Xerxes The Great, 'Ahasuerus' Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Xerxes The Great, 'Ahasuerus' - Essay Example It is often presented as a truism that the winners write the history books. But when the subject is a figure of controversy, with both dark and light sides, it is often difficult to really see what happened in a way that highlights veracity. Looking at Xerxes I of Persia, one faces such a situation. On the one hand, Xerxes’ invasion of Greece was massive in scale, represented ingenious engineering, and resulted in the fruition of the goal of its general: a victory at Thermopylae, and the capture of Athens. On the other hand, taking Athens was essentially Xerxes’ last successful move: he faced nothing but a series of embarrassing defeats afterwards, and after the withdrawal of forces from Greece, was treated very harshly by Greek historians. The basic assumption of the current research investigation is that Xerxes, leading the Persian army after Thermopylae, represents a different and more unstable sort of commander than Xerxes before this seminal battle: after burning A thens, Xerxes seems to make nothing but poor strategic decisions. Up until his eventual murder in a court intrigue, when he was essentially disgraced as a general, and was focusing mainly on building projects, Xerxes showed a slippage of rationality and good judgment, along with an increasing inability to take counsel from his advisors and military planners.