Biography
Xerxes - the king of Persia and the pharaoh of Egypt, the most famous for conquering campaigns against Eldla. Most of the information about his biography reached our time thanks to the ancient Greek historians, in particular, the works of Ktesia of the Book, 17 years of those who lived in Persia. Also archaeologists were deciphered by 20 clinox inscriptions in Old West, Elam and Babylonian languages.
The Greeks rose Xerks, calling it weak and vain. Persian authors are given to the king as a wise ruler and a victorious warrior. Most contemporaries converge on the fact that the king was high, strong by body and hardy, which allowed him to endure military campaigns and leave numerous healthy offspring.
Childhood and youth
Xerxes, whose name is translated as "positive over heroes," was born in 520 BC According to the mother line, it was from Kira II of the Great, the founder of the Agemenid Empire. Xerxes was the eldest son of Atosts, the daughter of Kira II, and Darius I. From the six sons King Darius, gathering at the next trip, chose the heir to Kira.
The legal system of ancient Persia did not regulate strictly the procedure for the inheritance of the kingdom, and the transfer of power was usually accompanied by rebounds and steady. But in this case everything went calmly, the brothers agreed with his father's will, and in November 486 BC, after the death of Darius I, Xerxes I took the throne.
Governing body
The Empire got into the inheritance, the parts of which were striving to gain independence. During the rule of Darius, the uprising was broken in Egypt, which the young king was suppressed in 484 BC. Xerxes I taken out treasures from Egyptian temples, dealt with the local one who supported the rebellion of Psammetiha IV, and appointed a new governor of his brother Ahemen.
The Persian kings previously ruled by the Egyptians took along with the title of Pharaoh and the new name, but Xerxes canceled this tradition. To worship the gods of Egypt and listen to the advice of the priests, he also refused.
In the film of Noam Murro "300 Spartans: the heyday of the empire" of Xerxes made a living God that did not correspond to the historical truth. These are the Egyptians deified their pharaohs, and for the population of the Persia, their despot was the most powerful person, but not the deity.
However, to fight with the gods of Xerks had to. After suppressing the uprising in Babylon, the Army of the Persian Tsar took out the rebellious province from the capital to Persepol the Golden Statue of Marduk.
The destruction of the High idol of Babylon was not just part of the plundering of the city, but also the humiliation of the defeated. Persia's troops needed three years to suppress the rebellion, so after the victory, the king gave an order to destroy urban walls and defensive structures and to decease Babylonians to protect their deity.
Approve your power in the Empire, the king begins to prepare a conquest hiking in Greece. In 492, during a hike under the leadership of Darius I, the fleet of Persian commander Mardonia suffered from the storm off the coast of Afona, which was the reason for the retreat.
Xerxes decided the problem of a safe sea route to Greece, having ordered the channel across the peninsula. The width of the channel allowed simultaneously to move two trillas. A stationary bridge built a stationary bridge across the river, Gellespont was forced with pre-made pontoon bridges, the length of each of which was more than a kilometer.
In Frakia, protected fortified food warehouses were equipped. Diplomats of Persia led to work in friendly countries of Balkan Greece and Carthage. Consisting of autonomous cities-states of Elda did not rallinate in the face of a military threat.
The rulers of Argos and Fessaly took the direction of Persia, the residents of Crete and Kerkira pledged to comply with neutrality. Even in Athens, the propersidic sentiments were strong. The Union of States, ready to repulse in the invaders, was headed by Sparta. The Military Council decided to block the road to the land forces in Fermopil, and the fleet is at the Island of Evieya.
The position of Fermopil was a narrow road, spilled with rocks and sea, so it could be held with a relatively small number of people. The army of 6.5 thousand Greeks was headed by the Spartan Tsar Leonid I. The heroic opposition of the Spartans superior to the enemy's forces shakes in Epos and continues to inspire writers and filmcertarists.
After a plurality of small clashes, in 479 BC. NS. At the city of Platei, on the border of attic and booties, the thirty thousands of Greek army and twice the larger number of invaders met in the battle. Despite the numerical superiority, Persians were defeated and turned into flight. This battle reheated the course of the war, and later the fundamental struggle turned to the sea.
In 468 BC Greek fleet of Kimon, the son of Meltiad, broke the Persian fleet near the mouth of the Eurymedont River. After that, defeat, the Persian fleet did not go to the Aegean Sea, and the conquest plans of the Xerxes were doomed. Failures in the Greek-Persian wars accelerated the collapse of the powers of the achemenides. The center weakened by the war was forced to re-suppress methers of individual satrapy of the Empire.
Personal life
In writing sources included the name of only one king's wife. Amemrda, daughter of Midf, gave birth to her husband three sons. The eldest received the name Darius in honor of his grandfather and had to inherit his father. Middle Histscape later became the Bactria satrapa. Artaxerks, Jr., took the royal throne after the death of his father and her older brother and the Rules of Persion in 465-424 BC. NS.
The names of other women and concubines are not included in the story, but it is known that the Persian king had three more sons: Artarius, who became the ruler in Babylon, Ratasap and Tipravst, as well as two daughters - Amitis and Rodogun. On the love adventures of the ruler, bloodshots and intrigues at the royal yard went cruel legends, one of which was repaired Herodot.
Brother Kerks, Masist, was married to beauty, who did not respond to the relationship of the king. Wanting to get close to an impregnable woman, Xerxes married her son Darius on the daughter of Masyers. The young woman was as beautiful as the mother, but much less impregnable, and became the mistress of the king. The jealous Persian Queen Amest accused the Masist's wife.
On the birthday of her husband, the Queen scores himself as a gift the right to dispose of the life of the one who considered the chain of the challenges, Xerxes did not significantly objected: why did he need a woman neglecting the royal caresses? Amemard killed a rival with a special cruelty, and Xerxes offered his brother a new wife instead of the murdered.
In order to strengthen intrameal connections, it was planned to marry Masista on the royal daughter this time (his niece, respectively), but he refused and tried to escape to Bactria along with his sons. The warriors of the king caught up with the rebels on the way and killed.
Death
Xerxes lived to a pitched age - 54 years old, twenty of which the rules of the Persian power. If it were not for the struggle of competitors for power, would live a few more years. To the old age, the king was less energetic, he was inflicted under the influence of the head of his own Guard Artabana and Eunuch aspamitra. Farming, which happened in 467 BC. e., led to the famine in Persia. Bars empty, food prices increased by all, and the population of satrapy rebuilding.
For the year, Xerxes removed more than hundreds of officials from posts, but the guidance change did not save the situation. In August 465 BC NS. Artabah and Asphamitra, who King completely trusted (how much it is possible to trust courtesy), they agreed with the Artaxerxes, younger Tsarevich, and killed Xerx during a night rest in the palace. Babylonian, Egyptian and Greek sources retell this event in different versions.
One narrator claims that the conspirators acted on the direct director of Artaxerks and killed the king and his heir immediately. The author of another text believes that the eunuch and the head of the guard accused of murdering Cerks Daria, the Senior Tsarist Son, and Artaxerxes executed his brother on false accusation.
Memory
- 1962 - The film "300 Spartans"
- 1998 - Graphic Roman "300" Frank Miller and Lynn Varley
- 2006 - the film "300 Spartans"
- 2007 - Computer game 300: March to Glory
- 2011 - Canal Xerxes on the Halkidiki Peninsula declared an archaeological park
- 2014 - the film "300 Spartans: the flourishing of the empire"