In 480, Aeschylus was called into military service again, this time against Xerxes I's invading forces at the Battle of Salamis, and perhaps, too, at the Battle of Plataea in 479.

It was rich in treasures, but was destroyed by the Persians in the invasion of Xerxes in 480 BCE, and a second time by the Boeotians and remained in a ruined state. It was rebuilt by Hadrian.

Those arguing in favour of an historical reading of Esther, most commonly identify Ahasuerus with Artaxerxes II ( ruled 405 – 359 BCE ) although in the past it was often assumed that he was Xerxes I ( ruled 486 – 465 BCE ).

Instead, the Hebrew name Ahasuerus accords with an inscription of the time that notes that Artaxerxes II was named also Arshu, understood as a shortening of Achshiyarshu the Babylonian rendering of the Persian Khshayarsha ( Xerxes ), through which the Hebrew Achashverosh ( Ahasuerus ) is derived.

It was said that the bridge was to rival that of Persian King Xerxes ' crossing of the Hellespont.

This crossing was named by Aeschylus in his tragedy The Persians as the cause of divine intervention against Xerxes.

Herodotus commented that this was a " highly presumptuous way to address the Hellespont " but in no way atypical of Xerxes.

To find a new queen suitable to King Xerxes, it was decreed that beautiful young virgins be gathered to the palace from every province of his kingdom.

When King Xerxes saw Esther, he was pleased and held out his scepter to her, showing that he accepted her visit.

Another was the response to the Athenians when the vast army of king Xerxes I was approaching Athens with the intent of razing the city to the ground.

However, once there, they were warned by Alexander I of Macedon that the vale could be bypassed by several other passes, and that the army of Xerxes was overwhelmingly large, and the Greeks retreated.

Themistocles sent a servant, Sicinnus, to Xerxes, with a message proclaiming that Themistocles was " on king's side and prefers that your affairs prevail, not the Hellenes ".

At any rate, this was exactly the kind of news that Xerxes wanted to hear.

Xerxes evidently took the bait, and the Persian fleet was sent out to effect the block.

However, the decisive naval clash occurred at Salamis, where Xerxes ' invasion fleet was decisively defeated.

Xerxes I of Persia (, Khashayar Shah ) (; meaning " ruling over heroes ",, ), also known as Xerxes the Great ( 519 BC-465 BC ), was the fourth king of the Achaemenid Empire.

Artabazanes claimed the crown as the eldest of all the children, because it was an established custom all over the world for the eldest to have the pre-eminence ; while Xerxes, on the other hand, urged that he was sprung from Atossa, the daughter of Cyrus, and that it was Cyrus who had won the Persians their freedom.

His son Xerxes attempted to finish the job 10 years later, and succeeded in capturing Athens and burning it to the ground, only to be defeated later on land at Plataea.

Xerxes apparently succeeded to the throne but two of his illegitimate brothers claimed the throne for themselves.

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.

* Darius I, one of the greatest rulers of the Achaemenid dynasty of Persia, dies and is succeeded by his son, Xerxes I.

* Artaxerxes I, Achaemenid king of Persia, is succeeded by his son Xerxes II.

In the confused years after the death of king Artaxerxes I Makrocheir ( 465-434 ), three of his sons succeeded to the throne: Xerxes II, Sogdianus and Darius II.

As for the identity of Mordecai, the similar names Marduka and Marduku have been found as the name of officials in the Persian court in over thirty texts from the period of Xerxes I and his father Darius, and may refer to up to four individuals, one of which might after all be Mordecai.

After the military blunders in Greece, Xerxes returned to Persia and completed the many construction projects left unfinished by his father at Susa and Persepolis.

The name " Mordechai " is of uncertain origin but is considered identical to the name Marduka or Marduku attested as the name of officials in the Persian court in thirty texts ( the Persepolis Texts ) from the period of Xerxes I and his father Darius, and may refer to up to four individuals, one of which might very well be the biblical Mordecai.

Atossa's special position enabled Xerxes, who was not the eldest son of Darius, to succeed his father.

The Prince of Rodale IX ( later to be known as Ix ), Xerxes eventually strangled his father, making himself sole heir to the family fortune ( and his only reason for being part of the Titans ' conspiracy in the first place ).

The Behistun inscription was carved during the reign of Darius, the father of Xerxes.

Xerxes I of Persia leads a vast army of soldiers into Europe to defeat the small city-states of Greece, not only to fulfill the idea of " one world ruled by one master ", but also to avenge the defeat of his father at the Battle of Marathon ten years before.

* October, 485 BC: Xerxes I succeeds Darius I as King of Persia

Herodotus ( 484 c BC – 425 c BC ) attests that the Gandarian mercenaries ( i. e. Gandharans / Kambojans of Gandari Strapy of Achaemenids ) from the 20th strapy of the Achaemenids were recruited in the army of emperor Xerxes I ( 486-465 BC ), which he led against the Hellas.

He preferred 1 Esdras over the canonical Ezra – Nehemiah and placed Ezra as a contemporary of Xerxes son of Darius, rather than of Artaxerxes.

* Xerxes, 486 – 479 BC: Books 7, 8 and 9.

* 480 BC – Battle of Salamis: The Greek fleet under Themistocles defeats the Persian fleet under Xerxes I.

Most notably, it may refer to Xerxes I of Persia ( reigned 485 – 465 BCE ).

* 465 BC – Xerxes I, king of Persia ( murdered )

* May – King Xerxes I of Persia marches from Sardis and onto Thrace and Macedonia.

* August 11 – The Battle of Thermopylae ends in victory for the Persians under Xerxes.

There are accounts in the biblical Book of Esther of dispatches being sent from Susa to provinces as far out as India and the Kingdom of Kush during the reign of Xerxes the Great ( 485 – 465 BC ).

Lines 29 – 52 seem to portray the political situation in Megara before the rise of the tyrant Theagenes, about the latter half of the seventh century, but lines 891 – 95 describe a war in Euboea in the second quarter of the sixth century, and lines 773 – 82 seem to refer to the Persian invasion of mainland Greece in the reign of Xerxes, at the end of the first quarter of the fifth century.

* Artaxerxes I of Persia ( died 424 BC ), Artaxerxes I Longimanus, r. 465 – 424 BC, son and successor of Xerxes I

* Xerxes ( 1863 – 1882 )

The Lebor Gabála Érenn synchronises his reign with that of Xerxes I of Persia ( 485 – 465 BC ).

The Lebor Gabála Érenn synchronises his reign with those of Xerxes I ( 485 – 465 BC ) and Artaxerxes I ( 465-424 BC ) of Persia.

* Xerxes I: 485 – 465 BC