Mark Gagnon

He is, in short, everything that the Greeks believed a barbarian king would be.

I mean, if you've seen the movie 300, then you know King Xerxes as this screaming tyrant who throws waves of soldiers at 300 Spartans and

You know, this is why that depiction exists, because it is a product of, you know, Greek propaganda and filtered through 25 centuries of Western storytelling.

Right.

I mean, the victors always write history, as the saying goes.

So, of course, if we have records from the Greeks, it's going to be their interpretation that shapes how we view their enemies.

Right, Christos?

Or the truth.

Or maybe.

All right.

Let's just see.

All right.

I would argue that the real Xerxes is probably more complicated.

So, our boy Herodotus and our Greek sources are probably a little bit biased.

Or... Correct.

Yeah.

So, we just have to consider this when we're referencing, right?

Now, the good news is that we do also have some Persian sources.

Xerxes himself left inscriptions at Perzopolis and at the Naqsh-e-Rostam that basically paint a completely different picture.

And in these descriptions...