Cultural Depictions
Xerxes is the protagonist of the opera Serse by the German-English Baroque composer George Frederic Handel. It was first performed in the King's Theatre London on 15 April 1738. The famous aria "Ombra mai fù" opens the opera.
Later generations' fascination with ancient Sparta, and particularly the Battle of Thermopylae, has led to Xerxes's portrayal in works of popular culture, though more often than not in a negative light, often portraying him as ranging from unsympathetic to megalomaniacal. For instance, he was played by David Farrar in the 1962 fiction film The 300 Spartans, where he is portrayed as a cruel, power-crazed despot and an inept commander. He also features prominently in the graphic novel 300 by Frank Miller, as well as the movie adaptation (portrayed by Brazilian actor Rodrigo Santoro), in which he is represented as a giant god-king. This portrayal has attracted controversy, especially in Iran.
Other works dealing with the Persian Empire or the Biblical story of Esther have also referenced Xerxes, such as the video game Assassin's Creed II and the film One Night with the King, in which Ahasuerus (Xerxes) was portrayed by British actor Luke Goss. He is the leader of the Persian Empire in the video game Civilization II and III (along with Scheherazade), although Civilization IV replaces him with Cyrus the Great and Darius I.
Gore Vidal, in his historical fiction novel Creation, describes at length the rise of Achemenids, and especially Darius I and presents the life and death circumstances of Xerxes. His vision of history goes against the grain of Greek histories.
Read more about this topic: Xerxes I Of Persia
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“Quite apart from any conscious program, the great cultural historians have always been historical morphologists: seekers after the forms of life, thought, custom, knowledge, art.”
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