Xerxes the first. The Persian king Xerxes and the legend of the battle of Thermopylae. Preparation and trip to Greece

Having decided to go to Greece, Xerxes actively began preparing for the campaign. They were produced on an enormous scale throughout the Persian kingdom. For two whole years (483–481 BC) Xerxes gathered an army. Herodotus's information about this is probably borrowed from Greek folk traditions and Persian legends, like his stories about the mercy of Cyrus; but, even if we greatly reduced the figures given by him, as exaggerated by popular imagination, we will still have to say that Xerxes’ preparations for the conquest of Greece were colossal. Coastal peoples: the Phoenicians, Egyptians, Cilicians, Cypriots, and especially the Greeks of the Anatolian coast and the islands of the Aegean Sea prepared warships and transport vessels for the army of Xerxes; and experienced craftsmen of peoples skilled in engineering work, the Egyptians, Phoenicians and Greeks, were sent to dig a canal 80 feet wide across the isthmus of the Athos cape near the city of Sanaa, so that the fleet could pass here without having to go around the cape, at the tip of which storms were constantly raging and the ships of the previous expedition perished; other masters, meanwhile, built two bridges across the Hellespont (Dardanelles) at the narrowest point of the strait, near the city of Sista; there, from the rocky outcrop of the coast at Madit to Abydos, the width of the strait is only 5000 feet. Ships were placed across the strait on strong ropes; a platform of logs was laid over the ships, enclosing it with railings. On the “White Coast” near the Hellespont and in all Greek cities along the Thracian coast all the way to Macedonia, huge reserves of provisions for soldiers and feed for horses and cattle were prepared, huge herds of which were supposed to follow the army for its food. Xerxes issued a command that all the peoples of all regions of his kingdom send an army to march on Greece.

“There was not a single people in Asia that Xerxes would not lead to this war,” says Herodotus. “He ordered some nations to prepare warships, others to send infantry, or cavalry, or ships to transport horses, or long ships to build bridges, or ships with provisions.” Xerxes was so confident of victory that when Greek spies were captured in Sardis, tortured by the commander of the troops of that region and condemned to death, he ordered them to be released and the entire army to be shown to them. He allowed the ships sailing from Pontus (the Black Sea) to Greece with cargoes of grain to continue their voyage freely, saying that the Persians would use the grain they brought to Greece.

1. It took three years to dig a canal across the Isthmus of Mount Athos. Herodotus talks about it this way (VII, 22 et seq.): “The ships anchored near the Chersonese city of Eleunt; they brought many warriors from all sorts of tribes; these warriors, forced to work with whips, dug the canal one by one. The inhabitants of Athos also dug. The work was observed by the Persians Bubar and Artacheus. Where the cape adjoins the mainland, its isthmus is 12 stadia (about 2 versts) wide; it is a plain with small hills. The barbarians distributed the work among different peoples and drew the line of the canal completely straight across the isthmus from the city of Sana'a. When they dug a canal, almost all the peoples of Xerxes’ kingdom dug it the same width both above and below; That’s why its walls were constantly collapsing, and those people were doing double work for themselves! Only the Phoenicians showed here, as elsewhere, intelligence and art. They dug the width of the canal at the top twice as wide as it should have been at the bottom and made its walls sloping, digging it lower and narrower. There is also a meadow there; they had a market there, and they were brought flour from Asia in large quantities.” The channel was so wide that two triremes could go side by side; the entrance and exit from it were fortified with dams. The workers digging the canal also built a bridge across the Strymon.

2. The bridges for Xerxes’s troops to cross the Hellespont were built in this way: they placed fifty-oared ships and triremes in a row; the bridge that was closer to Ponto had 360 of them, and the other bridge had 314, the fifty-oared ships were placed obliquely, and the triremes along the stream. Having installed the ship, they dropped large anchors, because there is a strong wind there. For the passage of small ships of Xerxes, passages were left in three places. Having installed the ships at anchors, they pulled strong ropes through them and tightened them with wooden capstans; Phoenician ropes were made of linen, and Egyptian ones were made of byblos. The linen ropes were so thick that an elbow weighed a pound. Having pulled the ropes, they made the deck of the bridge from logs of such length as the width of the bridge; the logs were placed tightly one to the other and tied with ropes. Boards were laid on the logs, earth was poured onto the plank platform and it was firmly trampled down. At the bridge that was to the west, they made a fence on both sides so that the one for whom this bridge was assigned would not see the sea and would not be afraid. The bridge that was closer to Pontus was intended for the crossing of Xerxes' army.

In the fall (481), the troops of the eastern and northeastern mountainous regions gathered in the Cappadocian city of Critalla, where Xerxes came to them and led them along the royal road through Comana, Ancyra, Pessinunt, Knees, Colossi, Collateb to the main city of Lydia, Sardis.

Pythias, the richest man in the world, lived in Keleni; he made a wonderful treat for the entire army and placed all his treasures at the disposal of the king; Xerxes rewarded him richly and gave him the title of his friend. Xerxes hung a golden ornament on a sycamore tree of extraordinary beauty and left a warrior from the detachment of immortals as the guardian of this tree. – The followers of Zarathustra’s teachings had a religious respect for tall and beautiful trees.

At Sardis, Xerxes heard that a storm had broken the bridges on the Hellespont; he ordered the builders' heads to be cut off because they did not know how to do the work properly. According to the stories of the Greeks, Xerxes ordered to carve out the sea: give the unruly element 300 blows with a whip and throw shackles into it. The bridges for the army were built again and secured with thicker ropes; the sea submitted to the yoke imposed on it.

