875 



XERXES I. 



XYLANDER, GULIELMUS. 



876 



which were within the limits of the Persian government. Xerxes 

 also entered into negociations with the Carthaginians, who engaged to 

 attack the Greek cities of Sicily and Italy, while the Persian king 

 invaded Greece. 



In the autumn of B.C. 481 Xerxes arrived at Sardis, the capital of 

 the Persians in the west, and he wintered there. In the spring he 

 advanced to the Hellespont with his forces, and crossed at Abydos by 

 a bridge of boats. The first bridge that was made was destroyed by a 

 storm, on which the king ordered that 300 blows of the lash should 

 be inflicted on the rebellious Hellespont. The superintendents of the 

 work had their heads cut off for their paius. A new bridge was con- 

 structed, the form of which is minutely described by Herodotus (vii. 

 36). The army was seven whole days and nights in crossing the bridge 

 from Abydos on the Asiatic to" the European shore. The march was 

 continued from the Hellespont through the Thracian Chersonese. 

 The fleet did not enter the Hellespont, but took a western course 

 along the Thracian coast. On arriving at the plain of Doriscus, which 

 is near the sea, and is traversed by the river Hebrus, Xerxes num- 

 bered his force. The ships took their station close by Doriscus. The 

 infantry amounted to 1,700,000 men. The number was ascertained 

 not by tale but by measure : an enclosure was formed large enough to 

 contain 10,000 men, and it was filled and emptied till the whole army 

 was meted. (Herod., vii. 60.) After being measured the forces were 

 arranged according to nations. Herodotus has left one of the most 

 curious historical records that exists in his description of the various 

 nations that composed this mighty force, and of their military equip- 

 ment (vii. 61, &c.). The cavalry amounted to 80,000, besides camels 

 and chariots. The war-ships (rpi-fipeis) were 1207. Herodotus has 

 enumerated the several nations which supplied and manned the ships 

 (vii. 89). From Doriscus Xerxes continued his march through Thrace. 

 Herodotus, who had certainly gone over the ground, has described the 

 route of the army with great distinctness. On reaching the isthmus 

 which connects the mountain peninsula of Athos with the main land, 

 the fleet avoided the circumnavigation which had proved so dangerous 

 to Mardonius in B.C. 492, by passing through the canal of Athos. This 

 canal had been constructed by order of Xerxes. It is described by 

 Herodotus (vii. 22). From Acanthus, near the isthmus of Athos, the 

 army marched to Therme, afterwards called Thessalonica (now Salo- 

 niki), on the Axiue. The fleet at last reached Sepias on the coast of 

 Magnesia, in Thessaly, and the army reached the puss of Thermopylae. 

 So far, says Herodotus, they had sustained no harm, and the numbers 

 of the^ army and of the navy were then as follow (Herod., vii. 184) : 

