"Xerxes, King of the Persians, Crosses a Bridge with His Army," an illustration by the Boucicaut Master from c.1413-1415. This image is meant to represent the immense bridge that Xerxes I or Xerxes the Great (519-465 BC) built to invade Greece in 480 B.C., linking Asia Minor with Europe. The entire Persian army, numbering upwards of 600,000 men, crossed it on foot. Historians today believe that Xerxes's "pontoon bridge" over the Hellespont was actually made of ships linked together. According to Herodotus, Xerxes's first attempt to bridge the Hellespont ended in failure when a storm destroyed the flax and papyrus cables of the bridges, so Xerxes ordered the Hellespont (the strait itself) whipped three hundred times and had fetters thrown into the water. Xerxes's second attempt to bridge the Hellespont was successful.