In the spring of 480, Xerxes' army marched from Sardis to the Hellespont. Then messengers were again sent to Greece to demand that the king be given land and water. Xerxes ordered them not to go to Athens and Sparta. The army marched along the coast, through Atarneus and Adramyttium. In front of Sardis, two halves of a dissected human body lay on the sides of the road. This was the eldest son of a rich man from Kelen: Pythias, hoping for the favor shown to him by Xerxes, asked that one of his five sons who were in the army be left to him to supervise the household. Indignant at this request, Xerxes did what his father Darius had done with a similar request from Eobaz: he ordered the eldest son of the petitioner to be killed and the chopped body placed on the road as a warning to everyone. When Xerxes' army marched through the land where Troy had once stood, there was not enough water for this multitude of people and animals to drink from Scamander. The magicians and the king made a sacrifice of 1000 bulls on the Pergamon hill. According to Herodotus, Xerxes visited the site where Priam's palace stood and listened to stories of the Trojan War. On the Abydos plain they built a high platform of white stone; Xerxes looked from it at his huge army and fleet. He decided to look at an exemplary battle of ships. It was arranged; The Sidonians won. Surveying the Hellespont, covered with ships, the coast and the Abydos fields, covered with troops, Xerxes, according to Herodotus, said that he was happy, and then began to cry at the thought of the brevity of human life. Artabanus, taking advantage of this mood, repeated to him his objections to the campaign against Greece; but even now they remained in vain, Xerxes appointed him ruler of the state during his absence, and he returned to Susa.

On the day on which the march of Xerxes’ army began, the magicians early in the morning performed prayers at the bridges, burning incense on the altars, and strewed the road with myrtle branches. When the sun appeared, Xerxes took the golden sacrificial bowl, raised it with a prayer to the Sun God that the conquest of Europe would not encounter obstacles, and, according to the story of Herodotus, threw this bowl, a golden cup and a Persian sword into the waves of the Hellespont.

The first to cross the bridge was a detachment of 10,000 immortals with wreaths on their heads. They were followed by troops of different nations. On the second day, Xerxes himself rode with the army. In front walked 1000 horse and 1000 foot bodyguards, selected warriors, also decorated with wreaths; then they led ten sacred horses, magnificently decorated; behind them rode the sacred chariot of Mithras; she was carried by eight white horses. Xerxes rode behind her, surrounded by his relatives, table mates and friends: there were both Peisistratus and Demaratus. The royal retinue was again followed by detachments of mounted and foot bodyguards. Stopping on the European shore, Xerxes watched the rest of the army cross the bridge; the troops marched across the bridge for seven days and seven nights between rows of people stationed on both sides with whips in their hands to maintain order.

Having crossed the bridges, the army of Xerxes walked along Thracian Chersonesus past the cities of Cardia and Agora, then turned west to Doriscus; there, on the Hebra Plain, a review was appointed. The fleet, consisting of 1200 triremes, entered the Enos harbor, at the mouth of the Hebra; transport ships were pulled ashore between Zona and Sala; there were 3000 of them; for the most part these were sea boats with 30 rowers. The bridges were ordered to be left intact; their protection was entrusted to the inhabitants of Abydos.

Xerxes' army: Persian standard bearer, Armenian and Cappadocian soldiers (from left to right)

On the plain near the city of Doriscus, the army of Xerxes was listed and divided into detachments. To find out the number of all the people participating in the campaign - cavalry, infantry, sailors and baggage servants - they counted 10,000 people, placed them close to each other, outlined this place and surrounded it with a fence. After that, they began to bring other people into this fence, as many as could fit, and noted how many times this was repeated; the fence was filled 170 times. Thus, according to Herodotus’s account of this account, the number of all the soldiers going to Greece, together with the huge number of people who were on warships and transport ships or walking with the convoy, reached an unheard-of number of 1,700,000 people. And then the troops of the Thracians and Macedonians joined them. True, the number of servants was enormous and these people were not warriors; True, the method of counting was not accurate; and of course, his figure was greatly exaggerated by legend; but still it must be considered reliable that Xerxes led an army to Greece consisting of more than 800,000 people, and a fleet in which 1,200 warships were considered with a crew extending to 250,000 people.

Having enumerated the army, distributed it by tribe and type of weapon, and appointed reliable commanders over the detachments from among his relatives and companions, Xerxes conducted a grand review of the entire ground army; he rode along the front of the infantry and cavalry in a war chariot; the scribe sitting next to him wrote down the names of the tribes; then Xerxes reviewed the fleet; he went around it on a fast Sidonian ship. No other conqueror, either before or since, led such a multitude of different nations to war as was in the army that Xerxes surveyed on the plain of Hebra. The warriors of each nation were in their national clothes and with their national weapons.

