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A son of Darius I and Atossa, the daughter of Cyrus the Great, he was appointed successor to his father in preference to his eldest half-brothers, who were born before Darius had become king. After his accession in October 485 BC he suppressed the revolt in Egypt which had broken out in 486 BC, appointed his brother Achaemenes as henchman (or khshathrapavan, satrap) bringing Egypt under a very strict rule. His predecessors, especially Darius, had not been successful in their attempts to conciliate the ancient civilizations. This probably was the reason why Xerxes in 484 BC abolished the Kingdom of Babel and took away the golden statue of Bel ( Marduk, Merodach), the hands of which the legitimate king of Babel had to seize on the first day of each year, and killed the priest who tried to hinder him. Therefore Xerxes does not bear the title of King of Babel in the Babylonian documents dated from his reign, but King of Persia and MediaThe Medes were an Iranian people of Aryan origin who lived in the western and north-western portion of present-day Iran. During the 8th century BC they were dominated by the nomadic group of the Scythians. By the 6th century BC (prior to the Persian invas or simply King of countries (i.e. of the world). This proceeding led to two rebellions, probably in 484 BC and 479 BCCenturies: 4th century BC 5th century BC 6th century BC Decades: 520s BC 510s BC 500s BC 490s BC 480s BC 470s BC 460s BC 450s BC 440s BC 430s BC 420s BC Years: 484 BC 483 BC 482 BC 481 BC 480 BC 479 BC 478 BC 477 BC 476 BC 475 BC 474 BC Events Battle of P.
Darius had left to his son the task of punishing the Greeks for their interference in the Ionian rebellion and the victory of MarathonThe Battle of Marathon ( 490 BC) was the culmination of King Darius I of Persia's first major attempt to conquer the remainder of the Greeks and add them to the Persian Empire, thereby securing the weakest portion of his Western border. Background Hippias. From 483Centuries: 6th century BC 5th century BC 4th century BC Decades: 530s BC 520s BC 510s BC 500s BC 490s BC 480s BC 470s BC 460s BC 450s BC 440s BC 430s BC Years: 488 BC 487 BC 486 BC 485 BC 484 BC 483 BC 482 BC 481 BC 480 BC 479 BC 478 BC Events Xerxes I of Xerxes prepared his expedition with great care: a channel was dug through the isthmusSimplified diagram An isthmus is a narrow strip of land, bordered on two sides by water, and connects two larger land masses. The term is pronounced IS-mus with a silent th''. The plural form can either be isthmuses or isthmi''. The most famous isthmus is of the peninsula of Mount AthosMount Athos is a mountain and a peninsula in Macedonia, northern Greece, called Ayio Oros or "Holy Mountain") in Modern Greek, or Ἅ Ὄ Hagion Oros in Classical Greek. It is home to 20 Eastern Orthodox monasteries and forms an autonomous state; provisions were stored in the stations on the road through Thrace; two bridges were thrown across the Hellespont. Xerxes concluded an alliance with Carthage, and thus deprived Greece of the support of the powerful monarchs of Syracuse and Agrigentum. Many smaller Greek states, moreover, took the side of the Persians, especially Thessaly, Thebes and Argos. A large fleet and a numerous army (some have claimed that there were over 2,000,000) were gathered. In the spring of 480 Xerxes set out from Sardis. At first Xerxes was victorious everywhere. The Greek fleet was beaten at Artemisium, Thermopylae stormed, Athens conquered, the Greeks driven back to their last line of defence at the Isthmus of Corinth and in the Bay of Salamis . But Xerxes was induced by the astute message of Themistocles (against the advice of Artemisia of Halicarnassus) to attack the Greek fleet under unfavourable conditions, instead of sending a part of his ships to the Peloponnesus and awaiting the dissolution of the Greek armament. The Battle of Salamis ( September 28, 480) decided the war. Having lost his communication by sea with Asia, Xerxes was forced to retire to Sardis; the army which he left in Greece under Mardonius was in 479 beaten at Plataea. The defeat of the Persians at Mycale roused the Greek cities of Asia.