Was Xerxes a tyrant

Answer 1

He was a king who inherited the throne of Persia from his father Darius the Great. As king, he controlled the Persian Empire through 21 provincial governors who ran the empire under supervision of the king and his council.

A tyrant was someone in the Greek world who was appointed to rule for the benefit of all, to replace other forms of unsuccessful government - especially oligarchs - a coterie of aristocrats who ruled for their own interests. In Athens Peisistratus was appointed tyrant to do this as sole ruler - to rule for the people and keep the aristocrats in check. The problem was that he and his successors had to be wary that the oligarchs did not assassinate them, so they had to employ a strong bodyguard, and levy taxes to pay them. Greeks did not like taxes, and so the tyrants were expelled and replaced by a democracy.

The Romans had a similar appointment - Dictator, who was appointed to rule when there had been a breakdown in the normal political system. This was however for a six month period only, to sort out the problem. Julius Caesar, faced with endless uprisings of the nobility, made himself dictator for life to bring stability after the civil war. This unwittingly left the only way out for the aspiring aristocracy - to end that life.

So the modern use of tyrant as someone who rules ruthlessly is somewhat different from the purpose for which they were appointed.

Answer 2

Xerxes was certainly an all-powerful ruler and dictator, but whether he was a tyrant or not is a question of perception, because it requires the ruler to be cruel and oppressive. Xerxes's Persia was generally seen to be a tolerant and accepting regime of various diverse peoples, but any dissent from Persian authority was swiftly met with violence, arrest, and torture.