Xerxes' army: Chaldean infantry, Babylonian archer, Assyrian infantry (from left to right)

The Persian and Median infantry of Xerxes' army were in colorful caftans, shalwars and tiaras; Her weapons consisted of a large bow with reed arrows, a short spear and a dagger at her belt. In addition to the Persians and Medes, there were warriors from the tribes that lived in the steppes of Oxus and Yaxartes, the Scythian people Saki, armed with a bow and battle ax; troops of eastern Iran: Bactrians, Aryans, Hyrcanians, Parthians, etc. Xerxes also had troops from the banks of the Indus; their clothes were white, made of paper; they had bows and reed arrows; there were smooth-haired Ethiopians who, instead of helmets, had the skins of horse heads with ears and manes; their shields were covered with crane skin. There were warlike highlanders from the southern and western shores of the Caspian Sea, wearing wooden helmets and shields made of ox hides. The warriors of the peoples of the Euphrates and Tigris wore copper helmets with elaborate decorations and linen armor; they were armed with iron-studded maces. There were also peoples of the south in Xerxes' army: Arabs in white clothes with long bows, skilled archers, Ethiopians in leopard and lion skins, with spears at the end of which instead of iron there was a pointed gazelle horn, Libyans in leather shells. Xerxes also had the peoples of Asia Minor, long known to the Greeks, Paphlagonians, Cappadocians, Phrygians, in boots with short tops, in wicker helmets, with small shields and darts, the tip of which was simply burnt wood; the Lidians, whose weapons were almost the same as the Greek ones; Bithynians in colorful clothes, in boots made of deerskin, in fox hats. The cavalry of Xerxes' army, which numbered 80,000 people, was no less diverse. There were Medes and Persians in heavy armor on hot war horses; there were light horsemen of the nomadic Sagardians, whose only weapon was a leather rope with a loop (lasso); there were war chariots drawn by horses and onagers, there were half-naked Arabs on high dromedaries. Xerxes' army was followed by countless carts and pack animals with provisions, many carriages with the king's concubines and nobles, and many servants.

Xerxes' army: a hoplite from Greek Ionia, subject to the Persians, a Lydian hoplite (from left to right)

Such was the army that now went in three divisions to Strymon through the land of the Thracian tribes and the region of the Greek cities of Mesemvria, Maronea and Abdera, forcing the tribes living far from the sea to go with him, and the coastal cities to join their ships to the fleet. Only the warlike Bisalts, who lived in the forests of snow-covered mountains, dared to defend their independence. The population of the Greek cities, forced not only to provide ships and troops, but also to treat Xerxes and his companions, to feed the entire army during the campaign through their lands, was so ruined that they fled, abandoning their homes. The treat was all the more unprofitable because the Persians had the custom of taking all the dishes served on the table. At Akanoe, a fleet approached Xerxes' army; he was now even more numerous than before, since ships from the Greek cities of the Thracian coast joined him; it now counted 1,327 triremes.

The sailors and naval soldiers of Xerxes' army were also very diverse in clothing and weapons. The Phoenicians wore linen armor; the number of Phoenician ships was 300; Egyptian number 200; the Egyptians wore wicker helmets and armor; they were armed with iron hooks. The Cypriot kings brought 150 triremes to help the army of Xerxes; The kings had bandages on their heads. The number of Cilician ships was 100; the sailors wore helmets and woolen clothing; The Cilicians' weapons consisted of small round shields made of oxhide, darts and swords. The Lycians sent 50 ships; their warriors had goatskins on their shoulders; their hats were with feathers: their weapon was a bow with unfeathered reed arrows. The Carians, who had 70 triremes, were armed almost the same as the Greeks, and differed from them only in that they had sickles and daggers. All Greek cities on the Asian coast and islands were also forced to send their ships; the number of their triremes extended to 427; The entire fleet of European Greece did not have such a number of ships.

Xerxes' army: an Ethiopian archer, an infantryman from Khorezm, an infantryman from Bactria, a horseman from Ariana (from left to right)

Xerxes showed great mercy to the inhabitants of Acanthus because they worked diligently in digging the canal. From Akanthos, Xerxes' army went through the mountainous peninsula of Chalkidiki to the city of Therma. On this path, lions bothered him: running down from the mountains at night, they attacked camels. The fleet, having crossed a canal dug through the isthmus of Athos, rounded the capes of Sithonia and Pallene and united with the army in the Thermaean Gulf; the army, having safely crossed the mountains, settled along the coast to the mouth of Galiakmon (5 geographical miles from Therma). The Macedonian king Alexander joined the Persians with his army and began to serve as their guide. There were two routes from Macedonia to Thessaly: one along the coast of Pieria to the mouth of the Peneus and from there along the Tempean Valley; the other went through the mountains of Olympus, covered with forest and in many places very steep. Both routes presented difficulties that would have been almost completely insurmountable if troops had been stationed in places convenient for defense. But not only the Macedonians submitted to Xerxes; after some hesitation, the Thessalians also submitted. An army consisting of Peloponnesians and Athenians was sent along the Euboean Strait to the Tempean Valley. The leadership over him was entrusted to the Spartan Evenet and Themistocles. It consisted of 10,000 hoplites and was intended to defend, with the help of the Thessalians, the passes through the gorges of Olympus. When the Thessalians sent land and water to the Persian king, he was forced to retreat. – The road along the coast turned out to be inconvenient for the Persians: in some places the rocks came so close to the river that there was barely room for a cart to pass; Xerxes had just arrived on a Sidonian ship to look at the mouth of the Peneus. The warriors sent forward laid out convenient roads through the mountains and swamps away from the sea; the army passed there through the land of the Perrhaebs to Lapaf and Gonn and descended from the mountains into the valley of Peneus.

