Which Persian ruler invaded Greece in 480 BCE?

Xerxes I invaded Greece in 480 BCE during the second Persian invasion of Greece.

Xerxes inherited the invasion plan from his father, Darius I, whose expedition had been defeated at Marathon in 490 BCE. Before advancing, Xerxes prepared bridges across the Hellespont and assembled forces from across the Achaemenid Empire. The invasion initially succeeded, including the capture of Athens.

Greek resistance at Thermopylae delayed the Persian army, while the naval battle of Salamis became a major Greek victory. Xerxes returned to Asia after Salamis, leaving Mardonius to continue the campaign. Greek forces defeated Mardonius at Plataea in 479 BCE, ending the immediate invasion threat.

Ancient writers give very large figures for Xerxes’s army, but modern historians consider many of those totals exaggerated. The invasion was a major imperial campaign, yet it was not simply a conflict between two unified modern-style nations.