ishieldpoint: Was King Xerxes a giant?

No, while Xerxes was rather tall, especially in connection with the average man’s height during his epoch, he was absolutely not a giant! Since the movie production "300" was released, plenty of speculations emerged in connection with the actual height of this ancient Achaemenid Persian king, who appears as a muscular giant in the "silver scream," which depicts the Spartan soldiers fighting nearly naked without any form of body armor protecting them; whereas body armor was a valuable asset to the real Spartans. While in the film “300” Xerxes, the ruler of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, is portrayed as being 10 feet (3.048 meters) tall due to "special effects," the Brazilian actor Rodrigo Junqueira dos Reis Santoro, who performed Xerxes in the movie, is only 6'2" tall. Herodotus [2] wrote in Histories (7:117) that “Xerxes was in stature was the tallest of all the Persians, falling short by only four fingers of being five royal cubits in height.” A royal cubit is assumed to be a bit more than 20 inches (52 cm), which would render Xerxes' statue almost 8 feet tall (2.43 m). Moreover, to add additional perspective to this popular conjecture, according to an Iranian anthropologist (Lisbdnet.com), the tallest man in ancient Iran was 1.925 meters (6.31 ft) tall while the shortest was 1.45 meters (4.75722 ft) - and the oldest human being then was 85 years old. Finally, in conformity with accurate, trusted historical records, Xerxes I (519-465 BCE, reigned 486-465 BCE), also known as Xerxes the Great, was the king of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, and his official title was Shahanshah - albeit usually translated as `emperor', this title actually means `King of Kings.' Xerxes I is generally identified as the Ahasuerus of Persia in the mythological, biblical Book of Esther [3], and is referenced at length in the works of Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, Quintus Curtius Rufus, and, to a lesser extent, Plutarch. Herodotus is the primary source for the story of Xerxes’ expedition to Greece. The name `Xerxes' is the Greek version of the Persian `Khshayarsa' (or Khashyar Shah); as such, whilst he is known in the west as `Xerxes,' in the east he is celebrated as `Khshayarsa'. [1] Silver Scream: the movie industry is sometimes called the silver screen, since, in the early days of film, a silver screen was a specific type of buffer/display onto which films were projected. As a general term for the movies, the silver screen is a figure of speech called a metonym, a word that comes from an object closely associated with it. [2] Herodotus (circa 484 - 430/20 BCE) is a prominent Greek author of the first historical narrative produced in the ancient world - namely, the History of the Greco-Persian Wars. He is thought to have resided in Athens and to have met Sophocles and then to have left for Thurii, a new Hellenic colony in southern Italy sponsored by Athens. The latest event alluded to in his "Histories" is dated circa 430 BCE, but how soon after or where he died is uncertain. There is good reason to believe that he was in Athens, or at least in central Greece, during the early years of the Peloponnesian War [4]. [3] In the so-called Book of Esther, Xerxes' son, Artaxerxes I along with Artaxerxes II are also possibilities for the biblical narrative. [4] The Peloponnesian War (431–404 BCE) was an ancient Greek war fought between the Delian League - led by Athens - and the Peloponnesian League - led by Sparta, which surfaced victoriously.No, while Xerxes was rather tall, especially in connection with the average man’s height during his epoch, he was absolutely not a giant! Since the movie production "300" was released, plenty of speculations emerged in connection with the actual height of this ancient Achaemenid Persian king, who appears as a muscular giant in the "silver scream," which depicts the Spartan soldiers fighting nearly naked without any form of body armor protecting them; whereas body armor was a valuable asset to the real Spartans. While in the film “300” Xerxes, the ruler of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, is portrayed as being 10 feet (3.048 meters) tall due to "special effects," the Brazilian actor Rodrigo Junqueira dos Reis Santoro, who performed Xerxes in the movie, is only 6'2" tall. Herodotus [2] wrote in Histories (7:117) that “Xerxes was in stature was the tallest of all the Persians, falling short by only four fingers of being five royal cubits in height.” A royal cubit is assumed to be a bit more than 20 inches (52 cm), which would render Xerxes' statue almost 8 feet tall (2.43 m). Moreover, to add additional perspective to this popular conjecture, according to an Iranian anthropologist (Lisbdnet.com), the tallest man in ancient Iran was 1.925 meters (6.31 ft) tall while the shortest was 1.45 meters (4.75722 ft) - and the oldest human being then was 85 years old. Finally, in conformity with accurate, trusted historical records, Xerxes I (519-465 BCE, reigned 486-465 BCE), also known as Xerxes the Great, was the king of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, and his official title was Shahanshah - albeit usually translated as `emperor', this title actually means `King of Kings.' Xerxes I is generally identified as the Ahasuerus of Persia in the mythological, biblical Book of Esther [3], and is referenced at length in the works of Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, Quintus Curtius Rufus, and, to a lesser extent, Plutarch. Herodotus is the primary source for the story of Xerxes’ expedition to Greece. The name `Xerxes' is the Greek version of the Persian `Khshayarsa' (or Khashyar Shah); as such, whilst he is known in the west as `Xerxes,' in the east he is celebrated as `Khshayarsa'. [1] Silver Scream: the movie industry is sometimes called the silver screen, since, in the early days of film, a silver screen was a specific type of buffer/display onto which films were projected. As a general term for the movies, the silver screen is a figure of speech called a metonym, a word that comes from an object closely associated with it. [2] Herodotus (circa 484 - 430/20 BCE) is a prominent Greek author of the first historical narrative produced in the ancient world - namely, the History of the Greco-Persian Wars. He is thought to have resided in Athens and to have met Sophocles and then to have left for Thurii, a new Hellenic colony in southern Italy sponsored by Athens. The latest event alluded to in his "Histories" is dated circa 430 BCE, but how soon after or where he died is uncertain. There is good reason to believe that he was in Athens, or at least in central Greece, during the early years of the Peloponnesian War [4]. [3] In the so-called Book of Esther, Xerxes' son, Artaxerxes I along with Artaxerxes II are also possibilities for the biblical narrative. [4] The Peloponnesian War (431–404 BCE) was an ancient Greek war fought between the Delian League - led by Athens - and the Peloponnesian League - led by Sparta, which surfaced victoriously.

appears in the movie “300”