And now stood at the gates of Greece those countless troops about which the Persian old men in Aeschylus say: they came from Susa, they came from Ecbatana, from the city of the Kissians, a host of cavalry came; others sailed on ships; The infantry, a selected army, also went: the cavalry, armed with a bow, went, terrible in appearance, brave in battle. Like a swarm of bees, the army of Xerxes walked across the bridge fortified with ropes across the strait of Hella, the daughter of Athamas, laying a yoke on the sea; - arrows from Mysia, residents of St. Tmol, warriors of gold-rich Babylon in colorful clothes; rowers from the Nile Delta - all went to enslave Greece. The strong ruler of a populous kingdom, a godlike descendant of a golden family, led immortal warriors to the Greek land. Xerxes sat on an Assyrian war chariot, like a bloodthirsty dragon, and with the fiery gaze of his black eyes he encouraged the army, skillful in fighting with spears, skillful in shooting from a bow. Who can stand against this multitude, what stronghold will hold back this flood? The Persian people are courageous, the army of Xerxes is invincible, and it is their destiny to win victories and take cities.

In all likelihood there were several uprisings. The Babylonians initially rebelled under the leadership of Belshimanni. 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 Lands." 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, Belshimanni rebelled against Darius and took the daring title of “King of the Countries,” which the False Buchadnezzars had not yet encroached upon. But two weeks later in July 484 BC. e. this uprising was suppressed.

Crossing the Hellespont

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

Warriors of Xerxes' army.
From left to right: Chaldean infantry formed the first rank of the Persian phalanx of archers; Babylonian archer; Assyrian infantryman. The warriors wore quilted jackets stuffed with horsehair - a characteristic type of eastern armor of that time.

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

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

Battle of Thermopylae

Fleet actions

Sack of Attica

The Persians could now move unhindered into Attica. Boeotia submitted to the Persians, and Thebes subsequently provided them with active support. The Greek land army stood on the Isthmus, and Sparta insisted on creating a fortified defensive line here to protect the Peloponnese. The Athenian politician, creator of the Athenian fleet, Themistocles, believed that it was necessary to give the Persians a naval battle off the coast of Attica. It was undoubtedly not possible to defend Attica at that moment.

The situation in the State

These failures in the Greco-Persian wars intensified the process of collapse of the Achaemenid power. Already under Xerxes, symptoms dangerous to the existence of the state appeared - rebellions of the satraps. Thus, his own brother Masista fled from Susa to his satrapy Bactria with the aim of raising an uprising there, but on the way, warriors loyal to the king caught up with Masista 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 Elwend near Ecbatana and in other places. To strengthen state centralization, he carried out a religious reform, which boiled down to prohibiting the veneration of local tribal gods and strengthening 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.

Murder of Xerxes as a result of conspiracy

According to Ctesias, towards the end of his life, Xerxes was under the strong influence of the chief of the royal guard, Artabanus, and the eunuch Aspamitra. Probably Xerxes' position 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 murder of Xerxes, famine reigned in Persia, the royal granaries were empty and grain prices increased seven times compared to usual. In order to somehow appease the dissatisfied, Xerxes dismissed about a hundred government officials over the course of a year, starting with the most senior ones. In August 465 BC. e. Artabanus and Aspamitra, apparently not without the machinations of Artaxerxes, the youngest son of Xerxes, killed the king at night in his bedroom. The exact date of this conspiracy is recorded in one astronomical text from Babylonia. Another text from Egypt states that he was killed along with his eldest son Darius.

Xerxes was in power for 20 years and 8 months and was killed in the 55th year of his life. About 20 cuneiform inscriptions in ancient Persian, Elamite and Babylonian languages ​​have been preserved from the reign of Xerxes.

Wives and children

Queen Amestrida

• Darius
• Hystasp, satrap of Bactria

Unknown wives

• Aratrius, satrap of Babylon.
• Ratasap

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 reached our time thanks to ancient Greek historians, in particular the works of Ctesias of Cnidus, who lived in Persia for 17 years. Archaeologists also deciphered 20 cuneiform inscriptions in ancient Persian, Elamite and Babylonian.

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 resilient, which allowed him to endure the hardships of military campaigns and leave numerous healthy offspring.

Childhood and youth

Xerxes, whose name translates as “Lord of Heroes,” was born in 520 BC. On his mother's side he was 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, preparing for his next campaign, chose Cyrus as his 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 during the reign of Darius, a rebellion broke out in Egypt, which the young king suppressed in 484 BC. Xerxes I removed treasures from Egyptian temples, dealt with the local nobility who supported the rebellion of Psammetichus IV, and appointed his brother Achaemen as the new governor.

The Persian kings who previously ruled the Egyptians accepted 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 film 300: Rise of an Empire, Xerxes was made a living god, which does not correspond to historical truth. 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 suppressing 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 Persia's troops three years to quell 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 a campaign of conquest 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, and the Hellespont was crossed using prefabricated pontoon bridges, each of which was more than a kilometer long.

Guarded fortified food warehouses were established in Thrace. Persian diplomats worked in the Persian-friendly countries of Balkan Greece and Carthage. Consisting of autonomous city-states, Hellas did not unite 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 repel the invaders was led by Sparta. The Military Council decided to block the road to the ground forces at Thermopylae, and to the fleet at the island of Euboea.

The position at Thermopylae was a narrow road, hemmed in by rocks and sea, so that it could be held by a relatively small number of men. An army of 6.5 thousand Greeks was led by the Spartan king Leonidas I. The heroic confrontation of the Spartans against superior enemy forces was glorified in the epic and continues to inspire writers and film scriptwriters.

