Xerxes, the eldest son of Darius by Atossa, daughter of Cyrus, and the first son born to Darius after he mounted the throne, seems to have obtained the crown in part by the favor of his father, over whom Atossa exercised a strong influence, in part by right, as the eldest male descendant of Cyrus, the founder of the em- pire. His first act was to reduce Egypt to subjection (B.C. 484), after which he began at once to make prep- arations for his invasion of Greece. It is probable that he was the Ahasuerus of Esther. See Ahasuerus. The great feast held in Shushan, the palace, in the thinl year of his reign, and the re)iudiation of Vashti, fall into the period preceding the (irecian expedition, while it is probable that he kept open house for the " princes of the provinces," who would from time to time visit the court, in order to report the state of their prepara- tions for the war. The marriage with Esther, in the seventh year of his reign, falls into the year immedi- ately following his flight from Greece, when he un- doubtedly returned to Susa, relinquishing warlike enter- prises, and henceforth devoting himself to the pleasures of the seraglio. It is unnecessary to give an account of the well-known expedition against Greece, which ended so disastrously for the invaders. Persia was taught by the defeats of Salamis and Plata?a the danger of encountering the Greeks on their side of the /Egean, while she learned at Mycale the retaliation which she had to expect on her own shores at the hands of her in- furiated enemies. For a while some vague idea of an- other invasion seems to have been entertained by the court; but discreeter counsels prevailed, and, relinquish- ing all aggressive designs, Persia, from this point in her history, stood upon the defensive, and only sought to maintain her own territories intact, without anywhere trenching upon her neighltors. During the rest of the reign of Xerxes, and during part of that of his son and successor, Artaxerxes, she continued at war with the Greeks, who destroyed her fleets, plundered her coasts,
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and stirred up revolt in her provinces; but at last, in B.C. 449, a i)eace was concliuied between the two pow- ers, who then continued on terms of amity for half a century.
A conspiracy in the seraglio having carried off Xerxes (B.C. 465), Artaxerxes his son, called by the Greeks Ma/cpdxfip, or "the Long-Handed," succeeded him, after an interval of seven months, during which the conspirator Artabanus occupied the throne. This Artaxerxes, who reigned forty years, is beyond a doubt the king of that name who stood in such a friendly relation towards Ezra (Ezra vii, 11-28) and Nehemiah (Xeh. ii, 1-9, etc.). See Autaxerxks. His character, as drawn by Ctesias, is mild but weak ; and under his rule the dtteorders of the empire seem to have in- creased rapidly. An insurrection in Bactria, headed by his brother Hystaspes, was with difficulty put down in the first year of his reign (B.C. 464), after which a re- volt broke out in Egypt, headed hj Inarus the Libyan and AmjTtaeus the Egyptian, who, receiving the sup- port of an Athenian fleet, maintuined themselves for six years (B.C. 460-455) against the whole power of Persia, but were at last overcome by Megabyzus, sa- trap of Syria. This powerful and haughty noble soon afterwards (B.C. 447), on occasion of a difference with the court, himself became a rebel, and entered into a contest with his sovereign, which at once betraj'ed and increased the weakness of the empire. Artaxerxes is the last of the Persian kings who had an}' special con- nection with the Jews, and the last but one mentioned in Scripture. His successors were Xerxes II, Sogdi- anus, Darius Xotlius, Artaxerxes Mnenion, Artaxerxes Ochus, and Darius Codomannus. Tiiesc monarchs reigned from B.C. 424 to B.C. o30. None were of much capacitj' ; and during their reigns the decline of the empire was scarcely arrested for a day, unless it were by Ochus, who reconquered Egypt, and gave some other signs of vigor. Had the younger Cyrus succeeded in his attempt, the regeneration of Persia was perhaps possible. After his failure the seraglio grew at once more powerful and more cruel. Eunuchs and women governed the kings, and dispensed the fa- vors of the crown, or wielded its terrors, as their inter- ests or passions moved them. Patriotism and loyalty were alike dead, and the empire must have fjUen many years before it did had not the Persians earlj- learned to turn the swords of the Greeks against one another, and at the same time raised the character of their own armies by the employment on a large scale of Greek mercenaries. The collapse of the empire under the at- tack of Alexander is well known, and requires no de- scription here. On the division of Alexander's do- minions among his generals, Persia fell to the Seleu- cidic, under whom it continued till after the death of Antiochus Epiphanes, when the conquering Parthians advanced their frontier to the Euphrates, and the Per- sians came to Ije included among their sul)ject tribes (B.C. 104). Still their nationality was not obliterat- ed. In A.D. 226, three hundred and ninety j'ears after their subjection to the Parthians, and five hundred and fifty-six years after the loss of their iiulepsndence, the Persians shook off the yoke of their oppressors, and once more became a nation.