Makers of History
XERXES

By Jacob Abbott

Illustrated

Published By Harper & Brothers
New York and London
1878
The title-page is undated; the last copyright date stated is 1878.
Hardcover.
Red cloth binding.
5" x 6.75"
302 pages.

The history of Xerxes by Jacob Abbott (1803-1879).

8 Illustrations and Maps , including Portrait of Xerxes , Map of Persian Empire , Pheron in Egypt , Map of Greece , Xerxes at the Hellespont , the Death of the Persian Ambassadors at Sparta ( thrown into a well , as seen in the film " 300 "), the Citadel at Athens , Return of Xerxes to Persia

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Xerxes I of Persia (B.C. 518-465) was the fourth king of kings of the Achaemenid Empire. He ruled from 486 BC until his assassination in 465 BC at the hands of Artabanus, the commander of the royal bodyguard.

Xerxes I is most likely the Persian king identified as Ahasuerus in the Bible ( Book of Esther ).
He is notable in Western history for his invasion of Greece in the year 480 BC. Like his predecessor Darius I, he ruled the empire at its territorial apex, although Xerxes I would briefly manage to conquer even more land of mainland Greece than Darius I through the battles at Thermopylae and Artemisium, overrunning Attica, Boeotia, Euboea, Thessaly, and the rest of mainland Greece to the north of the Isthmus of Corinth.
After a first attempt to build a bridge in the Dardanelles failed, Xerxes is remembered for angrily commanding that the sea itself be whipped and chained in revenge.


This book includes an account of the famous Battle of Thermopylae.
The Battle of Thermopylae was fought in 480 BC at a narrow mountain pass ( the " Hot Gates ") in Greece; an alliance of Greek city-states led by the Spartan King Leonidas I against the invading Persian Empire under King Xerxes I.
7,000 allied Greeks (including King Leonidas and his 300 elite Spartan bodyguards, 700 Thespians, and 400 Thebans ) versus a massive Persian force. Estimates of the Persian forces vary; at least 50,000-75,000 and perhaps as many as 250,000 or more troops.

The Greeks used the narrow geographic pass, a choke point known as The Hot Gates, to turn back repeated frontal assaults by Persian infantry, including the elite Persian " Immortals ", rendering numerical superiority useless.
On the second night, however, a local resident named Ephialtes showed the Persians a mountain trail that bypassed the Greek guard defending the Hot Gates.
Learning they were flanked on day three, King Leonidas sent the bulk of the Greek army away to survive. Leonidas himself stayed behind with the 300 Spartans, 700 Thespians, and 400 Thebans to fight to the death and cover the retreat.
Leonidas and the Greek defenders fought valiantly, but surrounded, vastly outnumbered, and attacked from both front and behind, they were eventually overcome. All died on the battlefield, including the king.
When Xerxes at last found the slain Leonidas, he exulted, had the corpse decapitated, and hung the dead king's headless body on a cross for all to see.
Xerxes then commanded that all but one thousand of the Persian dead be quickly buried, to hide the shame of the slaughter inflicted upon them by the Greeks. Estimates vary, but the Greeks had killed Persians at a rate of something like 20 to 1.
To give the impression that the fight had been more "even", Xerxes, who had loyalty to neither fact nor truth, left just 1,000 Persian dead unburied on the battlefield, of the roughly 20,000 which Leonidas and the Greeks had actually killed.

Xerxes did his best to hide the Persian mass grave, then marched on into Greece.

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The Contents:

I. The Mother of Xerxes

II. Egypt and Greece

III. Debate on the proposed Invasion of Greece

IV. Preparations for the Invasion of Greece

V. Crossing the Hellespont

VI. Review of the Army at Dorsicus

VII. Preparations for the Greek Defense

VIII. Advance of Xerxes into Greece

IX. Battle of Thermopylae
( with the famous King Leonidas of Sparta and the 300 Spartan warriors who defended the narrow pass )

X. The Burning of Athens

XI. Battle of Salamis

XII. The Return to Persia

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Good Condition
Light wear to the binding, a little fraying at the head of the spine.
( see the photos )
The hinges are tight.
No markings.
No writing.
A couple of pages have a small tear at the outer edge ( less than 1" ).
The pages are otherwise in very good condition.

Carefully packed for shipment to the buyer.