After many minor 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 their numerical superiority, the Persians were defeated and fled. This battle turned the tide of the war, and subsequently the main struggle took place at sea.

In 468 BC. 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 Sea, and Xerxes’ plans of conquest were doomed. Failures in the Greco-Persian wars accelerated the collapse of the Achaemenid power. The center, weakened by wars, was forced to once again suppress the rebellions of individual satrapies of the empire.

Personal life

Written sources include the name of only one wife of the king. Amestrid, Onof's daughter, bore her husband three sons. The eldest received the name Darius in honor of his grandfather and was supposed to succeed his father. Middle Hystaspes later became the satrap of Bactria. Artaxerxes, the youngest, took the royal throne after the death of his father and older brother and ruled Persia in 465-424 BC. e.

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

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

On her husband’s birthday, the queen asked herself as a gift the right to dispose of the life of the one she considered to be the culprit of the problems. Xerxes did not object much: why did he need a woman who disdained the royal caresses? Amestris killed her rival with particular cruelty, and Xerxes offered his brother a new wife instead of the murdered one.

In order to strengthen intra-family ties, it was planned this time to marry Masista to the royal 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 the venerable age of 54 years, twenty of which he ruled over the Persian Empire. If it weren't for the rivals' struggle for power, he would have lived a few more years. As he grew older, the king became less energetic and fell under the influence of the chief of his own guard, Artabanus, and the eunuch Aspamitra. A crop failure occurred in 467 BC. e., led to famine in Persia. The granaries were empty, food prices increased sevenfold, and the population of the satrapies rebelled.

Within a year, Xerxes removed more than a hundred officials from their posts, but the change of leadership did not help save the situation. In August 465 BC. e. Artabanus and Aspamitra, whom the king trusted completely (as much as it is possible to trust 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 versions.

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 chief of the guard accused Darius, the eldest king's son, of killing Xerxes, and Artaxerxes executed his brother on false charges.

Memory

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

Herodotus "History":

“7.40 Ahead of the Persian army was a convoy and pack animals. Then detachments of different nationalities followed, interspersed, but in disorderly masses. When half of these hordes had managed to pass, a gap was formed and the road remained empty for some time.

The king was preceded by 1000 selected Persian horsemen, followed by 1000 spearmen (also selected) with spears facing down to the ground. Then came 10 sacred so-called Nisei horses in luxurious harness. This is why these horses are called Nisei. There is a vast plain in Media called Nisei. It is on this plain that such large horses are bred. Behind these 10 horses was the sacred chariot of Zeus, which was pulled by 8 white horses. Behind the horses themselves, the driver followed on foot, holding a bridle in his hands, since none of the people could climb onto the seat of this chariot. Behind this chariot rode Xerxes himself in a chariot drawn by Nisean horses. Next to the king stood a charioteer named Patiramphus, the son of the Persian Otanes.

7.41 ...Behind the king followed 1000 spearmen, the most valiant and noble Persians, holding their spears up as usual. Then came another 1,000 selected Persian horsemen, and after the horsemen 10,000 foot soldiers selected from the rest of the Persian army. Of these, 1,000 had golden pomegranate apples at the lower end of their spears. These warriors surrounded the others in a ring. The 9,000 warriors marching in the middle had silver pomegranates [on the lower ends of their spears]. Spearmen also had golden pomegranates with their spears facing down to the ground. Xerxes' immediate retinue had golden apples [instead of garnets]. These 10,000 were followed by 10,000 Persian cavalry. Behind the cavalry, a gap of 2 stages again formed and, finally, all the other discordant hordes followed.

7.60 How great the number of the hordes of each people was, I cannot say for sure, because no one reports about it. The total number of ground forces was 1,700,000 people (no comment). And the calculation was carried out as follows: they gathered 10,000 people into one place and, placing them as closely as possible to each other, drew a line around them. Having drawn a line, they released these 10,000 warriors and built a fence in a circle as high as a man’s navel. After that, they began to herd other tens of thousands of people into the fenced area, until everyone was counted in this way. The warriors were then distributed among tribes.

Artist Richard Scollins

7.61-88 ...The following nationalities took part in the campaign: first of all, the Persians, who were dressed and armed like this. On their heads they had so-called tiaras (soft [felt] hats), and on their bodies they had colorful tunics with sleeves made of iron scales like fish scales. Persians wore pants on their legs. Instead of [Hellenic] shields, they had wicker shields, under which hung quivers. They also had short spears, large bows with reed arrows, and, in addition, a dagger hung from their belt on their right hip. Their leader was Otan, the father of Xerxes’ wife Amestris….

...The Medes carry the same weapons on a campaign as the Persians (the weapons are, in fact, Median, not Persian). The leader of the Medes was Tigran from the Achaemenid family.

Artist Richard Scollins

...The Kissii also set out on the campaign in Persian weapons, only instead of [felt] hats they wore a miter. The Kissi were led by Anath, son of Otan. The Hyrcanians were also armed in the Persian style. Their leader was Megapan, later the ruler of Babylon.

During the campaign, the Assyrians wore copper helmets on their heads, uniquely woven in some difficult to explain way. They had shields, spears and daggers similar to the Egyptian ones, and, in addition, wooden clubs with iron cones and linen armor. The Hellenes call them Syrians, and the barbarians call them Assyrians. Their leader was Otasp, son of Artacheus.

