Xerxes' Greek Adventure

Xerxes' Greek Adventure PDF

Author: H.T. Wallinga

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2017-07-31

Total Pages: 193

ISBN-13: 9047406540

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This volume provides a new analysis of the Greek traditions with regard to Xerxes' expedition, offering novel views on the naval factors influencing Persian policies, on Persian naval strength, on the operations culminating in the battle of Salamis, and on the battle itself.

Xerxes Invades Greece

Xerxes Invades Greece PDF

Author: Herodotus

Publisher: Penguin UK

Published: 2006-05-04

Total Pages: 92

ISBN-13: 0141963816

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A king who would be worshipped as a god... When Xerxes, King of Persia, crosses the Hellespont at the head of a formidable army, it seems inevitable that Greece will be crushed beneath its might. But the Greeks are far harder to defeat than he could ever have imagined. As storms lash the Persian ships, and sinister omens predict a cruel fate for the expedition, Xerxes strives onward, certain his enemies will accept him as their king. But as he soon discovers, the Greeks will sacrifice anything, even their lives, to keep their liberty...

Xerxes

Xerxes PDF

Author: Jacob Abbott

Publisher: Good Press

Published: 2019-11-26

Total Pages: 239

ISBN-13:

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Xerxes is a historical biography by Jacob Abbott. Xerxes I, generally known as Xerxes the Great, was the fourth King of the Achaemenid Empire in modern day Persia, ruling from 486 to 465 BC. Excerpt: "As the Pass of Thermopylæ was now in Xerxes's possession, the way was open before him to all that portion of the great territory which lay north of the Peloponnesus. Of course, before [Pg 225]he could enter the peninsula itself, he must pass the Isthmus of Corinth, where he might, perhaps, encounter some concentrated resistance. North of the isthmus, however, there was no place where the Greeks could make a stand. The country was all open, or, rather, there were a thousand ways open through the various valleys and glens, and along the banks of the rivers. All that was necessary was to procure guides and proceed."

Imagining Xerxes

Imagining Xerxes PDF

Author: Emma Bridges

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2014-11-20

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 1472511379

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Xerxes, the Persian king who invaded Greece in 480 BC, quickly earned a notoriety that endured throughout antiquity and beyond. The Greeks' historical encounter with this eastern king – which resulted, against overwhelming odds, in the defeat of the Persian army – has inspired a series of literary responses to Xerxes in which he is variously portrayed as the archetypal destructive and enslaving aggressor, as the epitome of arrogance and impiety, or as a figure synonymous with the exoticism and luxury of the Persian court. Imagining Xerxes is a transhistorical analysis that explores the richness and variety of Xerxes' afterlives within the ancient literary tradition. It examines the earliest representations of the king, in Aeschylus' tragic play Persians and Herodotus' historiographical account of the Persian Wars, before tracing the ways in which the image of Xerxes was revisited and adapted in later Greek and Latin texts. The author also looks beyond the Hellenocentric viewpoint to consider the construction of Xerxes' image in the Persian epigraphic record and the alternative perspectives on the king found in the Jewish written tradition. Analysing these diverse representations of Xerxes, this title explores the reception of a key figure in the ancient world and the reinvention of his image in a remarkable array of cultural and historical contexts.

Persia Triumphant in Greece

Persia Triumphant in Greece PDF

Author: Manousos E. Kambouris

Publisher: Pen and Sword Military

Published: 2022-07-20

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 1399097784

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This is the epic story of the Great Persian War of 481-479 BC, the major land and sea Persian invasion of Greece under Xerxes. Starting from the Persian decision to avenge the outrage caused to imperial prestige by the battle of Marathon, this book details the policy, diplomacy and religion as they intermingle with matters of strategy and tactics. It includes detailed coverage of the legendary Battle of Thermopylae, immortalized in literature and film as the ultimate defiant last stand. There is similarly in-depth coverage, in terms of events, tactics, methods and intentions, afforded to the relatively unknown sea battles off Cape Artemisium, only recently dramatized for the Big Screen; a naval engagement that primed the Battle of Salamis. Special attention has been paid to the events following these two battles, leading to the bloody conquest of Athens and the implementation of vengeance by the Persian Empire, which for a brief time stood triumphant, victorious and awesome as never before, but also sowed the seeds of eventual defeat.

