Notably, Xerxes divided the previously large Babylonian satrapy (before accounting for most of the Neo-Babylonian Empire's territory) into smaller sub-units[11] and enacted some form of targeted revenge on Babylonia's most prominent families, whose preserved archival records all end in 484 BC.[12] According to ancient writers such as the Greek historian Herodotus, Xerxes destroyed Babylon's fortifications and damaged the temples in the city.[13]