The Bactrians wore hats on their heads, very similar to the Median ones, Bactrian reed bows and short spears. The Saki (Scythian tribe) wore high, pointed turbans on their heads, thick, so that they stood straight. They wore trousers and were armed with Saka bows and daggers. In addition, they also had sagaris - [double-edged] battle axes. This tribe (it was, in fact, Scythian) was called the Amirgian Sakas. The Persians call all Scythians Sakas. The Bactrians and Saca were led by Hystaspes, son of Darius and Atossa, daughter of Cyrus.

The Indians set out on the campaign wearing cotton clothes and carrying reed bows and iron-tipped arrows. Such were the weapons of the Indians. Their leader was Pharnazafr, son of Artabatus.

The Aryans were armed with Median bows, and the rest of their weapons were Bactrian. The Aryans were led by Sisamnes, son of Hydarnes. The Parthians, Chorasmians, Sogdians, Gandarii and Dadiks went on campaign in the same weapons as the Bactrians. Their leaders were: among the Parthians and Horasmians - Artabazus, son of Pharnaces; among the Sogdians - Azan, son of Artey; among the Gandarii and Dadiks - Artifius, son of Artabanus.

The Caspians were dressed in goatskins and armed with [their] local reed bows and Persian swords. Such were their weapons, and their commander was Ariomard, the brother of Artithias. Sarangs sported colorfully painted clothes and knee-length boots. Their bows and spears were Median. Their leader was Ferendat, son of Megabazus. The Paktii wore goat skins and were armed with local bows and daggers. At the head of the Paktii was Artaint, the son of Ithamithra.

Artist Richard Scollins

The Utia, Miki and Paricania were armed like the pactia. Their leaders were: among the Utians - Arsamenes, son of Darius; among the Paricanii - Siromitra, son of Eobaz. The Arabs were dressed in long, highly tucked burnouses and carried very long curved back [flexible] bows on the right side. The Ethiopians wore leopard and lion skins. Their bows, made from palm stems, were at least 4 cubits long. Their arrows are small, made of reeds, with a sharp stone at the end instead of an iron tip, with which they cut stones on sign rings. In addition, they had spears with points made of antelope horn, sharpened into a tip. They also had clubs studded with iron cones. When going into battle, they painted half their bodies with chalk and the other with red lead. At the head of the Arabs and Ethiopians living south of Egypt was Arsam, the son of Darius and Artiston, daughter of Cyrus (Darius loved her more than all his wives and ordered her image to be made for himself from minted gold). So, the leader of the Ethiopians living south of Egypt and the Arabs was Arsam.

The eastern Ethiopians (two tribes of Ethiopians took part in the campaign) were annexed to the Indians. In appearance they were no different, except for their tongue and hair. So, Eastern Ethiopians have straight hair, but Libyans have the curliest hair in the world. These Asian Ethiopians were armed mainly in the Indian style, only on their heads they wore a horse skin, stripped off along with the ears and mane. The mane served instead of a plume, and the horse's ears stuck out straight. Instead of shields, they held crane skins in front of them as cover. The Libyans performed in leather robes with darts, the tips of which were burned in the fire. Their leader was Massages, son of Oariz.

The Paphlagonians went on campaign wearing wicker helmets, with small shields and small spears; in addition, they also had darts and daggers. Their feet were shod in local boots that reached the middle of their legs. The Lygians, Matienians, Mariandines and Syrians went on campaign in the same weapons as the Paphlagonians. The Persians call these Syrians Cappadocians. At the head of the Paphlagonians and Mathiens was Dotus, son of Megasider; The leader of the Mariandians, Ligiians and Syrians was Gobryas, the son of Darius and Artiston. The armament of the Phrygians was very similar to the Paphlagonian, with only a slight difference. According to the Macedonians, while the Phrygians lived with them in Europe, they were called brigians. And after moving to Asia, along with the change of location, they also changed their name to Phrygians. The Armenians, being immigrants from the Phrygian land, had Phrygian weapons. The leader of both was Artochmus, who was married to the daughter of Darius.

The armament of the Lydians was almost the same as that of the Hellenes. The Lydians in ancient times were called Meons, and received [their current name] from Lydas, the son of Atys. The Mysians wore local helmets on their heads; their weapons consisted of small shields and darts with a fire-burnt tip. The Mysians are immigrants from Lydia, and after Mount Olympus they are called Olympiens. The leader of the Lydians and Mysians was Artaphrenes, son of Artaphrenes, who, together with Datis, attacked Marathon. The Thracians wore fox hats on their heads during the campaign. They wore tunics on their bodies and colorful burnouses on top. They had reindeer skin wrappings on their legs and knees. They were armed with darts, slings and small daggers. After migrating to Asia, this tribe received the name Bithynians, and before, in their own words, they were called Strymonians, since they lived on Strymon. As they say, the Teucrians and Myians expelled them from their habitats.

Artist M. Sheinin

The leader of the Asiatic Thracians was Bassac, son of Artabanus. [...Pisidians] wear small shields made of raw ox hides. Each is armed with a hunting spear of Lycian workmanship, and on their heads they wear copper helmets; copper bull ears and horns are attached to the helmets, and plumes on top. Their legs were wrapped in red rags. The Kabalii are a Maeonian tribe, also called Lasonia, armed in the Cilician style (I will talk about this when I move on to the Cilician troops). The Milii had short spears and cloaks fastened [at the shoulder] with a buckle. Some of them wore Lycian bows and leather helmets on their heads. All these nations were led by Badr, the son of Gistan. The Moskhs had wooden helmets on their heads; they carried small shields and long-tipped spears. The Tibarenes, Macrones and Mossiniki went on the campaign armed, like the Moschi. Their leaders were: among the Moschians and Tibarens, Ariomard, son of Darius and Parmisa, daughter of Smerdis, granddaughter of Cyrus; among the Macronians and Mossinians, Artaictus, the son of Cherasmias, who was satrap on the Hellespont.

