Xerxes I: The King of Persia
- Davit Grigoryan
- Jan 25
- 6 min read
Updated: Mar 30
Xerxes, the king of Persia and pharaoh of Egypt, is best known for his military campaigns against Greece. Much of what we know about his life has been preserved thanks to ancient Greek historians, particularly Ctesias of Cnidus, who lived in Persia for 17 years. Additionally, archaeologists have deciphered 20 cuneiform inscriptions written in ancient Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian.
The Greeks often ridiculed Xerxes, portraying him as weak and vain, while Persian authors praised him as a wise ruler and a victorious warrior. Most contemporary accounts agree that Xerxes was tall, strong, and resilient, traits that helped him endure the hardships of military campaigns.
Rise to Power
Xerxes, or Khshayarsha if you prefer the Persian name, was born around 518 BC as the first son of Darius, the great ruler of the Persian Empire, and his wife Atossa, who was also the daughter of Cyrus the Great—the founder of the Persian Kingdom.
Since the time of Cyrus, the Achaemenid Empire had included Greek city-states located not in Greece itself but along the coast of Asia Minor, in what is now modern-day Turkey. These cities were not directly part of the empire but were governed by tyrants appointed by and fully subservient to the Persian king.
In 499 BC, these cities revolted against Darius with the support of a few mainland Greek city-states, most notably Athens. While Darius ultimately managed to suppress the uprisings, he vowed revenge on the Greek city-states that had offered assistance. This marked the beginning of the first Persian invasion of Greece.
The invasion ended in defeat, despite Darius initially having the upper hand. The Persian expedition failed following a decisive Athenian victory at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC. Undeterred, Darius began planning a second invasion, intending to lead his troops personally. However, his plans were delayed by another revolt in Egypt.
Darius aimed to address both issues but passed away in 486 BC before resolving either one, leaving it to his successor to continue where he had left off.
We all know that Xerxes eventually became the new king of the Achaemenid Empire, but his path to the throne wasn’t without competition. Xerxes was not Darius's eldest son; however, he was the eldest born after Darius ascended to power and, more importantly, the son of Atossa, who carried the bloodline of Cyrus the Great.
Darius had three older sons from a previous marriage before becoming king. The eldest, Artabazanes, argued that he deserved to inherit the throne as the firstborn. Despite this, Darius chose Xerxes as his successor. In late 486 BC, Xerxes officially became the new king.
As soon as he was crowned, Xerxes faced the heavy burden of not only ruling the Persian Empire but also expanding it toward Greece. According to Herodotus, he launched one of the greatest military campaigns in history, assembling a massive army considered the largest and best-equipped of its time. Xerxes’s goal was clear: to complete the mission his father had left unfinished—the conquest of Greece.
First, Xerxes had to address several issues left unresolved by his father. One of the most pressing was suppressing a revolt in Egypt, which had arisen due to high taxes and the forced deportation of craftsmen to build the Persian royal palaces. In his first military campaign as king, Xerxes deployed a large army and successfully quelled the uprising by January 484 BC. Following this victory, he appointed his brother Achaemenes as the new satrap of Egypt.
Shortly after suppressing the Egyptian revolt, another uprising broke out in Babylon. Before these insurgencies, Babylon held a special status within the Persian Empire. Xerxes' predecessors even adopted the title "King of Babylon," signifying its unique position within the empire. However, Xerxes broke from tradition and severed the ties his father and grandfather had established with the Babylonians. Refusing to adopt the title "King of Babylon," he instead referred to himself as "King of the Persians and the Medes," subordinating all regions to his rule.
This shift in policy may have been a significant factor in the Babylonian revolts of 484 BC. Despite the unrest, Xerxes eventually conquered the city after a prolonged siege. As punishment, he ordered the destruction of Babylon's walls, damaged several of its temples, and melted down the golden statue of Marduk, a central figure in Babylonian religion.
Xerxes' campaigns in Greece
With the Persian Empire now relatively stable, Xerxes turned his attention to what his father had failed to accomplish: the conquest of Greece. He spent four years preparing and gathering a vast army, along with sufficient supplies and weapons. In the spring of 480 BC, Xerxes set out with a massive fleet and an army, which Herodotus estimated to number around a million men.