Great Naval Battles of the Ancient Greek World

Great Naval Battles of the Ancient Greek World PDF

Author: Owen Rees

Publisher: Casemate Publishers

Published: 2018-12-31

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 1473889847

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Naval warfare is the unsung hero of ancient Greek military history, often overshadowed by the more glorified land battles. Owen Rees looks to redress the balance, giving naval battles their due attention. This book presents a selection of thirteen naval battles that span a defining century in ancient Greek history, from the Ionian Revolt and Persian Invasion to the rise of external naval powers in the Mediterranean Sea, such as the Carthaginians.Each battle is set in context. The background, wider military campaigns, and the opposing forces are discussed, followed by a narrative and analysis of the fighting. Finally, the aftermath of the battles are dealt with, looking at the strategic implications of the outcome for both the victor and the defeated. The battle narratives are supported by maps and tactical diagrams, showing the deployment of the fleets and the wider geographical factors involved in battle. Written in an accessible tone, this book successfully shows that Greek naval warfare did not start and end at the battle of Salamis.

Herodotus and the topography of Xerxes’ invasion

Herodotus and the topography of Xerxes’ invasion PDF

Author: Jan Zacharias Van Rookhuijzen

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2018-11-19

Total Pages: 389

ISBN-13: 3110611511

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In his Histories, Herodotus of Halicarnassus gave an account of Xerxes’ invasion of Greece (480 BCE). Among the information in this work features a rich topography of the places visited by the army, as well as of the battlefields. Apparently there existed a certain demand among the Greeks to behold the exact places where they believed that the Greeks had fallen, gods had appeared, or Xerxes had watched over his men. This book argues that Herodotus’ topography, long taken at face value as if it provided unambiguous access to the historical sites of the war, may partly be a product of Greek imagination in the approximately fifty years between the Xerxes’ invasion and its publication, with the landscape functioning as a catalyst. This innovative approach leads to a new understanding of the topography of the invasion, and of the ways in which Greeks in the late fifth century BCE understood the world around them. It also prompts new suggestions about the real-world locations of various places mentioned in Herodotus’ text.

Athens Burning

Athens Burning PDF

Author: Robert Garland

Publisher: JHU Press

Published: 2017-02-05

Total Pages: 184

ISBN-13: 1421421976

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“A fresh approach to the Greco-Persian wars focusing on Athens’s evacuation, Persian occupation, and rebuilding . . . [a] compelling book.” —John O. Hyland, Christopher Newport University Winner of the Choice Outstanding Academic Title Between June 480 and August 479 BC, tens of thousands of Athenians evacuated, following King Xerxes’ victory at the Battle of Thermopylae. Abandoning their homes and ancestral tombs in the wake of the invading Persian army, they sought refuge abroad. During this difficult year of exile, the city of Athens was set on fire not once, but twice. In Athens Burning, Robert Garland explores the reasons behind the decision to abandon Attica, the peninsular region of Greece that includes Athens, while analyzing the consequences, both material and psychological, of the resulting invasion. Taking its inspiration from the sufferings of civilians, Athens Burning also works to dispel the image of the Persians as ruthless barbarians. Addressing questions that are largely ignored in other accounts of the conflict, including how the evacuation was organized and what kind of facilities were available to the refugees along the way, Garland demonstrates the relevance of ancient history to the contemporary world. This compelling story is especially resonant in a time when the news is filled with the suffering of nearly 5 million people driven by civil war from their homes in Syria. Aimed at students and scholars of ancient history, this highly accessible book will also fascinate anyone interested in the burgeoning fields of refugee and diaspora studies. “The fullest account of the Persian sack of Athens in September 480 and in June 479 BCE available in English.” —Canadian Journal of History