A BLUE Alie & KOLLECTOR Collaboration - Sovreign curated collabs ( artist profile on x : @QuantumARTglmts ) Description : Hand sculpted from clay & kiln fired at Terre & Feu Paris 14e (where Matisse sculpted in the late 1890s)
XERXES I
(Old Persian: Xšayāršā; Greek: Xerxes) was the fourth king of the Achaemenid Empire, ruling from 486 to 465 BCE. He was the son of Darius the Great and the grandson of Cyrus the Great. Under his reign, the Persian Empire remained one of the largest and most powerful empires in the ancient world.
Xerxes is best known for his massive military campaign against Greece. Seeking to complete his father's unfinished mission after the Persian defeat at the Battle of Marathon, he assembled a vast multinational army and navy. To support the invasion, he ordered the construction of two pontoon bridges across the Hellespont (modern-day Dardanelles) and the excavation of a canal near Mount Athos, remarkable engineering achievements for their time.
His campaign included several famous battles:
Battle of Thermopylae (480 BCE): Persian forces defeated the Greek defenders led by King Leonidas after a fierce stand.
Capture of Athens: Persian troops occupied and burned much of the city after its evacuation.
Battle of Salamis: The Persian navy suffered a decisive defeat against the Greek fleet, forcing Xerxes to withdraw most of his army back to Persia. The remaining Persian forces were defeated the following year at the Battle of Plataea.
Although remembered primarily as a military ruler, Xerxes also continued major construction projects begun by his father. He expanded the ceremonial capital of Persepolis, completing magnificent palaces, halls, and reliefs that remain among the greatest examples of Achaemenid architecture.
In 465 BCE, Xerxes was assassinated in a palace conspiracy led by Artabanus, the commander of the royal bodyguard. He was succeeded by his son, Artaxerxes I.
Today, Xerxes is often portrayed in popular culture—especially in the film ‘300’—as a larger-than-life and almost mythical figure. However, historians generally agree that these portrayals are highly fictionalized and differ significantly from historical evidence.