The Persian forces left Sardis and advanced toward the Thermopylae pass on the east coast. Xerxes played a key role in the Battle of Thermopylae as the leader of the Persian army. His decision to invade Greece and personally lead the campaign brought the Persian forces into mainland Greece. However, Xerxes greatly underestimated the determination and resilience of the Greek warriors at Thermopylae. This led him to send a large portion of his army to overwhelm the small Greek force, giving the Greeks, under the command of Leonidas I, a crucial opportunity to mount an effective resistance.
Although the Greek forces, led by Leonidas I of Sparta, displayed exceptional bravery and held off the Persians for three days, the Greek traitor Ephialtes revealed a secret passage to the Persians. This allowed them to outflank the Greeks and march toward Athens. However, by the time Xerxes reached the city, most Athenians had already fled to the nearby island of Salamis. Xerxes defeated a small group of Athenians who remained behind and then set the city on fire, reducing it to ruins.
Despite this victory, the Persians had achieved dominance over mainland Greece, but the war was far from over.
After several smaller skirmishes, the decisive battle took place in 479 BC near Plataea, on the border of Attica and Boeotia. A Greek army of around 30,000 soldiers faced twice as many Persian invaders. Despite their numerical advantage, the Persians were defeated and forced to retreat. This battle marked a turning point in the war, after which the main struggle shifted to the sea.
In 468 BC, Greek naval commander Cimon, son of Miltiades, delivered a crushing defeat to the Persian fleet near the Eurymedon River. After this defeat, the Persian fleet was no longer able to enter the Aegean Sea, and Xerxes’ plans of conquest were effectively ruined. The failures in the Greco-Persian Wars hastened the decline of Achaemenid power. The empire, weakened by these prolonged conflicts, was forced to focus on suppressing revolts in its various satrapies.
Xerxes' Personal Life
Written sources mention only one wife of the king. Amestris, the daughter of Otanes, gave birth to three sons. The eldest, named Darius in honor of his grandfather, was intended to succeed his father. The middle son, Hystaspes, later became the satrap of Bactria. Artaxerxes, the youngest, ascended the royal throne after the death of his father and older brother, ruling Persia from 465 to 424 BC.
The Persian king had three other sons: Artarius, who became the ruler of Babylon; Ratashah; and Tiphravst, as well as two daughters, Amytis and Rodoguna. Terrible legends circulated about the ruler’s love affairs, incestuous relationships, and intrigues at the royal court, one of which was recounted by Herodotus.
Herodotus recounts that Xerxes fell in love with the wife of Masistes but failed in all attempts to win her favor. To be closer to his sister-in-law, Xerxes married his son Darius to his niece Artaynte, the daughter of Masistes. However, Xerxes soon decided that he desired the daughter rather than the mother, and Artaynte became his lover. When Amestris heard the news, she sought revenge—not against Artaynte, strangely enough, but against her mother, the wife of Masistes. In Persia, it was customary for the king to grant all wishes asked of him on his birthday, so Amestris waited for that day to request Xerxes to have Masistes' wife killed. Following Amestris' orders, Masistes' wife was executed
How did Xerxes I die?
With no further prospects for expanding his empire, Xerxes chose to focus his time and resources on large-scale projects and monuments. He invested enormous amounts of money into even grander constructions than those built by his father, Darius. Xerxes also took charge of managing the roads across the empire, particularly the Royal Roads, which were used for sending messages and goods. He also focused on expanding key cities, such as Susa and Persepolis. While these efforts helped sustain the empire, they came at a great expense.
Following the heavy toll of the Persian campaign in Greece, Xerxes imposed steep taxes on his provinces and subjects to raise revenue for his projects. While this extensive taxation provided the necessary funds, it also had a profound impact on the empire's economy. Increased taxes and levies sparked unrest and bitterness among the people throughout the empire. The subjects, already financially burdened by the Persian incursion into Greece and now saddled with additional taxes to support Xerxes' projects, were far from happy. This widespread discontent may have contributed to the volatile political climate that ultimately led to Xerxes' assassination.
A devastating event shook the Achaemenid Empire in August 465 BC when Artabanus, the commander of the royal bodyguard and a prominent figure in the Persian Court, conspired to assassinate King Xerxes. The Greek historian Aristotle claimed that Artabanus first executed Xerxes' son Darius and then the king himself. When Artaxerxes, Xerxes' third son, discovered the murders of his father and brother, he executed Artabanus and his sons, reclaiming the throne.
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