As it became clear that the tide had turned against Xerxes at the Battle of Salamis, he made a statement remarkable for its day, but strangely one that we today, in more enlightened times, are completely comfortable with - My men have turned into women, my women into men.

Just now, you should be asking what the hell he meant by that.

Tag words: Xerxes; Battle of Salamis; Artemisia; John Marincola; Herodotus; Histories; Persians; Mardonius; Damasithymus; Victor Davis Hanson; Carnage and Culture;