Just How Tall Was the Giant Emperor Xerxes?
Hey fellow gamers and history buffs! Today we‘re diving deep on the towering emperor Xerxes I of ancient Persia. I‘ve done some hardcore research to get the stats on this larger-than-life god king.
In movies like 300, Xerxes is shown as a 7-foot menacing bald guy with face piercings. But ancient stone carvings reveal the real Xerxes had long lush locks and a regal beard to match! Still, accounts from the era make him out to be pretty dang tall.
Average Joe vs Persian Giant
Your average Greek or Roman dude back then stood around 5 and a half feet. Shorties! Whereas the Persian empire was pumping out some tall drink of waters like Xerxes. Historians guess most Persian men averaged 5‘8" back then.
That‘s FREAKISHLY tall for the ancient world! For comparison, the tallest prehistoric European men only topped 6 feet. So at 7 feet, Xerxes would have towered over most mortals.
| Empire | Average Male Height |
|---|---|
| Ancient Greece | 5‘ 7" |
| Ancient Rome | 5‘ 5" |
| Ancient Persia | 5‘ 8" |
No wonder the Greeks were shaking in their sandals when squaring off against the Persian giant and his army!
In the Shadow of Greatness
Xerxes had some big sandals to fill, being the son of the famous conqueror Darius the Great. He ruled the vast Persian Achaemenid Empire from 486 BC to 465 BC after his pops kicked the bucket.
This guy was rolling in riches and commanded crazy levels of power. After putting down some rebellions, he set his sights on flexing that power by taking down the Greeks once and for all!
Spoiler alert: it didn‘t go so hot. But Xerxes still enjoyed immense wealth and influence as a mighty Persian king.
Invasion of the Giants
So Xerxes assembles his massive Persian army to stomp out the Greeks in 480 BC. Now we‘re talking an insane number of soldiers – some say over 300,000!
Herodotus wrote that the Persians "drank whole rivers dry" as they marched through. Even allowing for some epic exaggeration, that‘s a freaking lot of troops.
And smack in the middle of this endless sea of warriors rides the 7-foot emperor himself. Can you imagine how nuts that visual was for the outnumbered Greeks??
The Underdog Topples a Titan
Well, we all know how this ends. Sneaky Greek tactics defeat the swollen Persian navy and army. Little Leonidas and his 300 Spartans put up an epic last stand that rallies Greece.
Xerxes has to slink home in shame after losing countless troops and lots of street cred. But he still has a kingdom‘s worth of consolation prizes to play with!
This larger-than-life ruler tried playing god and failed hard. But even in defeat, the image of the towering Xerxes surrounded by his giant empire endures as iconically epic!
Let me know what other towering figures you‘d like covered next. And don‘t forget to like and subscribe!
