April
13
/ 2019
Xerxes I, also known as Xerxes the Great, was a 5th century Achaemenid king of the Persian empire. He is best known for leading the massive invasion of Greece, marked by the battles of Thermopylae, Salamis and Plataea. In modern popular culture, Xerxes is perhaps best known as the main antagonist in Frank Miller’s 300, a film based on the comic series of the same name. In these modern works, Xerxes, as ‘the other’, is portrayed, amongst other things, as effeminate, despotic, and decadent. In a way, these qualities serve to highlight the difference between Xerxes and his Greek adversaries, in particular the Spartan king who opposed him at Thermopylae, Leonidas. Such negative portrayals of Xerxes (and the Persians in