The Marys wore wicker native helmets on their heads. Their weapons are small leather shields and darts. The Colchs had wooden helmets on their heads; they carried small shields made of raw leather, short spears and, in addition, daggers. At the head of the Mars and Colchs was Farandat, the son of Teaspius. The Alarodii and Saspiri went on the campaign armed, like the Colchians. Their leader was Masistius, son of Siromitra. The tribes from the islands of the Red Sea (namely, from those islands where the king settled the so-called exiles) were dressed and armed completely in the Median style. The leader of these islanders was Mardont, son of Bagaeus, who two years later died at the head of the [Persian fleet] in . These peoples fought on land and formed a foot army.

... So, these people I named were the military leaders. At the head of them and the entire ground army were Mardonius, the son of Gobryas (who later commanded the Persians in ); Tritantehmus, son of Artabanus, who gave advice against the campaign against Hellas; Smerdomen, son of Otanes (both of them are sons of Darius' brothers, cousins ​​of Xerxes); Maciste, son of Darius and Atossa; Gergis, son of Ariaz, and Megabyzus, son of Zopyrus. These were the commanders of the entire ground army, except for 10,000 Persians.

At the head of this detachment of 10,000 selected Persian warriors was Hydarnes, the son of Hydarnes. This detachment of Persians was called “immortals,” and here’s why. If someone suffered death or illness and he dropped out of this number, then another was chosen [in his place] and [therefore in the detachment] there were always exactly 10,000 warriors - no more and no less. Of all the nations, the Persians were the best in maintaining battle formation, and they were the most valiant. Their equipment was as I have already said, and in addition, they shone with a lot of luxurious gold jewelry. They were accompanied by carts with concubines and many servants in rich clothes. Food for them was carried (separately from other warriors) on camels and pack animals.

However, not all nationalities served in the cavalry [of Xerxes], but only the following: first of all, the Persians. They wore the same weapons as the foot soldiers, but only some had hammered copper and iron helmets on their heads. Among them there is a certain nomadic tribe called the Sagartii. By origin and language they are a Persian people, but their clothes are half Persian, half Paktian. They fielded 8,000 horsemen; According to custom, they have no bronze or iron weapons, except for daggers. Instead, they only have lassos woven from straps. They go into battle with these lassos. They fight like this: having met the enemy, they throw lassos with a noose and then drag to themselves whoever they catch - a horse or a man. People caught in the lasso die. In the battle, the Sagartians stood next to the Persians.

Artist Richard Scollins

The Median horsemen were equipped like their foot soldiers, and so were the Kissii. Indian horsemen wore the same equipment as foot soldiers, but rode not only on horses, but also in chariots drawn by horses and wild donkeys. The armament of the Bactrian horsemen was the same as that of the foot soldiers, and the same as that of the Caspians. And the Libyans had the same weapons as foot soldiers. All these nations also rode chariots. Caspians and Paricanians were armed in the same way as foot soldiers. The Arabs also had the same weapons as the foot soldiers, but they all rode camels, which were as fast as horses. Only these nationalities served in the cavalry. The number of cavalry was 80,000 horsemen, not counting camels and chariots. The horsemen [of other nationalities] were lined up in squadrons, while the Arab [horsemen] stood last. After all, the horses could not bear the camels, and so that the horses would not be frightened, they were placed behind. The commanders of the cavalry were Harmamithras and Typheus, sons of Datis. The third chief, Farnukh, fell ill and remained in Sardis.

I. Even before his accession, the latter had three sons from the daughter of one of his associates (during the coup of 522 BC) Gaubaruva. Then, after Daryavakhush ascended the throne, Kurush II's daughter Atossa bore him four more sons. Reflecting on which of them would inherit royal power after him, Daryavakhush finally chose Khshayarsha.

When he became king in December 486 BC, he was faced with two difficult tasks: to suppress the rebellions in the satrapies and to carry out the conquest of Greece (preparations for this war were intensively carried out throughout the last years of Daryavakhush’s reign). By 484 BC, Khshayarsha managed to put an end to the uprising in Egypt that had begun during his father’s lifetime. But immediately after this, in the summer of 484 BC, the Babylonians rebelled. The performance was led by a certain Belshimanni, who managed to capture Babylon, Borsippa and Dilbat. It was soon defeated, but in 482 BC the uprising was repeated under the leadership of Shamashriva. The royal commander Bagabukhsha managed to take the city only in March 481 BC. The Persians plundered the Babylonian temples and destroyed the still surviving fortifications. The golden statue of the god Marduk was taken to Persepolis and probably melted down. The Babylonian kingdom, which formally continued to exist until this time (all the Persian kings, including Khshayarsha himself, upon accession to the Persian throne, were crowned in the same way as the kings of Babylon), was abolished, and Babylonia was relegated to the position of an ordinary satrapy.

