Esther Makes Xerxes Pardon Jews

According to the book of Esther, on this day Xerxes becomes aware of a conspiracy arranged by his aid Haman who had ordered massacre of Jews all over the Persian Empire as if it was an order by Xerxes. Esther, his wife gives him the tip regarding the plan to eliminate Jews which were citizens of the Persian Empire at the time. After canceling Haman's order and announcing it all over the vast empire in only three days which was a record at the time Xerxes sends haman to the court in Susa where he becomes convicted and executed for the conspiracy. The Jewish community celebrate this day as the feats of Yurim. There's little credibility to this story because Xerxes did not have a Jewish wife but a counter argument states that Esther did not tell him the truth about her origins; hence putting in doubt the whole legend subject to many movies. Amazingly enough Esther's tomb exists in Hamedan. (Updated: Dec, 14, 2007)

The Battle Of Plataea

After Athens was captured, Xerxes was assured of a decisive victory and retreated to deal with an uprising in Babylon. He left general Mardonius in charge of occupied territories. Although Mardonius was a great general, he was weak in terms of politics and could not restore the order for a long time. Instead he recaptured Athens and razed it to the ground to create fear. This in turn urged Spartans to join the Greek city states of Athens, Corinth and Megara with 45,000 soldiers and thus an army of 110,000 men was created whereas the Persian army were only 50,000. General Artabazus and his 60,000 forces had refused to join in the battle at Plataea after disagreement with Mardonius. Cavalry charges were made for ten days by Persians while the two sides camped in front of each other. During one of these raids, the cavalry officer Masistus was killed This demoralized Persians. On top of this, Alexander I of Macedon who was an ally of the Persians defected during the battle to the Greek side. Mardonius was killed during the fight and Artabazus took command and immediately retreated with remaining 43,000 men who survived the battle. (Updated: Mar, 24, 2008)

The Battle Of Mycale

After an alliance between Greeks and Spartans, many Ionian cities began revolting. Sacking of Athens was marked as "mission accomplished" as punishment for Greeks, but Xerxes rushed back to deal with revolts in Egypt and Babylon leaving behind his general Mardonius in charge. There was not a clear strategy for the aftermath of the victory and the occupied territories were just expected to surrender and comply but soon Mardonius learned that his terms were refused. The region was vast and hardly defendable because the enemy had put together a strong fleet that could land overnight at any corner of Ionia. On Aug, 27, 478 B.C. 40,000 Greek alliance forces landed near Mycale mountain east of Samos. Iranians quickly formed battle lines on shore but some of their mercenary forces soon defected and fled the battlefield or joined the enemy lines. After a short battle, Persians retreated to the fort they had constructed further inland. The fort fell shortly and only a few of the remaining soldiers got the chance to flee to Sardis. (Updated: Mar, 22, 2008)

The Battle Of Amos

Only a year after the battle of Salamis which ended with great damage, the Iranian navy entrapped three rows of Greek battleships in the cape of Mikail near the Amos island and destroyed all units while taking some of the Greek officers captive in order to be interrogated on their tactics. This event gave Iranians a relief as a revenge for the Salamis loss. (Updated: Dec, 15, 2007)

• Athens: آتن
• Bab: باب
• Babylon: بابل
• Egypt: مصر
• Esther: استر
• Greek: يوناني
• Hamedan: همدان
• Jewish: يهودي
• Jews: يهوديان
• Mardonius: مردونيوس
• Mikail: ميکاييل
• Persia: ايران
• Salamis: سالاميس
• Sardis: سارديس
• Sparta: اسپارت
• Xerxes: خشايارشاه(Ahasverus)
• Yurim: يوريم