Hydarnes

Hydarnes (Old Persian Vidarna: "the ripper" , Greek Ὑδάρνης), son of Hydarnes, was an eminent Persian, the commander of the Ten Thousand Immortals during the time of the Persian Wars with Greece. Hydarnes led the Immortals in Xerxes' expedition against Greece.

Perhaps the most famous episode involving Hydarnes and his Immortals came at the Thermopylae in 480 BC, when they came into contact with Leonidas of Sparta.

Later, after the Persian naval defeat at the Salamis (at the hands of a vastly outumbered Greek force), Xerxes retreated with most of his remaining army. Only 70,000 men stayed behind, under the command of Xerxes' cousin Mardonius, to try to subdue Greece; they were defeated at the Plataea). Xerxes gave Hydarnes the responsibility of getting the army back over the Hellespont and back to Asia.

In popular culture

*In the movie "The 300 Spartans" (1962), Hydarnes is portrayed by the actor Donald Houston