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===Themistocles and the Persian Wars===

The first major battles in the Persian Wars were initiated by the Achaemenid Persian King Darius I (ruled 522-486 BC), but it was his son and successor Xerxes I (reigned 486-465 BC) who was responsible for taking most of the fight to the Greeks. In an effort to avenge his father’s loss at the Battle of Marathon and the bring all of Greece under his heel, Xerxes I personally led his army by land from Anatolia (modern day Turkey) into Greece in 480 BC. According to the fifth century BC Greek historian, Herodotus, who wrote the most detailed primary account of the wars, the Persian army – which included soldiers, sailors, marines, and various support personnel – numbered 1,700,000 men. <ref> Herodotus. <i> The Histories.</i> Translated by Aubrey de Sélincourt. (London: Penguin Books, 2003), Book III, 90</ref>