Herodotos and Xerxes' Army

Herodotos has traditionally been given short shrift by Classical scholars due to the paucity of his reference to sources. These doubts have reflected badly on his description of Xerxes’ campaign against Greece to the point where very little of his account is now believed.

This book sets out to examine whether this skepticism is justified. In its attempt to quantify the size of Xerxes’ army using scientific methodology it found that his claims were in fact credible. Although some of his estimates were based on faulty assumptions, the magnitude of parts of the army was not significantly smaller than his claim. 

This impressive analysis also leads to a revised dating of the Battle of Thermopylai and the identification of the elusive Leuke Akte supply depot.