The Debate at Persia 484 BC

What motives does Xerxes give for wishing to undertake his expedition against the Greeks?

Xerxes had various motives for wanting to invade Greece (according to Herodotus):

• He wanted revenge for Marathon and Sardis -"we Persians have never remained inactive"
• He wanted to live up to his predecessors and be remembered like them, as well as fulfilling his father's oath
• The Aleuadae (royal family of Thessaly) promised Xerxes "zealous assistance" if he chose to invade Greece
• Mardonius kept trying to convince him to invade (for Mardonius wanted to be Satrap of Greece once it had been conquered)
• He had dreams that convinced him to invade
• He felt a responsibility to preserve the Persian way of life
• Athens was the only state able to resist the Persian Empire

Reasons to invade according to Mardonius:

• Persia had still not taken revenge on Greece or Ionia for the Battle of Marathon
• It was an easy conquest as the Greeks were unlikely to resist
• "Your name will be famous throughout the world"
• The Greeks had slender resources and "absurd" warfare
• Xerxes' empire would spread across the world
• The Persians have better strategy
• The Greeks fight amongst themselves (Pugnacious)

Reasons against invasion according to Artabanus:

• Darius made the mistake of trying to conquer the Greeks
• Darius couldn't defeat the Scythians and the Greeks were much stronger than them
• The army could be cut off at Hellespont
• Often a great army is destroyed by a little one
• It was an unnecessary risk as the Greeks were valiant fighters on land and sea
• The Athenians alone had defeated the Persian army before

This information comes from Herodotus' description of events, which means that it is not the most reliable of sources as he invented the speeches that this information is taken from and only actually knew the basic points.