Stormy Crossing

When the Persian king, Xerxes I, led an expedition against Greece in 480 BC, he had some of his Egyptian and Phoenician engineers throw two pontoon bridges across the narrow Hellespont Strait to carry his armies over. But a storm wrecked the bridges - and in a fury, Xerxes ordered his men to give the Hellespont 300 lashes and to throw a symbolic pair or shackles into the waves. Some accounts say he also had the waters branded with hot irons to show his displeasure. The engineers were beheaded as well. Their successors, however, kept their heads because the weather improved and the Persians were able to cross safely. At first the invasion was successful. But after a crushing naval defeat at the Battle of Salamis later that year, Xerxes had to withdraw from Greece.