Only having accomplished all this, Khshayarsha was able to begin the long-prepared campaign against Hellas. In the spring of 480 BC, a huge Persian army set out from Cappadocia. In terms of its scale, this enterprise had no equal in the history of the Achaemenid state. All 46 nations subject to the Persians took part in the campaign, fielding a large number of foot and horse soldiers, as well as many ships. (The total number of Persian troops, according to Herodotus, exceeded 5 million people. Modern historians consider this figure to be many times exaggerated and believe that the Persian land army could not have had more than 100 thousand people. The number of Persian ships participating in the campaign is also considered overestimated (according to Herodotus, about 1400). There were hardly more than 700 of them, and only 200 were fast.) Having crossed to Europe via a pontoon bridge built across the Hellespont, Khshayarsha passed Thrace and Macedonia without difficulty. The Thessalians - residents of Northern Greece - also submitted to the king. But when the Persian army approached the Thermopylae Pass (the route from Thessaly to Central Greece lay through it), it was blocked by a small Greek detachment (6,500 people) led by the Spartan king Leonidas I. Khshayarsha did not start the battle for four days, expecting that Leonidas would be afraid numerous Persian troops and he himself retreated from the pass. When this did not happen, he began to send his troops one after another into a frontal attack. On the first day, the Medes and Kissi fought with the Greeks. However, they were unable to drive the Greeks out of the narrowest point of Thermopylae and retreated with heavy losses. Then the king threw his Persian guard - a detachment of immortals - against Leonid. These were brave warriors, but it was very difficult for them to fight in the gorge. The Greek hoplites, despite the fact that they were much outnumbered, managed to repel all the desperate attacks of the enemy. On the third day of fighting, the Persians managed to learn about a secret path that, bypassing the mountain, led to the rear of the Greek soldiers. Moving along it, the Persians surrounded the army of Leonidas (having released the allies, he remained to defend their retreat with only the Spartans and Thespians) and killed them all to the last man.

At the same time, a battle broke out at sea. Here, as in the time of Daryavakhush, the Persians suffered a lot of trouble from bad weather. Off the coast of Magnesia, near Cape Artemisium, their fleet was caught in a severe storm. The storm raged for three days, and during this time several hundred Persian ships sank. Then, in August 480 BC, a large naval battle took place at Cape Artemisium. It lasted three days. Both sides suffered heavy losses, but were unable to achieve a decisive advantage. Finally, upon learning of the enemy's capture of Thermopylae, the Greeks retreated. Khshayarsha captured Doris, Phocis, Locris and other regions of Central Greece without a fight. The Boeotians themselves went over to his side, and the Athenians, unable to defend their city, left it without a fight and crossed with all their households and property to the island of Salamis. The Persians captured empty Athens and burned it to the ground.

The outcome of the war was decided in the naval battle of Salamis, in which more than 800 ships took part on both sides. It happened on September 28, 480 BC in the Gulf of Salamis near Athens. From the very beginning, the Persians occupied a very uncomfortable position - their large and heavy ships were crowded into a narrow place and were deprived of freedom of maneuver. Therefore, despite great courage and numerical superiority, the battle ended in a heavy defeat for them. Most of the Persian fleet was destroyed. The dominance of the sea passed to the Greeks, however, having significant ground forces, Khshayarsha still hoped to win the war. He himself went to Asia, but left a significant part of his army (40-50 thousand soldiers) led by Mardonius in Greece. In 479 BC, a large land battle took place near Plataea. In it, the Persians were completely defeated, and Mardonius died. In the same year, the Greeks landed in Asia Minor and again defeated the Persians at Mycale in Ionia. This victory served as a signal for the Ionian uprising. All the islands of the Aegean Sea soon expelled the Persian garrisons and joined the anti-Persian maritime alliance led by the Athenians. The war continued in subsequent years. In 466 BC, the Greeks at Eurymedon (in the south of Asia Minor) won a double victory over a large Persian army - at sea and on land. After her, the Aegean Sea finally came under their control.

You can learn about the internal life of Persian society at this time from the works of Greek historians. Thus, Herodotus gives an interesting overview of the morals prevailing at the Persian court. In the ninth book of his work, he talks about how Khshayarsha was inflamed with passion for the wife of his brother Masist. However, no matter how hard he tried, he could not persuade her to have a love affair. In order to somehow get closer to this woman, the king arranged the marriage of her daughter Artainta with his son Daryavakhush. But, having accepted this young girl into his home, the king suddenly lost interest in his wife Masista and fell in love with Artainta, who soon gave herself to him. Khshayarsha's wife Amestrid found out about this connection and became furious with jealousy. She, however, directed her anger not at her husband’s mistress, but at her mother, since she considered her to be the culprit of this relationship. On the king's birthday, when Khshayarsha, according to Persian custom, had to fulfill any wish of his wife, Amestrid asked him for his brother's wife as a gift. Khshayarsha had to fulfill this wish against his will. Having received the unfortunate woman, the queen ordered her bodyguards to cut off her breasts, as well as her nose, ears and lips, cut out her tongue and send her home in this form. The masist, seeing his wife so terribly mutilated, immediately fled. He hoped to get to Bactria (where he was satrap) and raise a rebellion there, but Khshayarsha sent a detachment of loyal people in pursuit of him. They overtook the king's brother on the way and killed him along with all his sons. Khshayarsha himself also did not die a natural death - he was killed by the conspirators - the chief of the guard Artaban, with the assistance of the eunuch Aspamiter, in August 465 BC right in his bedroom while sleeping.