He was not the oldest of Darius' sons but still became the heir over his oldest brother Artabazanes. There were two main reasons for this, His mother Atossa was the daughter of the great Cyrus making Xerxes his grandson. According to Herodotus Atossa would have used her influence to get her son on the throne. [Herodotus book 7 section-3]. Xerxes stated superior claim to the throne for the same reasons. Spartan King Demaratus who was exiled from Sparta and in the Persian court at the time, suggested that they use the Spartan custom to elect a king. That is that the son who is born first while the king sits on the throne will be the heir no matter how many sons there were before the king became king [Herodotus book 7 section-3]. This made Xerxes the rightful heir how ever he describes his accession himself on limestone foundation block at Persepolis "...My Father was Darius; Darius' father was Hystaspes by name; Hystaspes' father was Arsame

s by name...saith Xerxes the King: Other sons of Darius there were, (but)- thus unto Ahura-Mazda was the desire- Darius my father made me the greatest after himself. When my father Darius went away from the throne, by will of Ahura-Mazda I became king on my fathers throne." So to help legitimise his claim to the throne, Xerxes uses Ahura-Mazda. In another inscription he supports himself by saying " ...I am Xerxes, the great king, king of king, king of lands containing many men, king in this great earth far and wide, son of Darius the king, an Achaemid, a Persian, son of a Persian, an Aryan, of Aryan seed." Here he emphasises that he an Achaemenid to add weight on his claim to the throne. According to A.T. Olmstead, Xerxes gained administrative experience by living in the royal Babylonian palace and being able to rule Babylon. Though there is not enough evidence to support this. Some historians say that Darius and Xerxes shared co-regency, but there is not enough evidence to support this either. The evidence we do have on his background and early life before he became king is that his father was a believer in the god Ahura - Mazda and therefore a follower of Zoastrianism. We know that Xerxes carried this on. As far as we know the only real education according to Herodotus that Persian boys were taught was to... " Ride, to use the bow, and to speak the truth" [Herodotus book 1 pg.137]. The most important and significant things in Xerxes life that contributed to his assent was being the grandson of the greatest king Persia had seen and his mother being that kings daughter and able to use her influence.

The love life of Xerxes is a complicated subject to find evidence on. Herodotus mentions him having only one wife named Amestris and the information on her is extremely little. Her father was probably Otanes who was a Persian nobleman and one of the seven conspirators who helped Darius become King. Further research uncovers the story of Esther and Queen Vashti. There is more information on the story of Esther and Queen Vashti then there is on Amestris. The story of Esther and Vashti is also more probable to be mythology then real history, as a lot of the information doesn't add up. Herodotus neither mentions Esther or Vashti in his histories and he is our main sour

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Approximate Word count = 1535
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)