Family Background and status Xerxes was born a royal prince and would have had all the respect and prestige associated with his status. He was not the eldest son of King Darius I. Darius had three sons by another wife whilst he was still but a lord. For Darius to strengthen his calm to the Persian throne‚ Darius married Atossa ‚ the daughter of Cyrus the Great. Xerxes was the eldest son of this union. This made Xerxes the son of the king‚ grandson of the founder of the empire and the son with the
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Xerxes Debate – Prosecution Building Programs * Economic decline was related to his excessive building programs. * Even though his building programs were impressive he neglected other parts of the empire. * Olmstead: “Xerxes was more interested in completing the magnificent structures begun by his father than he was in testing the formidable military machine.” * Josef Wieshofer: Persepolis was one of his “favourite past times”‚ was “hardly independent” of Darius’ style‚ was an
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sources present differing views of Xerxes. It’s difficult to make a judgment of Xerxes character and effectiveness as a King since there is a bias in a majority of these sources. Ancient Persian Ancient Persian sources are mostly inscriptions and reliefs found in Persepolis though there are also inscriptions found in other parts of the Persian Empire. An example are the Daiva inscriptions “A great god is Ahuramazda‚ who created this earth … who made Xerxes king‚ one king of many‚ one lord of
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Xerxes succession to the throne after his father‚ Darius‚ was not straightforward as many factors surrounding hi succession of the Persian kingship from Darius influenced xerxes succession. During the time Darius was king he had other children outside his marriage to Atossa. As Artabazanes was Darius’ eldest son‚ he had appeared to be named as Darius’ successor in 507BC. Quarrels over the succession of the new king erupted between followers of Xerxes and Artabazanes. Artabazanes claimed that he
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Xerxes lived from 520 to 465BC. He was the grandson of Cyrus and son of Darius. Xerxes was put into succession according to the ancient Greek historian Herodotus‚ as Xerxes was the first son of Darius’s wife Atossa. Xerxes father Darius 1 died in 486BC‚ and this is where Xerxes took over for his father and became king. Xerxes continued his father strategy of consolidating and tightening control of the empire‚ particularly in Egypt‚ Babylon and Asiatic Greece. Xerxes felt he needed to invade Greece
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his son Xerxes comes to power‚ to take his father’s place and rule the vast empire of Persia. What makes the rise to prominence of Xerxes so controversial is that Xerxes is the third born son of Darius which would normally name him third in line in competition with his two older brothers. So why was the third born son Xerxes chosen over the others to reign King? Two theories can be retrieved from this mystery‚ was it that Xerxes had a direct blood link to Cyrus the Great? Or was it that Xerxes was first
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Darius I & Themistocle were 2 of many people who played a sig. role in Xerxes’ reign. Themistocles was known as the great Athenian strategist who united the Greekstates & saved Greece. Darius the 1st was the father & predecessor of Xerxes‚ he played the role of being the most influential person to Xerxes & believed Xerxes was the most deserving to become his heir. Herodotus records that the Persians accounted Darius a ‘merchant’ for his great achievements on setting the empire onto a sound
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that the administrative basis of the Persian Empire was introduced by Cyrus the Great‚ where it was later revised and stabilised by Darius I around 519BC. According to Herodotus‚ Xerxes had inherited his father Darius’ perfected system of satrapies‚ satraps and economic and communications improvements which enabled Xerxes to continue the running of the Achaemenid empire. Modern historian Bury states that the administration of the empire included all the important aspects of life‚ such as; military
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How did Xerxes deal wit the revolts in the Persian Empire? One of the great challenges faced by Xerxes during his time as ruler of the Persian Empire‚ was the method by which the revolts in both Egypt and Babylon would be dealt with. Essentially‚ he dealt with the revolts in two different ways; firstly using his military force to quickly and decisively quell the revolts; which were followed by either political or administrative reforms (or a combination of both). These methods reflected his ability
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Speech as Xerxes Greetings‚ subjects. My reign was sufficient and completely beneficial to the Persian society‚ I deserve this power as even Herodetus the Greek writer said with “among all these immense numbers there was not a man who‚ for stature and noble bearing‚ was more worthy than Xerxes to wield so vast a power. I deserved to take the throne‚ and it was Ahuramazda’s will. Other sons of Darius there were‚ but thus unto Ahura-Mazda was the desire – Darius my father made me the greatest after
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