Xerxes: Counting the Troops

(More info from History of Xerxes the Great)

*After crossing the bridge, Xerxes took stock of all his assets. All told, he estimated himself to have 1 million seven hundred thousand men.(128) Herodotus later estimated him to have closer to 5 million men, as he kept picking up more men along the way. (129)

*Most soldiers were treated poorly, but there was one special group of soldiers called the Immortals. They were so named because there were always 10,000 soldiers in this group. Whenever one died or got sick, he was replaced. These men were dressed in finery, and accompanied with carriages carrying their women and servants. (http://www.livius.org/ia-in/immortals/immortals.html)

*Demaratus also came along with Xerxes, and from time to time Xerxes asked him for advice on what the Greeks were like. Demaratus told him that the Greeks were fierce warriors and would not surrender. Xerxes, however, doubted him. In his pride, he could not understand how the Greeks could not give in to such a formidable force.