How Xerxes’ Immortals Defiled 1,500 Sacred Greek Virgins on the Acropolis in 480 BC Shocked History

#history #medievalhistory #medievalviolence
Cultural genocide begins by attacking sacred symbols. In 480 BC, Persian King Xerxes launched history's largest invasion force—perhaps 200,000 troops from across his three-million-square-mile empire—not just to conquer Greece but to erase its identity. His father Darius had fallen at Marathon in 490 BC, and Xerxes spent four years preparing revenge: bridging the Hellespont with boats, cutting a canal through Mount Athos, stockpiling supplies. When Spartan King Leonidas and his 300 delayed him at Thermopylae, most Athenians evacuated to Salamis. But Lysimache, the high priestess of Athena Polias in her forties who had served the temple for decades, rallied a core of believers—perhaps a hundred elderly veterans, priests, and young virgin temple attendants—to defend the Acropolis, convinced the goddess would protect her sacred citadel.
The confrontation built over days as Xerxes' elite Immortals—10,000 warriors in scale armor, always replenished to full strength—encircled the rocky heights. When a Greek exile revealed a secret cliff path, Immortals scaled it under moonlight. Dawn broke to slaughter: elderly fighters fell first, priests died protecting altars, and the sacred women retreated to the inner sanctuary. Doors shattered under Persian axes. Under orders to humiliate and break Greek tradition, the Immortals targeted these virgin guardians—stripping robes, parading them as trophies, violating vows of purity to desecrate what Greeks held holy. Lysimache, dragged before General Mardonius, refused to renounce Athena. Temples burned for days, smoke visible from Salamis. But days later, Xerxes' fleet shattered at Salamis, forcing his retreat.
Late 1800s excavations on the Acropolis, led by Panagiotis Kavvadias, unearthed the Perserschutt—buried rubble including shattered korai statues with defiant smiles, carbon layers confirming the 480 BC fires.
Power targets culture first, but defiance rises from ash.
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⚠️ Educational content documenting events through Herodotus and archaeological evidence from 19th-century excavations.