XEBES 464 XIMENES secretary, to Peru, about 1530. Of that expedition he wrote a detailed history, entitled "A True Account of the Con- quest of Peru" (1549), still considered of great value as a source of informa- tion. XEBES, or JEREZ DE LA FRON- TERA, a town in southwest Spain, the Asta Regia of the Romans, and the seat of the wine trade in Spain, of which the principal wine is that so well known in England as sheiTy, an English corrup- tion of Xeres. Xeres is a handsome and large town, of great antiquity. At the battle of Xeres, July 26, 711, Rodei'ic, the last Gothic sovereign of Spain, was defeated and slain by the Saracens, com- manded by Tarik and Muza. Pop. about 65,000. XERXES I., King of Persia; the eldest son of Darius and his second wife, Atossa; was appointed successor by his father, in preference to Artabazanes, his eldest son by his first wife, whose chil- dren were born before Darius became king. Darius died in the beginning of the year 486 B. c, in the midst of his preparations for a third expedition agamst Greece. Xerxes, after having subdued the rebellious Egyptians, and appointed his brother, Achaemenes, gov- ernor, gave his whole attention to the completion of the preparations begun by his father, which occupied nearly four years. Immense hordes of men were gathered together from all parts of the vast Persian empire, from the steppes of central Asia, from the banks of the Indus and its tributaries, and from the interior of Africa; an enormous fleet was furnished by the Phoenicians and other maritime nations subject to Persia; stores of provisions sufficient to sup- port the immense army were collected at different points along the intended route of march. A bridge of boats, an English mile in length, under superin- tendence of Egyptians and Phoenicians, was built across the Hellespont. The bridge, however, was destroyed by a storm. Another bridge, consisting of a double line of boats, was built, and a canal was cut through Mount Athos, at the point of the peninsula of Acte, in Macedonia, on which the fleet of Mar- donius had been wrecked in 492 B. c. The preparations were completed in 481 B. c, and in the autumn of the year Xerxes arrived at Sardis, where he wintered. The following spring the vast assem- blage began to march toward the Helles- pont. It took seven days and nights to inarch across the bridge. After cross- ing the Hellespont, the march was con- tinued along the Thracian coast toward Doriscus, on the Hebrus, where a halt was made on a large plain, and the army numbered. The fleet drew up near to Doriscus. According to Herodotus, the whole number of fighting men, military and naval, amounted to nearly 2,500,- 000, and the fleet consisted of 1,200 ships of war, besides 3,000 smaller vesels. These numbers were considerably in- creased during the march between Dor- iscus and Thermopylae by the Thracians, Macedonians, Magnesians, and other nations through whose territory Xerxes passed on his way to Greece. Herod- otus supposed that the number of people assembled on this occasion would be over 6,000,000. This immense force moved on without resistance through submissive nations till it reached Ther- mopylje, where it was brought to a stand by the army of Leonidas. Though the Greeks were entirely de- feated and slain, it was not without heavy loss to the Persians. On the same day, and on the third day after, the Per- sian fleet, which had previously suffered severely from a storm, was defeated with heavy loss by the Greeks off Cape Artemisium, in Euboea. Xerxes con- tinued his march on to Athens through Phocis, which he laid waste, and Bceotia, whose inhabitants joined him, with the exception of those of Plataea and Thes- pia, which cities he burned. A detach- ment which he sent to attack Delphi met with a signal defeat. When Xerxes arrived at Athens (in the summer of 480, three months after crossing the Hellespont) he found the city deserted, the Athenians having sent their families to Troezen, ^gina, and Salamis. Athens was destroyed. Meantime the two fleets had sailed round from Euboea, and taken up their positions in the narrow strait between Salamis and the Attic coast, where the famous naval battle of Sala- mis took place (September, 480 B. c). Xerxes witnessed the fight from a lofty throne which he had caused to be erect- ed on a slope of Mount ^galeus. He was apparently confounded at the un- expected and inglorious result of all his mighty preparations to subdue Greece, and fled under the escort of 60,000 men. Little more is known of him, except that in 465 B. c. he was murdered. XIMENA, the site of a battle in southern Spain, between the Spanish army under the command of General Ballasteros, and the French corps com- manded by General Regnier, Sept. 10, 1811. The Spaniards defeated their ad- versaries; the loss was great on both sides. XIMENES, JACQUES (he-a'nas), a Spanish poet, living in the 16th century.
