Professor Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones

Maybe like Darius's very firstborn son, who was a son of a woman who came from a very, very high-ranking Persian noble family, the family of Gobrias.

I can't see that he would have given up his potential so easily.

So while the sources are silent, I think it's quite feasible to think there must have been a bit of a clash with a few of the brothers or half-brothers.

But of bigger concern to Xerxes was the fact that Egypt...

erupted into rebellion immediately at the death of Darius.

And so we see that Xerxes heads an army, goes off to Egypt, quells the revolt, and that's a really great thing.

This is in the first year of his accession.

So that's immediately saying, look, I'm serious here.

It also shows us that he's a good military man as well.

We shouldn't dismiss him at all.

On his way back from Egypt, in fact, he puts down another rebellion in Babylon.

These are always the kind of litmus tests for kings.

Babylon and Egypt.

Can you hold them?

And again, he does a good job of putting down the Babylonian rebellion too.

So we can see in the very first year of his reign,

He's a very active individual, you know, and he stamps his mark on the empire, always in the shadow of his father.

But nevertheless, you know, he's there and he says, you know, I am king now.

OK, I know I'm in the same line as Darius.

You remember how he ruled you?