Editing Xerxes I (section)

=== Parentage and birth ===
Xerxes' father was [[Darius the Great]] ({{reign|522|486|era=BC}}), the incumbent monarch of the Achaemenid Empire, albeit himself not a member of the family of [[Cyrus the Great]], the founder of the empire.{{sfn|Llewellyn-Jones|2017|p=70}}{{sfn|Waters|1996|pp=11, 18}} Xerxes' mother was [[Atossa]], a daughter of Cyrus.{{sfn|Briant|2002|p=132}} Darius and Atossa married in 522 BC,{{sfn|Briant|2002|p=520}} and Xerxes was born around 518 BC.{{sfn|Stoneman|2015|p=1}}