Herodotus Xerxes A Good Leader

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In this story written by Herodotus, it is quite apparent that Xerxes is an angry leader who has a short temper. When an obstacle gets in the way of their army’s goals Xerxes expresses how furious he is when faced these challenges. Through out this passage Herodotus depicts Xerxes as a poor leader with a short temper. Many times during this story Xerxes reacts negatively towards every event that happens. One quality that Xerxes shows through this story is immaturity. For example, when the bridges are ruined by the storm Xerxes erupts in flames. He even commands his men to yell arrogant words at the water in response to the storm. Instead of blaming the storm for the wreaking of the bridge he blames the directors and demands their heads to be …show more content…
I believe the reason Herodotus added this to his history was to show how harsh leadership was during these wars. Xerxes exemplified how leaders should not act when trying to gain followers and believers in the army. This was also added in his collection to show how other leaders may have acted during this time period. This displays how miserable being a solider would be during this time. Your life is always at risk as well as your families as shown in this story. The gap between the rulers and the civilians is extremely noticeable. This is what I believe Herodotus is trying to get across. The soldiers will believe anything Xerxes says because they don’t want to be threatened or killed. This theme may be present in all stories of Greek civilization. I believe Herodotus is trying to show that the writers were just ordinary people documenting what they experience. They show others how people interact at this time. Herodotus added this to explain others perspectives of not only Xerxes but also all leaders during this time period. I also believe he added this episode of history to explain his hatred towards

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