According to the Greek historian Herodotus, Xerxes's first attempt to bridge the Hellespont ended in failure when a storm destroyed the flax and papyrus cables of the bridges ; Xerxes ordered the Hellespont ( the strait itself ) whipped three hundred times and had fetters thrown into the water.

From 483 BC Xerxes prepared his expedition: A channel was dug through the isthmus of the peninsula of Mount Athos, provisions were stored in the stations on the road through Thrace, two pontoon bridges later known as Xerxes's Pontoon Bridges were built across the Hellespont.

He makes no reference to individual members of the harem except for a domineering Queen consort named Amestris, whose father, Otanes, was one of Xerxes's generals.

Xerxes's actions indicate that he was keen to finish the conquest of Greece in 480 BC, and to do this, he needed a decisive victory over the Allied fleet.

Undoubtedly the greatest achievement of Themistocles's career was his role in the defeat of Xerxes's invasion of Greece.

Artobazan was born to " Darius the subject ", while Xerxes was the eldest son born in the purple after Darius's rise to the throne, and Artobazan's mother was a commoner while Xerxes's mother was the daughter of the founder of the empire.

However, Persian scholars dispute this view as pan-Hellenic propaganda, arguing that Sparta, not Athens, was Xerxes's main foe in his Greek campaigns, and that Xerxes would have had nothing to gain by destroying a major center of trade and commerce like Athens once he had already captured it.

At that time, anti-Persian sentiment was high among many mainland Greeks, and the rumor that Xerxes had destroyed the city was a popular one, though it is equally likely the fire was started by accident as the Athenians were frantically fleeing the scene in pandemonium, or that it was an act of " scorched earth " warfare to deprive Xerxes's army of the spoils of the city.

Xerxes, eldest son of Darius and Atossa, succeeded to the throne as Xerxes I ; however, prior to Xerxes's accession, he contested the succession with his elder half-brother Artobarzanes, Darius's eldest son who was born to his commoner first wife before Darius rose to power.

Artemisia, queen of Halicarnassus and commander of its naval squadron in Xerxes's fleet, tried to convince him to wait for the Allies to surrender believing that battle in the straits of Salamis was an unnecessary risk.

Xerxes's name was written in three languages and carved on the entrances, informing everyone that he ordered it to be built.

In the beginning of Xerxes's reign, the Throne Hall was used mainly for receptions for military commanders and representatives of all the subject nations of the empire.

When the wax was removed, a message was found scratched on the wooden backing, warning the Spartans of Xerxes's plans.

The loose alliance of city states which had fought against Xerxes's invasion had been dominated by Sparta and the Peloponnesian league.

) Amestris has often been identified with Vashti, but this identification is problematic, as Amestris remained a powerful figure well into the reign of her son, Artaxerxes I, whereas Vashti is portrayed as dismissed in the early part of Xerxes's reign.

A Thessalian delegation suggested that the allies could muster in the narrow Vale of Tempe, on the borders of Thessaly, and thereby block Xerxes's advance.

To bring about this battle, Themistocles used a cunning mix of subterfuge and misinformation, psychologically exploiting Xerxes's desire to finish the invasion.

Even though Herodotus's report in the Histories has created certain problems concerning Xerxes's religious beliefs, modern scholars consider him a Zoroastrian.

According to Ctesias ( in Persica 20 ), Artabanus then accused the Crown Prince Darius, Xerxes's eldest son, of the murder and persuaded another of Xerxes's sons, Artaxerxes, to avenge the patricide by killing Darius.

Later generations ' fascination with ancient Sparta, and particularly the Battle of Thermopylae, has led to Xerxes's portrayal in works of popular culture, though more often than not in a negative light, often portraying him as ranging from unsympathetic to megalomaniacal.

Initially the ' congress ' agreed to defend the narrow Vale of Tempe, on the borders of Thessaly, and thereby block Xerxes's advance.

Scyllis surfaced at night and made his way among all the ships in Xerxes's fleet, cutting each ship loose from its moorings ; he used a hollow reed as snorkel to remain unobserved.

Thus, in August 480 BC, after hearing of Xerxes's approach, a small Allied army led by the Spartan king Leonidas I blocked the Pass of Thermopylae, whilst an Athenian-dominated navy sailed to the Straits of Artemisium.

After a long debate in the House, a second attempt passed Congress on January 13, 1865, and was sent to the state legislatures for ratification.

A second attempt took place in 437 BC on the same site under the guidance of Hagnon, son of Nicias.

His attempt was at first unsuccessful ; but, after the deposition of Demaratus, he visited the island a second time, accompanied by his new colleague Leotychides, seized ten of the leading citizens and deposited them at Athens as hostages.

Wilson's was the second attempt at nationalisation, Clement Attlee's Iron and Steel Corporation of Great Britain having been largely privatised by the Conservative governments of the 1950s.

Challenger launched successfully on its second attempt at 29 July 1985, 17: 00 EDT, after a delay of one hour and 37 minutes due to a problem with the table maintenance block update uplink.

During the execution, the hangman's rope broke and Kidd was hanged on the second attempt.

A couple of days later, Galois made his second and last attempt to enter the Polytechnique, and failed yet again.

" This second case usually involves the town bully and mischief maker Bugs Meany, leader of a gang who call themselves the Tigers, who, after being foiled, will attempt revenge in the third mystery.

Two days later, the same three guilds made a second attempt and after almost 4 hours, successfully killed the sleeper.

This second attempt would again be abandoned following Amerindian attacks.

Proposals to allow divorce were put by referendum by two Fine Gael – led governments, in 1986 under FitzGerald, and in 1995 under John Bruton, passing very narrowly on this second attempt.

Crick described what he saw as the failure of Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin to cooperate and work towards finding a molecular model of DNA as a major reason why he and Watson eventually made a second attempt to do so.

A second attempt by Rommel to bypass or break the Commonwealth position was repulsed in the Battle of Alam Halfa in August, and in October the Eighth Army decisively defeated the Axis forces in the Second Battle of El Alamein.

On 10 October 1935, a few months after he suppressed the second attempt in March 1935, Georgios Kondylis, the former Venizelist stalwart, abolished the Republic in another coup, and declared the monarchy restored.

This second attempt was followed by a third under Cleodaeus and a fourth under Aristomachus, both unsuccessful.

His second attempt, however, fit Roberts ' vision perfectly: a spaced-out series of clustered buildings, joined by lower structures and complemented by two underground levels.

* 1924 – In the second attempt to climb Mount Everest, George Mallory and Andrew " Sandy " Irvine disappear, possibly having first made it to the top.

After the failed assassination attempt on Hitler in 1944, he was imprisoned for a second time as an opponent of the regime.

Ambivalent about the removal of Gorbachev, Nazarbayev did not condemn the coup attempt until its second day.

King Arthur does attempt to fulfil this quest in the second act until the Lady of the Lake tells him that he is already in a musical.

In September 1929 Hubbard was enrolled at the Swavely Preparatory School in Manassas, Virginia, to prepare him for a second attempt at the examination.

In 1974, he came in second on his first attempt at the Mr. Olympia competition.

These theories attempt to answer the second of the above questions: " What is the nature of moral judgments?

On September 21, 1529, Álvaro de Saavedra Cerón commanded the Spanish ship Florida, on his second attempt to recross the Pacific from the Moluccas.

In 1664, a second attempt was made, but this one also ended badly as the men chosen for the job abandoned their sick commander, Van Niewland, without proper treatment, and the latter eventually died.