Read the underlying article to know about the first invasion of Greece by the Persian King Xersis. Hope the material will prove to be useful for you.

About 2 years back an excellent movie titled '300' did the rounds in India. It was also dubbed in Hindi and did good business not only in India but all over the world. This movie depicted the brave stand of the Spartans numbering just 300 against a Persian Army led the great king Xersis in 480 BC.

The figures of the strength of the Spartan force cannot be verified, but all historians like Herodotus from ancient times and Victor Davis Hanson ( author of Wars of the ancient Greeks ) have concluded that the Spartan force that faced the Persian army was very small in numbers compared to the Persian Army which by all accounts numbered over 100,000. The battle is purported to have taken place at Thermopylae.

The Earlier battle
The stage for the battle was set 10 years earlier in 490 BC. This was the age when the Persian King first attempted an invasion of Greece. Xersis is recognized as one of the great kings of central Asia.

And he followed the Zoaraster religion. Islam at that time had not made a foray in Persia. Xersis had already conquered the entire Persia and his empire had reached the inhospitable regions of Afghanistan in the East and in the west he had taken control of modern Turkey as well.

He was informed of the progress of the city states of Greece and he resolved to extend his rule over them. He was convinced that his massive army would over run the Greeks, but now in hindsight we can see that he at that time made a great miscalculation,

Xersis advanced on Greece and at the battle of Marathon in 490 BC the army of Xersis was defeated by the Greeks. The Greeks carried the day because of greater determination while the army of Xersis was to a degree complacent and thus suffered defeat. Xersis had to retreat and he licked his wounds and bided his time.

Madan G Singh

An early retired Gp Capt from Air Force who is an Executive Director in the Corporate world. Loves to write fiction and articles. Published over 60 short stories and his novel" Romance of the Frontier" is published from Notion Books.His second novel is on way for publication. The author also has close to 10,000 articles on the b net with millions of views

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