id	author	title	date	pages	extension	mime	words	sentences	flesch	summary	cache	txt
en-wikipedia-org-5531		Second Persian invasion of Greece - Wikipedia			.html	text/html	11751	1259	75	Since this was to be a full-scale invasion, it required long-term planning, stock-piling and conscription.[25] It was decided that Xerxes' Pontoon Bridges were to be set up to allow his army to cross the Hellespont 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).[26] These were both feats of exceptional ambition, which would have been beyond any contemporary state.[26] However, the campaign was delayed one year because of another revolt in Egypt and Babylonia.[27] Modern scholars thus generally attribute the numbers given in the ancient sources to the result of miscalculations or exaggerations on the part of the victors, or disinformation by the Persians in the run up to the war.[3] The topic has been hotly debated but the modern consensus revolves around the figure of 200,000[1] or 300,000–500,000.[2][3] Nevertheless, whatever the real numbers were, it is clear that Xerxes was eager to ensure a successful expedition by mustering overwhelming numerical superiority by land and by sea,[2] and also that much of the army died of starvation and disease, never returning to Asia.[37]	./cache/en-wikipedia-org-5531.html	./txt/en-wikipedia-org-5531.txt