 The whole number of men in the 1207 ships was 277,610, reckoning 

 for each ship 200 men of the country to which each ship belonged, 

 and also 30 for Persians, Medes, and Sacse in each of them. The 

 penteconters (wevTiiK6i'Tepoi) ! which Herodotus had not included in his 

 former enumeration, were 3000, and, reckoning 80 to each, there 

 would be 240,000 men in them. Thus the whole naval force would 

 amount to 517,610; and the whole armament, both military and naval, 

 would amount to 2,317,610 men, which includes 20,000 men not before 

 enumerated, camel-drivers, and drivers of Libyan chariots. This is the 

 amount of the force which passed over from Asia, and it does not 

 include the camp-followers, the vessels that carried provisions, and 

 the men on board these vessels. To this must be added 120 European 

 vessels, containing 24,000 men, that joined the navy of Xerxes. The 

 forces supplied by the Thracian tribes, the Macedonians, Magnesians, 

 and others, amounted to 300,000 men : thus the whole number of 

 fighting men was 2,641,610. Herodotus considers that all the followers 

 and those in the provision vessels would be more than the fighting 

 men, but we will suppose them to be equal. Thus the sum total is 

 5,283,220 ; and Xerxes, says Herodotus, conducted so many as far as 

 Sepias and Thermopylae. As to the number of women who followed 

 to cook the provisions, and of concubines and eunuchs, no one could 

 tell the amount, nor that of the beasts of burden. The first calamity 

 that befel this mighty host was a storm in the neighbourhood of 

 Sepias, which caused great loss. At Artemisium there was an 

 encounter between some of the Persian ships and those of the Greeks, 

 in which, the Greeks were victorious. The army, after passing through 

 Thessaly, found itself stopped at the narrow pass of Thermopylae by 

 Leonidas and his gallant band. The Persians sustained a heavy loss 

 in endeavouring to force the pass, and they could not effect it till 

 Epialtes, a Melian, showed the Persians a tract over the mountains of 

 O2ta, which brought them on the rear of Leonidas [LEONIDAS], who 

 fell with his brave men after an obstinate conflict. 



In the sea-fights off Artemisium. the Persians again sustained loss 

 (Herod., viii. 11, &c.). The Persian army now advanced through 

 Phocis, burning and destroying all before them. On entering Bo3otia 

 they were joined by the Boeotians. A detachment was sent by Xerxes 

 to attack the temple of Delphi, but the invaders sustained a signal 

 defeat, and those who survived escaped into Bceotia. In the mean 

 time the Grecian fleet moved from Artemisium to the island of 

 Salamis, off the coast of Attica. (Herod., viii. 40.) The Athenians 

 sent their females and slaves to Troezen, ^Egina, and Salamis, and left 

 their city to the mercy of the Persians, who, after burning Thespia 

 and Platsea, the only towns in Bocotia that did not join them, entered 

 Athens and destroyed it also. The Persians had occupied three 

 months in their progress from the Hellespont to Athens. The fleet of 

 Xerxes sailed from Histiaea in Euboca through the channel of the 



Euripus, and in three days reached Phalerum in Attica. Notwith- 

 standing the losses of the Persians, Herodotus considers that the land 

 and sea force which reached Attica was as large as that which had 

 reached Sepias and Thermopylae. The Grecian fleet was collected 

 about the island of Salamis and in the narrow passage between 

 Salamis and the mainland. Xerxes, having resolved on an engage- 

 ment, took his station on the shore of the mainland under Mount 

 ^Egaleos, opposite to Salamis ; and here he had the misfortune to see 

 his mighty armament defeated and dispersed [THEMISTOCLES], B.C. 480. 

 Shortly after the battle he retreated by land to the Hellespont, which 

 he reached in forty-five days, and crossed over into Asia. He was 

 attended as far as the Hellespont by Artabazus with 60,000 men. 

 (Herod., viii. 126.) Mardonius, who was left in Greece with the army, 

 was defeated in the following year, B.C. 479, at Platrca in Boeotia by 

 the combined Greeks, and on the same day the Greeks gained another 

 victory over the Persians at Mycale in Ionia. This was followed by 

 the siege and capture of Sestos on the Hellespont (B.C. 478), an event 

 with which the history of Herodotus ends. It was reported, says 

 Herodotus (viii. 166), that on the very day of the battle of Salamis, 

 Gelon and Theron defeated, in Sicily, Hamilcar and his Carthaginian 

 army. Thus the Greeks were successful both in the east and the west. 

 [GELON.] 



The Greeks continued the war against the Persians after the capture 

 of Sestos. Little more is known of the personal history of Xerxes. 

