Khshyarsha I
Khshayarsha, son of Darayavaush, took the throne after Darayavaush's death in 485BC. He quickly put down a revolt in Egypt. While preparing to invade Greece, Babylon revolted. Subsequently he put down that revolt as well. Here the Greco-Persian wars are again misconstrued to epic proportions. The Persian forces easily took Thessaly. At the battle of Artemisium the Greek navy was decisively defeated. Prior to this many Persian ships had been sunk in a storm so the Greeks felt it was a good time to attack. At first Greece had some success against individual units, but when the Persian forces came full force the Greeks were crushed. At about the same time the Persians won the battle of Thermopylae. Herodotus tries to play up the Greek side, claiming the Spartans held their own and managed for a long time. In reality the Spartans were most likely annihilated easily. The Persians moved on conquer the abandoned Athens. The city was burned and looted. Later the Persians were defeated at Salamis. This was not as extreme and humiliating as Greeks like Herodotus portrays. In reality the Persians would have lost only between one-sixth and one-fourth of their navy. However, the Greeks had done enough damage to leave the Persian supply lines unprotected. Thus the Persians could not reinforce their forces which led the way for the Greek victory at Plataea. However Khshayarsha rightfully took claim to having conquered the Greeks. This ended as many Persian forces had to be pulled out to control a revolt in Babylon. Meanwhile the Greeks united. At Plataea the Persians repelled the first wave of Greek attackers. However they overcommitted on the counter-offensive and were defeated by the Greeks, forcing the Persian retreat. After this Greece was to regain some of Ionia and continue as a pestering problem for the Persians. However the Persian would eventually dominate and suppress the Greeks not through further conquest but through intelligent political tactics.
Not much is known of Khshayarsha after this. He is believed to have sponsored numerous expeditions and added another palace to Parsa (Persepolis). He was eventually killed by his vizier Artapana who had his own political ambitions. Khshayarsha was succeed by his son Artakhshathra who killed Artapana.
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