helen to the city. The difference between the Trojan War and the war Xerxes was waging on Greeks was that this time the Persians brought the fighting to the Greeks in Europe (Herodotos 51). Because of the sheer size of the armies, they made slow progress. In Thrace, Xerxes divide the armies into three groups to minimize the use of resources. On their way to Greece, the Persians built roads and passages to expand the communication between the three groups and the fleet of ships. The building of roads was a clear sign to the Greeks that this was not a punitive invasion but an occupation. As the armies marched on land, the fleet of ships followed along the coast keeping the armies supplied. Xerxes remained in Thrace until July partly to instill fear and partly to wait for food supplies from the July harvest (Herodotos 98).
The Persian army did not encounter any resistance until August when they reached the Pass of Thermopylae. Here, the Persians encountered the Spartans who had just conquered the Pass of Thermopylae. Commanded by Leonidas, the Spartans fiercely defended the pass until they were defeated three days later. At nearby Artemesium, the Persian fleet fought with the Greek fleet, however, the encounter at sea was not decisive. In the encounters, Xerxes lost 24,000 men and 100 warships. He also lost an additional 400 warships to storms (Herodotos 118). The total number of sailors lost was more than 100,000. Xerxes and his armies marched southwards and reached the city of Athens in September. They found the city abandoned and burnt it to the ground.
Xerxes fleet was tricked into a battle at the sardonic Gulf where they were at a great disadvantage despite their numbers. In the encounter, Xerxes lost 200 warships and 50,000 men. After losing his supply of food and other materials, Xerxes retreated to his royal palace in Sardis taking with him half of his army. Xerxes left a 300,000 strong army in Greece under Mardonis command. The army was beaten by a coalition of Greek allies under the Spartan command in 479BCE at Plataea. The 110,000 strong Greek allies suffered only 159 casualties whereas of the 300,000 Persians less than 43,000 survived. The Persian fleet was also defeated on the same day ending Xerxes hopes of ever returning to Europe (Herodotos 143).
Xerxes was not always a man of war; he also threw lavish parties and constructed many monuments. The book of Esther records one of those lavish parties that lasted several days. In the final day of the festivities, the king requested his queen to join him at the main table. Xerxes queen Vashti was beautiful and the king was eager to show off her beauty to the guests. Vashti refused to join the king at the high table. Xerxes enraged denounced the queen and ordered a beauty pageant to find his new queen. Esther a Jew who lived in one of the foreign lands under Persian rule won the pageant and was chosen by the king for the throne. Esther risked her life several times to save the Jews from oppression and Haman, the highest official in the kings court who disliked the Jews (Esther 1:1-2:18 ESV).
After his defeat at the hands of the Greek, Xerxes dedicated his time and resources to the construction of monumental buildings in his kingdom. Some of the monuments he built include a palace, audience hall, and a treasury. Much of the labor for the construction of these monuments and the production of food in the farm to feed the laborers came from slaves. The kings household maintained a large number of slaves worked in various odd jobs. The slaves lived in families; however, they were moved from time to time around the empire. Slaves were acquired during warfare, however, this eventually died out during the Persian kingdom because of the peace prevailing in the lands. From time to time, the king would enslave any city that dared to rebel against his rule. The slavery system was replaced by a taxation system in which every citizen of the kingdom was required to pay taxation in terms of money, valuable minerals, or labor (Dandemaev & Lukonin 49).
One major achieved by Xerxes was the construction of the Parsa city a projected that began during the reign of his father Darius. Darius had plans of moving the capital city of the Persian Empire from Pasargadae to Parsa. Pasargadae was the old capital city of the kingdom and the burial place of Cyrus the great. Parsa was located 70 miles northeast of Shiraz in the mountainous region. The city was almost inaccessible during the rainy season because the narrow paths leading to the city were muddy and slippery (Burn 135). Though the building of the city began during Darius reign, the glory of the city is mostly because of Xerxes contribution to the completion of the city. The most outstanding building within the capital was the palace, which was built on large terraces partly cut out of the Mountain Kuh-e Rahmet (Weishoefer 77).
There was a broad stairway on the western side of the palace, which enabled the nobles to enter the palace on horseback. The palace was a masterpiece of symmetry and Persian engineering. On the northeastern side of the palace was the Gate of all Nations. On the western side of the palace was the grand hall where the king entertained his guests (Roaf 19). Part of the grand hall still stands today an impressive monument of the great Persian Empire. Other than the construction of building and monuments, Xerxes became a drunken man after losing the battle in Europe. He was also a very bitter man who his courtiers often manipulated into doing what they preferred. Artaxerxes I succeeded him after his half-brother Artabanus murdered him (Lawless & Cameron 78).
Conclusion
Xerxes the great lived from 520-465BCE. Being an Achaemenid from the lineage of Cyrus the great meant that he was destined to be king. Some of his major contributions in history include organizing the greatest battle in world history, construction of the palace at Parsa, and the construction of a canal and a bridge to enable his army close the Hellespont in his war efforts against the Greeks.



 Works Cited
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Dandemaev, Muhammad A., and Lukonin, Valadimir G. The Culture and Social Institutions of Ancient Iran, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989. Print.
Herodotos. The Histories, trans. Rex Warner, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1985. Print.
Kuhrt, A. The Ancient Near East c. 3000-330BC (Vol. 2), London: Routledge, 1995. Print.
Lawless and Cameron. Studies in Ancient Persia, South Melbourne: Thomas Nelson, 1994. Print.
Olmstead, Albert T. History of the Persian Empire, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1948. Print.
Roaf, M. Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Near East, New York: Facts on File Ltd, 1990. Print.
The Holy Bible ESV: English Standard Version. Containing the Old and New Testaments. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Bibles, 2007. Print.
Weishoefer, J. Ancient Persia 550BC-650 AD trans. Azodi, A. London: IB Tauris Publishing, 1996. Print.