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 Makers of History

 Xerxes

 BY JACOB ABBOTT

 WITH ENGRAVINGS

 NEW YORK AND LONDON
 HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
 1902




Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1850, by

HARPER & BROTHERS,

In the Clerk's Office for the Southern District of New York.

Copyright, 1878, by JACOB ABBOTT




[Illustration: ARTABANUS AND THE GHOST]




PREFACE.


One special object which the author of this series has had in view, in
the plan and method which he has followed in the preparation of the
successive volumes, has been to adapt them to the purposes of text-books
in schools. The study of a _general compend_ of history, such as is
frequently used as a text-book, is highly useful, if it comes in at the
right stage of education, when the mind is sufficiently matured, and has
acquired sufficient preliminary knowledge to understand and appreciate
so condensed a generalization as a summary of the whole history of a
nation contained in an ordinary volume must necessarily be. Without this
degree of maturity of mind, and this preparation, the study of such a
work will be, as it too frequently is, a mere mechanical committing to
memory of names, and dates, and phrases, which awaken no interest,
communicate no ideas, and impart no useful knowledge to the mind.

A class of ordinary pupils, who have not yet become much acquainted with
history, would, accordingly, be more benefited by having their attention
concentrated, at first, on detached and separate topics, such as those
which form the subjects, respectively, of these volumes. By studying
thus fully the history of individual monarchs, or the narratives of
single events, they can go more fully into detail; they conceive of the
transactions described as realities; their reflecting and reasoning
powers are occupied on what they read; they take notice of the motives
of conduct, of the gradual development of character, the good or ill
desert of actions, and of the connection of causes and consequences,
both in respect to the influence of wisdom and virtue on the one hand,
and, on the other, of folly and crime. In a word, their _minds_ and
_hearts_ are occupied instead of merely their memories. They reason,
they sympathize, they pity, they approve, and they condemn. They enjoy
the real and true pleasure which constitutes the charm of historical
study for minds that are mature; and they acquire a taste for truth
instead of fiction, which will tend to direct their reading into proper
channels in all future years.

The use of these works, therefore, as text-books in classes, has been
kept continually in mind in the preparation of them. The running index
on the tops of the pages is intended to serve instead of questions.
These captions can be used in their present form as _topics_, in respect
to which, when announced in the class, the pupils are to repeat
substantially what is said on the page; or, on the other hand, questions
in form, if that mode is preferred, can be readily framed from them by
the teacher. In all the volumes, a very regular system of division is
observed, which will greatly facilitate the assignment of lessons.




 CONTENTS.


 Chapter                                                    Page

    I. THE MOTHER OF XERXES                                   13

   II. EGYPT AND GREECE                                       33

  III. DEBATE ON THE PROPOSED INVASION OF GREECE              56

   IV. PREPARATIONS FOR THE INVASION OF GREECE                78

    V. THE CROSSING OF THE HELLESPONT                        100

   VI. THE REVIEW OF THE ARMY AT DORISCUS                    125

  VII. PREPARATIONS OF THE GREEKS FOR DEFENSE                151

 VIII. THE ADVANCE OF XERXES INTO GREECE                     178

   IX. THE BATTLE OF THERMOPYLAE                              201

    X. THE BURNING OF ATHENS                                 224

   XI. THE BATTLE OF SALAMIS                                 245

  XII. THE RETURN TO PERSIA                                  284




 ENGRAVINGS.


                                                            Page

 ARTABANUS AND THE GHOST                         _Frontispiece._

 MAP OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE                                   xii

 PHERON DEFYING THE NILE                                      48

 MAP OF GREECE                                               101

 XERXES CROSSING THE HELLESPONT                              121