"The founders of the Persian Empire, Cyrus and Darius, were moderate and reasonable—powerful men, but not tyrants. Darius’s successor Xerxes, however, stands out among them from the vivid portrayal by the Greek historian Herodotus, who wrote from a victor’s viewpoint. His story portrays Xerxes as a sacrilegious monster and vastly exaggerates the power of the nation the Greeks defeated. Other sources only provide minor supplements to this hostile view of the Persian ruler."