XERXES.
 

XIPHILINUS.
 

 menes go rernor of Egypt.  The next four years

 wero  devoted to  preparations for the invasion

 of Greece.  In the spring of 480 he set out from

 Sardis on his  memorable expedition  against

 Greece.  He crossed this Hellespont by a bridge

 of boats, and continued his march through the

 Thracian  Chersonese till he reached the plain

 of Doriscus, which is  traversed by the River

 Hebrus.  Here he resolved to number both his

 land and naval forces.  Herodotus has left us a

 most minute and interesting catalogue of the

 nations comprising this mighty army, with their

 various military equipments and different modes

 of fighting.  The land forces contained forty-

 six nations.   (Herod., vii.,  61, foil.)    In his

 march through Thrace  and Macedonia,  Xerxes

 received  a still further accession  of strength ;

 and when he reached Thermopylae, the land and

 sea forces amounted to  two million, six hundred

 and forty-one thousand, six hundred  and ten

 fighting men.   This does not  include  the at¬

 tendants,  the slaves, the crews ofthe provision-

 ships, &c, which, according to the supposition

 of Herodotus, were more in number than the

 fighting men; but, supposing  them to have been

 equal, the total number of male  persons who

 accompanied Xerxes to Thermopylae reach the

 astounding sum  of five million, two hundred

 and  eighty-three  thousand,  two hundred and

 twenty!  Such a vast number must  be dis¬

 missed as incredible ; but, considering that this

 army  was the result of a maximum of effort

 throughout the empire, and that provisions had

 been collected for three years before along the

 line  of march, we  may well believe that the

 numbers of Xerxes were greater than were ever

 assembled in ancient times,  or  perhaps at any

 known epoch of history.  After the review of

 Doriscus, Xerxes continued his march through

 Thrace.  On reaching Acanthus, near the isth¬

 mus of Athos, Xerxes  left his fleet, which re¬

 ceived orders to sail through the canal that had

 been previously dug across  the isthmus—and

 of which  the  remains are  still  visible (vid.

 Athos)—and await his arrival at Therme, aft¬

 erward called Thessalonica.   After joining his

 fleet at Therme, Xerxes marched through Mac¬

 edonia and Thessaly without meeting with any

 opposition till he reached Thermopylae. Here

 the  Greeks resolved to make a stand.   Leoni¬

 das, king of Sparta, conducted a land force to

 Thermopylae ;  and his colleague Eurybiades

 sailed with the Greek fleet to the north of Eu¬

 bcea, and took up his position on  the northern

 coast, which faced Magnesia, and was called

 Artemisium from the  temple of Artemis be¬

 longing to the town of Hestiaea.  Xerxes  ar¬

 rived in safety with his land forces before Ther¬

 mopylae, but his  fleet was overtaken by a vio¬

 lent storm and hurricane off the coast of Sepias

 in Magnesia,  by  which at least four hundred

■ ships of war were destroyed, as well as an im¬

 mense number of transports.  Xerxes attempt¬

 ed to force his way through the Pass of Ther¬

 mopylae, but his troops were repulsed again and

 again by Leonidas;  till a Malian, of the name

 of Ephialtes, showed the Persians a pass over

 the mountains of QUta, and  thus  enabled them

 to fall on the rear of the Greeks.   Leonidas and

 »is Spartans disdained  to fly, and were all slain.

 Vid. Leonidas.  On the same  days  on which

          948
 

Leonidas was fighting with the land forces of

Xerxes, ths Greek ships at Artemisium attack.

ed the Persian fleet.   In  the first battle the

Greeks had the advantage, and in the following

night the Persian ships suffered still more from

a violent storm.  Two days afterward the con¬

test was renewed, and both sides fought with

the greatest courage.  Although the Greeks at

the close still maintained their position, and had

destroyed a great number ofthe enemy's ships,

yet their own loss was considerable, and half

the Athenian ships were disabled.  Under these

circumstances, the Greek commanders aban

doned Artemisium and retired to Salamis, oppo

site the southwest coast of Attiea.  It was now

too late to send an army into Bceotia, and Attica

thus  lay exposed to the full vengeance of the.

invader.  The Athenians removed their worn

en, children,  and infirm persons  to  Salamis.

iEgina, and Trcezen.  Meantime Xerxes march

ed through Phocis and  Bceotia, and at  length

reached Athens.  About the  same  time  that

Xerxes entered Athens,  his fleet arrived in the

bay of Phalerum.  He now resolved upon an

engagement with the Greek fleet.   The history

of this memorable battle, of the previous dis¬

sensions among the Greek commanders, and of

the glorious victory of the Greeks at the last,

is related elsewhere. Vid. Themistocles. Xerx

es witnessed the battle from a lofty seat, which

was  erected for him on the shores of the main

land, on one of the declivities of Mount iEga-

lecs, and thus beheld with his own eyes the de¬

feat  and dispersion  of his  mighty armament.

Xerxes now became alarmed for his own safe¬

ty, and resolved to leave Greece  immediately.

He was confirmed in his resolution by Mardo¬

nius, who undertook to complete the conquest

with three hundred  thousand of his troops.

Xerxes  left Mardonius  the number of troops

which he requested, and with the remaindei

set out  on his march homeward.   He reached

the Hellespont in forty-five  days from the time

of his departure from Attica.  On  arriving at

the Hellespont, he found the bridge of boats de¬

stroyed by a storm, and he crossed over to Asia

by ship.  He entered Sardis toward the  end of

the year 480.  In the following year, 479, the

war  was continued in Greece; but Mardonius

was defeated at Plataeae  by the combined forces

of the Greeks, and on  the same day another

victory was gained over the Persians at My¬

cale in Ionia.  Next year, 478, the Persians lost

their last possession  in  Europe by the capture

of Sestos on the Hellespont.  Thus the strug¬

gle was virtually brought to an end, though the

war  still continued for several years longer.

We know little more ofthe personal history of

Xerxes.  He was murdered in 465, after a reign

of twenty years, by Artabanus, who aspired to

become king of Persia.  Xerxes was succesd

ed by his son Artaxerxes I.—II. The only le¬

gitimate son of Artaxerxes I.,  succeeded hi?

father as King of Persia in 425, but was mur¬

dered after a short reign of only two months by

his half-brother  Sogdianus, who thus became

king.

   Xiphilinus (BicjriXlvog),  of Trapezus, was

monk at Constantinople, and made an abridg¬

ment of Dion Cassius from the thirty sixth to

the eightieth book  at the conamard of the Em