Xerxes I
Xerxes I(OP Khšāyaršā), son of Darius and Atossa, king of Persia 486–465 BC, chosen by his father as successor (Inscription of Xerxes I at Persepolis ll. 31ff.; Herodotus 7. 2–3). At the beginning of his reign he crushed a revolt in Egypt (Herodotus 7. 3) and later two rebellions in Babylon (see Babylonia). Plans for an expedition against Greece were inherited from Darius: for the course of the ‘Persian Wars’ see Greece (history). No Persian document mentions the expedition.
The more important palaces on the terrace of Persepolis were built in Xerxes' reign, including the Apadana with its impressive reliefs, illustrating the structure and the extent of the empire: king, court, and subject populations with their ethnographic characteristics. In the Daiva-inscription (Inscription of Xerxes I at Persepolis ll....
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