 He was murdered (B.C. 465) by Artabanus, and succeeded by his son 

 Artaxerxes, called by the Greeks the ' Long-handed.' Xerxes, as he 

 is represented by Herodotus, was cruel, vain, cowardly, and of feeble 

 understanding. The great event of his reign is the invasion of Greece 

 with his enormous army and fleet, of which we have in Herodotus 

 (books vii.-ix.) a most minute account. The historian lived soon 

 enough after the event to be able to collect trustworthy materials, and 

 that he spared no pains is evident from his work. Much has been said 

 on the large numbers of the army and navy of Xerxes, as stated by 

 Herodotus ; but, incredible as they seem at first sight, an attentive 

 consideration of the whole narrative of the historian will remove 

 much of the doubt ; at any rate, if the numbers are exaggerated, it is 

 clear that Herodotus only followed his authorities. 



XERXES II., King of Persia, succeeded his father Artaxerxes, the 

 Long-handed, B.C. 425. He was assassinated after a short reign of a 

 year, or, according to some accounts, two months, by Sogdianus, who 

 succeeded him. 



XIME'NEZ, CARDINAL. [CiSNEEOS.] 



XIPHILINQS, JOANNES (E^iXo'os), Patriarch of Constantinople, 

 was of a noble family of Trebizond. In 1066 he was made patriarch 

 of Constantinople : he died in 1075. This Xiphilinus has often been 

 confounded with his nephew. He is the author of an ' Oration on the 

 Adoration of the Cross,' which waa first published, in Greek and with 

 a Latin version, in Gretser's work on the Cross, fol., Ingolstadt, 1616. 

 Some other works of less importance are attributed to him, among 

 which are three Constitutions on matters of ecclesiastical discipline, 

 two of which refer to betrothment, and are in the 'Jus Grseco- 

 Romanum ' of Leunclavius. 



XIPHILI'NUS, JOANNES, of Trapezus (Trebizond), was the 

 nephew of the Patriarch Xiphilinus. At the command of the Em- 

 peror Michael Ducas, whose reign ended A.D. 1070, he made an 

 Epitome of the history of Dion Cassius. The Epitome, as we now 

 have it, commences at the thirty-fifth book, and goes down to the 

 death of Alexander Severus, A.D. 235. His work is not distributed 

 like the original, but is divided into sections (T/J.-IIU.O.TO), each of which 

 comprises the history of an emperor. We can judge of his work by 

 comparing it with those parts of Dion which are extant. He generally 

 keeps to the expression of his author, but he omits what he considers 

 not essential to the narrative. He has also generally omitted to 

 mention the consuls, who are always recorded in the extant books of 

 Dion, and thus he has done much towards confusing the chronology 

 of the period. Like all other epitomes, it destroys the character of 

 the original work ; and it is worthless except as supplying the main 

 historical facts of the large part of Dion which is lost. Xiphilinus was 

 a Christian. The first edition of Xiphilinus was by R. Stephens, 4to, 

 Paris, 1551 ; and in the same year Stephens printed the Latin version 

 of G. Blanc. The edition of H. Stephens appeared in fol., 1592, with 

 Blanc's translation, revised by Xylander. There is an English trans- 

 lation by Manning, Svo, London, 1704, of the ' Epitome ' of Xiphilinus. 



XYLANDER, GULIELMUS. Xylander's real name waa Holz- 

 mann (Woodman), which, after the fashion of the scholars of the 

 day, he changed into the equivalent Greek form of Xylander. He 

 was born at Augsburg, December 26, 1532, of poor parents. He ob- 

 tained the patronage of Wolffgang Relinger, a patrician of Augsburg, 

 who procured for him the necessary means for prosecuting his studies 

 till he was received into the College of Augsburg, where he had a 

 certain allowance, which waa appropriated to a limited number of 

 pupils. From this we must infer that as a boy he had shown great 

 talent. In 1549 he went to Tubingen, and in 1556 to Basel. His 

 studies were the mathematics and Greek and Latin literature. After 

 the death of J. Micyllus, in 1558, he was made Greek professor at 

 Heidelberg, but he was still very poor, and was obliged to add to his 

 means by his pen. He died in February 1576, having shortened his 

 life by bis excessive labour, and, according to some accounts, by drink- 



