Alexander the Great was antiquity\'s greatest commander

[Robert Vermaat]

There was a reason that Xerxes had Leonidas's body mutilated and crucified, rather than honour him, as any decent person would have done (look at Alexander and Darius).

Why make it a character thing? Why say Xerxes was indecent? He was a very powerful king of a superpower, and in his view the Greeks were pain-in-the-ass rebels. Kings do such things with rebels, why classify that as indecent?
Alexander and Darius is not really a comparison, Alexander saw Darius as an equal, never as a rebel against his rule.

Xerxes was scared and even jealous of Leonidas, a man who could compel such bravery from his men that they died trying to protect his body. Leonidas shamed Xerxes , he shamed the whole Persian army.

Scared and jealous? I think not. In Xerxes’ view, Leonidas was a rebel and a criminal, comparable to Spartacus in the eyes of Crassus. And his body was treated in that view – I’ve little doubt that he would have been treated similarly if taken alive.

Do we even know that Leonidas’ body was fought over? We know that Herodotus tries to write like Homer, and his depiction of this phase of the battle may well be modelled solely on how Homer describes the mythic battles around Troy – it’s not based on eyewitness accounts.

Alexander was the only man to conquer the Persian army, Leonidas as well as Alexander shamed them.

I thought that in-between these battles, Greek armies proved to be a problem for Persian armies – the Persians were unable to defeat Xenophon’s Greeks in battle as well as in retreat, for instance. And I recall there were some naval victories too?