Professor Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones

She says to the king, oh, I'd really like that.

Please can I have it?

And the king says, well, no, my wife made it for me.

But anyway, she keeps on and on.

And so he gives it to the girl.

But the girl doesn't keep it for herself.

She sends this robe to her father, whose name is Mycistes, and he is Xerxes' full brother.

Now, this is one of those moments where you have to look for the Persian version, okay?

Because if you just think, oh, well, you know, that's a bit of an insult, isn't it?

You know, to a mistress and all of this.

No, it's more than that, because...

A robe worn by the king in ancient Persian thought kind of took on his far, took on his power, okay?

So a king sometimes would gift a robe of his to a favored courtier and the courtier would wear it just on his shoulders.

And this would be a huge mark of honor.

Xerxes has not gifted this to his brother.

It's gone via his mistress to his brother.

And basically what...

Arteyinti and her father are doing is they are claiming the kingship through him wearing this robe.

So this is treason, really.

Now Xerxes, who's always portrayed in Herodotus as hubristic and stupid, let's put it that way, doesn't see any of this, but a mistress does.