Xerxes the Great, also known as Xerxes I of Persia, (Old Persian: 𐎧𐏁𐎹𐎠𐎼𐏁𐎠; Xšayāršā) (reigned 485–465 BC) was a Zoroastrian Persian Shahanshah (Emperor) of Achaemenid Empire. Xerxes was the son of Darius the Great and Atossa and a descendent of Cyrus the Great. He succeeded his father in 486 BC with a very smooth transition of power challenged by no subject nation of the huge Achaemenid empire.