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Xerxes I (/ ˈ z ɜː r k ˌ s iː z / ZURK-seez [2] [a] c. 518 – August 465 BC), commonly known as Xerxes the Great, [4] was a Persian ruler who served as the fourth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 486 BC until his assassination in 465 BC.
After the battle, Xerxes was curious as to what the Greeks had been trying to do (presumably because they had had so few men) and had some Arcadian deserters interrogated in his presence. The answer was: all the other men were participating in the Olympic Games. When Xerxes asked what the prize was for the winner, the answer was: "an olive-wreath".
Xerxes succeeded his father as the ruler of Sophene and Commagene in 228 BC, while his brother Orontes IV ruled Armenia. In 223 BC, several Seleucid satraps rebelled against King Antiochus III , including Artabazanes ( Upper Media ), Molon ( Lower Media ), Alexander ( Persis ), and Achaeus ( Asia Minor ).
Ruled by the Orontid dynasty, the kingdom was culturally mixed with Greek, Armenian, Iranian, Syrian, Anatolian and Roman influences. [4] Founded around the 3rd century BCE, the kingdom maintained independence until c. 95 BCE when the Artaxiad king Tigranes the Great conquered the territories as part of his empire. [6]
After the death of Darius, Xerxes's rule was initially accepted in Babylonia, despite mounting unrest in the region and an ongoing revolt in Egypt. In the fourth month of Xerxes's second year as king, [14] July 484 BC, [1] the citizens of the city of Sippar proclaimed Shamash-eriba, of unclear origin, as king. [14]
The second Persian invasion of Greece (480–479 BC) occurred during the Greco-Persian Wars, as King Xerxes I of Persia sought to conquer all of Greece. The invasion was a direct, if delayed, response to the defeat of the first Persian invasion of Greece (492–490 BC) at the Battle of Marathon, which ended Darius I's attempts to subjugate Greece.
Ctesias assumes that it was the custom for a king to prepare his own tomb during his lifetime. Hence, the kings buried at Naghsh-e Rostam are probably Darius I, Xerxes I, Artaxerxes I and Darius II. Xerxes II, who reigned for a very short time, could scarcely have obtained so splendid a monument, and still less could the usurper Sogdianus.
He is said to have "ruled over a hundred and twenty-seven provinces from India to Nubia" – that is, over the Achaemenid Empire. [4] Some consider the narrative of Esther was to provide an aetiology for Purim, and that the name Ahasuerus is usually understood to refer to Xerxes I, who ruled the Achaemenid Empire between 486 and 465 BC.