Greek and Persian Wars | Xerxes Prepares for War (Lecture 6)

Lecture 6: Darius died before he could complete his mission to punish Athens, and the task fell to his son and successor, Xerxes. For his invasion of Greece, Xerxes planned a strategy of shock and awe that would harness the enormous power and resources of the Persian king to terrify the Greeks into submission. In 483 B.C., Xerxes used his empire’s engineering skills to dig a canal across the Mount Athos peninsula and build pontoon bridges across the Hellespont so that his grand armada could enter Greek waters without having to round the peninsula’s dangerous tip. To the Greeks, such re-engineering of nature was an act of hubris, violent arrogance, for which the Persians would earn the enmity of the gods. In 481 B.C., accompanied by an army of men from every satrapy in the Persian Empire—the largest force ever assembled in the ancient world—Xerxes set out for Sardis.

Recommended Reading:
Burn, Persia and the Greeks: The Defense of the West, c. 546–478 B.C.
Farrokh, Shadows in the Desert: Ancient Persia at War.