The Persian Emperor Who Ordered His Engineers Beheaded and the Sea Itself Flogged After a Storm Broke His Pontoon Bridge in 480 BCE
Xerxes I of Persia ordered the Hellespont — the strait between Europe and Asia at modern Dardanelles — to be bridged in spring 480 BCE for his invasion of Greece. A storm destroyed the first bridge. Xerxes had the engineers beheaded, ordered the sea given 300 lashes, and had a pair of fetters thrown into the water. The second bridge held.
Read the story →