Xerxes I
Xerxes: Achaemenid king of the Persian Empire, ruled from 486 to 465.
Relatives:
- Father: Darius I the Great
- Mother: Atossa
- Wife: Amestris
- Sons: Darius, Artaxerxes, Hystaspes, Achaemenes
- Daughters: Amytis (married to Megabyzus)
Main deeds
- Accession between 17 November and 1 December 486
- 484: Suppression of the revolts of Šamaš-eriba and Bêl-šimânni in Babylonia and a rebellion in Egypt
- 481: in Sardes
- 480: Greek war: victories at Thermopylae and Artemisium, sack of Athens, setback at Salamis
- 480/479: in Sardes (probably to keep an eye on unquiet Babylon)
- 479: Mardonius defeated at Plataea
- On his return from the west, Xerxes captures Babylon again (?)
- 8 March 473: Date of Esther and Mordecai's saving of the Jews, according to the Biblical book of Esther
- Murdered between 4 and 8 August 465
Sources
- Gandj Nameh: XE
- Ecbatana: XH
- Halicarnassus: vase
- Persepolis: XPa, XPb, XPc, XPd, XPe, XPf ("harem inscription"), XPg, XPh ("daiva inscription"), XPi, XPj, XPk, XPl, XPm
- Susa: XSa, XSb, XSc, XSd, XSe
- Van: XV
- Aeschylus, The Persians
- Diodorus of Sicily, Library of World History, Book 11
- Herodotus of Halicarnassus, Histories, especially books 7-9
- Esther
Buildings
- Naqš-i Rustam: Tomb 4 (?)
- Persepolis: Completion of Palace of Darius, north stairs of Apadana,Gate and Stairs of All Nations, Palace of Xerxes,Harem, Southern Buildings, Tripylon
Succeeded by: Artaxerxes I Makrocheir