., the fifth king of Persia, memorable for the vast army he is said to have carried into the field against Leonidas king of Sparta; consisting, according to some historians, of 800,000 men, while others make it amount to 3,000,000, exclusive of attendants. The fleet that attended this prodigious land force is likewise made to consist of 2000 sail; and all the succours they met with was the taking and burning the city of Athens; for the army was shamefully repulsed near the straits of Thermopylae by Leonidas, and the fleet was dispersed and partly destroyed by Themistocles at the straits of Salamis, who had only 380 sail under his command. Xerxes was affianced to Artabanes, chief captain of his guards, and his distinguished favourite. See SPARTA.