Persia reached its greatest strength under King Darius (Xerxes' predecessor, key figure in the book of Daniel). Xerxes tried to continue the expansion of the empire, but some decisive losses in battle signaled the beginning of the decline of the Persian Empire.
In the year 500 BCE (under Darius) the empire reached into Africa and to the shores of Greece.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Map_of_the_Achaemenid_Empire.jpg
Xerxes took the throne in 485 BCE at the age of about 34 and rulled until his death in 465 BCE. The most noted loss in battle was against the Greeks. A video link describing that battle can be found at this site:
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/650720/Xerxes-I
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Since our first small group didn't work out for tonight, Heidi and I watched Gladiator. Kingdom expansion by conquering and killing people doesn't make any sense to me compared to God's ever-expanding kingdom of love.
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