id	author	title	date	pages	extension	mime	words	sentences	flesch	summary	cache	txt
en-wikipedia-org-1279		Battle of Thermopylae - Wikipedia			.html	text/html	12926	1237	76	Darius, therefore, began raising a huge new army with which he meant to completely subjugate Greece; however, in 486 BC, his Egyptian subjects revolted, indefinitely postponing any Greek expedition.[25] Darius then died whilst preparing to march on Egypt, and the throne of Persia passed to his son Xerxes I.[34] Xerxes crushed the Egyptian revolt and very quickly restarted the preparations for the invasion of Greece.[35] Since this was to be a full-scale invasion, it required long-term planning, stockpiling, and conscription.[35] Xerxes decided that the Hellespont would be bridged to allow his army to cross to Europe, and that a canal should be dug across the isthmus of Mount Athos (rounding which headland, a Persian fleet had been destroyed in 492 BC).[36] These were both feats of exceptional ambition, which would have been beyond any other contemporary state.[36] By early 480 BC, the preparations were complete, and the army which Xerxes had mustered at Sardis marched towards Europe, crossing the Hellespont on two pontoon bridges.[37] According to Herodotus, Xerxes' army was so large that, upon arriving at the banks of the Echeidorus River, his soldiers proceeded to drink it dry. From a strategic point of view, by defending Thermopylae, the Greeks were making the best possible use of their forces.[77] As long as they could prevent a further Persian advance into Greece, they had no need to seek a decisive battle and could, thus, remain on the defensive.	./cache/en-wikipedia-org-1279.html	./txt/en-wikipedia-org-1279.txt