and the fourth one will amass greater riches than all others. And as soon as he has become strong in his riches, he will rouse up everything against the kingdom of Greece.” (Daniel 11:2)

That was left up to his son and successor, the “fourth” king, Xerxes I. He was the King Ahasuerus who married Esther.—Esther 1:1; 2:15-17.

6, 7. (a) How did the fourth king “rouse up everything against the kingdom of Greece”? (b) What was the result of Xerxes’ campaign against Greece?

⁶ Xerxes I did indeed “rouse up everything against the kingdom of Greece,” that is, the independent Grecian states as a group. “Urged on by ambitious courtiers,” says the book The Medes and Persians—Conquerors and Diplomats, “Xerxes launched an assault by land and sea.” Greek historian Herodotus, of the fifth century B.C.E., writes that “no other expedition compared to this seems of any account.” His record states that the sea force “amounted in all to 517,610 men. The number of the foot soldiers was 1,700,000; that of the horsemen 80,000; to which must be added the Arabs who rode on camels, and the Libyans who fought in chariots, whom I reckon at 20,000. The whole number, therefore, of the land and sea forces added together amounts to 2,317,610 men.”

⁷ Planning on nothing less than a complete conquest, Xerxes I moved his huge force against Greece in 480 B.C.E. Overcoming a Greek delaying action at Thermopylae, the Persians ravaged Athens. At Salamis, though, they met with terrible defeat. Another Greek victory took place at Plataea, in 479 B.C.E.