Xerxes I: Daiva Inscription

Xerxes I (r. 486–465 BCE) was king of the Persian Empire when it suffered defeat against the Hellenic coalition in the Graeco-Persian wars (480–479 BCE). His twenty-year reign is known because of Greek sources (mainly Herodotus), Jewish tradition (e.g., the book of Esther), cuneiform texts in Akkadian, and various Persian inscriptions. Xerxes succeeded his father, Darius I, continuing his interest in expanding into Greece. He first had to deal with rebellions in Egypt (486–485 BCE) and Babylonia (ca. 481 BCE). Herodotus recounts his spectacular invasion of Greece and subsequent disastrous and total defeat on land and at sea. In fact, the Greeks followed up with a revolt against Persian rule in several Aegean islands and succeeded in another Athenian naval victory against Persia in Pamphylia in Asia Minor (466 BCE). Xerxes was murdered along with his crown prince, Darius, in a palace revolt in 465 BCE.