What is the name of dariu's son?
Xerxes war Darius's son,
Xerxes I ruled from 485 - 465 B.C., presiding over ancient
Persia's decline from mighty power to fading empire. His father
Darius was defeated by the Greeks at the battle of Marathon (490
B.C.), and 10 years later Xerxes assembled a vast army to invade
Greece and avenge his father's defeat. (The best-known reports on
the invasion come from the historian Herodotus.) Xerxes crossed the
Hellespont (now called the Dardanelles) and methodically overran
Greece. He won a costly victory at Thermopylae -- the famous battle
which ended with 300 Spartan warriors defying the entire Persian
army in a last battle to the death -- and finally reached Athens
and sacked the deserted city. But the invasion ended in disaster
when the Persian navy was routed by the Greek fleet at Salamis (480
B.C.). Xerxes retreated to his palace in Persepolis, leaving behind
an occupying army which was defeated by the Greeks shortly
thereafter. Persia remained a formidable nation but Xerxes withdrew
from active life, devoting himself to what Herodotus called "the
intrigues of the harem." 15 years later Xerxes was stabbed to
death, probably by his subordinate Artabanus, and was succeeded by
his son Artaxerxes.
Xerxes is pronounced ZERK-seez... His life was the inspiration
for George Handle's 1738 opera Serse (or Xerxes)... One tale from
Herodotus has become particularly famous: after a storm on the
Hellespont delayed Xerxes from crossing into Greece, the
vainglorious king ordered that the waters of the Hellespont be
given 300 lashes and cursed as punishment... Xerxes' elite troops,
said to number 10,000 in all, were known as the Immortals... Xerxes
was also ruler of Egypt, the third ruler of that country's 27th
dynasty.