What Advantages Did Xerxes Enjoy When He Invaded Greece in 480 Bc and Why Did He Not Gain Victory over the Greeks?

During the second Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC, from what Herodotus tells us, the Greeks were outnumbered by the Persians by a substantial amount (Hdt. 7.186). While other scholars such as Balcer debate whether or not this was the actual case (Balcer, 1989 pg 127), what they all agree on is that Greece was the underdog in this war and thus should've been scattered and defeated. As history tells it, this of course was not the case. Xerxes entered Greece with many advantages and was the favourite to be the victor, and almost succeeded in his goal by even managing to burn Athens to the ground . This essay will look at the advantages Xerxes had against the disadvantages, and also look at the Greeks as well as the issues with bias encountered from the surviving sources we have.

The most complete surviving documentation of the events that took place during the second Persian invasion of Greece, come from Herodotus' The Histories. During books 7 through to 9, he gives a very detailed account of what he believes occurred during this period. As mentioned previously, some doubts over his accuracy have been brought under speculation, as he estimated the Persian forces as being around the size of 5,283,220 men (Hdt. 7.186). This is highly doubtful as the world population was only around 100 million, and that was spread over the globe. Hignett comments on how Herodotus is a considered a great historian but how his credibility crumbles when he starts throwing out these outlandish figures and exaggerations (Hignett 1963: 39). While it may be true that Herodotus did indeed exaggerate these numbers, he is still our best source to look at for this time period as for the most part, his stories have been back up as having aligned with what was going on in Greece during these periods. Sadly, as with any account bias is always going to exist, and since the Greeks were the victors in this example, they're made to be the glorious underdogs and the victory

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