He’s the Ahasuerus of Esther, and is otherwise passed over in silence in the Hebrew Bible. He’s the ultimate bad guy of Herodotus’ Histories. You’d think we’d know a lot about the Achaemenid Persian king we call Xerxes, but there is much to be desired.

Richard Stoneman does the best he can with the resources available in Xerxes: A Persian Life. He has a great handle on the relevant resources available in Greek and the current state of archaeology. In this work he even strains by using far later Iranian tales, which in whatever details they perhaps retain about Xerxes, are garbled and intermixed with stories of later Parthian and perhaps even Sassanid kings, as well as later operas and plays written by Greeks and Europeans.

Xerxes is as much a biography of the Persian Empire as it is a story about Xerxes himself. The author well framed the life of Xerxes in terms of how his father Darius ascended to the throne and Darius’ adventures against the Scythians and the Greeks. The author suggests Xerxes was constantly haunted by the specter of his father and keeping up the family legacy.

The author considered what could be known of life in the Persian court and how Xerxes would have conducted himself within it. The author uses Herodotus’ narrative in order to set forth Xerxes’ campaign against the Greeks and tries his best to imagine the situation according to Xerxes’ perspective. It would be impossible to consider the Greek campaign an unmitigated success, and its failings may have bedeviled Xerxes for the rest of his life; but it was not a complete failure, for many people did submit to him, and he was able to destroy Athens.

The author shows how Xerxes otherwise seemed to invest his time and efforts in a major building program at Persepolis, which proves quite difficult to consider since the Greek records suggest Alexander the Great very specifically targeted the parts of Persepolis built by Xerxes for destruction.

Xerxes’ home life is considered as well as the assassination plot which led to his death. You’d think much more would be recorded about such a great and influential king. And yet we seem to know more about many kings before and after Xerxes than Xerxes himself.

While the author casts aspersions on the historical legitimacy of the book of Esther for many not insignificant reasons, ironically, it would seem the author of the book of Esther might well have best captured the personality and spirit of Xerxes and his court. He was a man who got whatever he wanted, for better or for worse, and who could be easily directed for all kinds of ends. His biggest mistake was his biggest exploit, making himself the ultimate enemy of the Greeks, leading to the erasure of most of his legacy.

Xerxes ascended to the throne without drama, and despite his assassination, the throne passed relatively smoothly to his son Artaxerxes (I). It was not much, but it was something. And we are all left to consider how such aspirations to greatness could lead to such vanity and futility.

My knowledge of Xerxes is limited to the story of Leonidas and his brave 300 soldiers. Since there's always two sides to the same story, I wanted to know more about Xerxes beyond that moment in history, so when I saw this book on Netgalley I knew I had to read it.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. The author didn't stop at talking just about the famous ruler, though, instead choosing to present the Persian Empire and some of the customs, their lifestyle, religion. I got to learn things I didn't imagine hearing about in history class, and I really enjoyed the experience.