Persian invasions of Greece

2000 Chaldea, Abraham
1300 Egypt, Moses
1200 Trojan War, Ruth
1000 David, Solomon
750 Assyria, Nineveh, Jonah
540 Babylon, Daniel, Persia
444 Xerxes, Nehemiah
The old Persian Empire, from Daniel at the time of the "writing on the wall" about 540 BC. until Alexander the Great destroyed it 200 years later, 333 BC, stretched from Egypt to Asia Minor to Afghanistan and India.

The ancient Greek word "ἀγγαρεύω" ≈ "dispatch as a courier, press into service" and appears to be of Persian origin.

Herodotus reports on the Persian system of mounted couriers that was similar to the Pony Express in the 19th century.They could take messages from Susa to Sardis, about 1700 miles, in nine days.

The motto of the Persian postal service became memorable: stopped by neither snow, rain, heat or gloom of night. The US postal service also adopted this motto and the famous Pony Express mail delivery resembled the original Persian design. http://www.mage.com/TLbody.html (as of 2007-02-11)

More: Herodotus

Herodotus writes (5th Century BC):

Greek: λέγουσι γὰρ ὡς ὁσέων ἂν ἡμερέων ᾖ ἡ πᾶσα ὁδός, τοσοῦτοι ἵπποι τε καὶ ἄνδρες διεστᾶσι κατὰ ἡμερησίην ὁδὸν ἑκάστην ἵππος τε καὶ ἀνὴρ τεταγμένος: τοὺς οὔτε νιφετός, οὐκ ὄμβρος, οὐ καῦμα, οὐ νὺξ ἔργει μὴ οὐ κατανύσαι τὸν προκείμενον αὐτῷ δρόμον τὴν ταχίστην.

English: It is said that as many days as there are in the whole journey, so many are the men and horses that stand along the road, each horse and man at the interval of a day’s journey; and these are stayed neither by snow nor rain nor heat nor darkness from accomplishing their appointed course with all speed.

General rule: To mail via USPS you need their stamp of approval.

Use FedEx when the package absolutely positively needs to get there tomorrow.
Use the USPS when the package absolutely positively needs to get here eventually.

More: Daniel 12: Knowledge shall increase in the end times

492-490 BC : 1st Persian invasion, Battle of Marathon
483-473 BC : Esther and Xerxes at Susa
Movie: 300 Spartans

480-479 BC : 2nd Persian Invasion, Battle of Thermopylae (300 Spartans), Salamis (naval battle)

The English word "strait" means "narrow".

More: Strait talk about narrow and wide gates

How did the huge Persian army get across?
For the Persian army to get from Asia Minor (Turkey) to Greek, it was necessary to cross over. The best places to do this is called the Dardanelles or the Bosporus (literally, "cow crossing" in folk etymology). These crossing points separate the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea.

The Black Sea, or Dark Sea, was named in ancient times for as a sea to the north where the color or shade for north was black or dark.

That idea of a dark or black sea was then calqued into many languages. The Greeks named the prefix from "dark" to "good" to make it seem less threatening (to sailors, etc.).

By contrast, the Red Sea was to the south.

White meant east and blue or green (similar colors in many languages) do not have recognizable seas for those colors or shades.

Herodotus reports that Xerxes, son of Darius, about 482 BC, had two pontoon bridges built across the Hellespont.

Herodotus reports that a storm destroyed the bridges and Xerxes had the builders executed (beheaded) and had the straight itself whipped (300 lashes) as a punishment.

The engineers then used ships lashed together with planks between them to allow the army to cross. Additional anchors were added to each ship to keep them from moving too much.

Some of those techniques are still used today.

Much later, the Dardanelles crossing was a source of revenue due to tariffs to cross.

Visitors at Pentecost:

Acts 2:9 Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, [kjv]

παρθοι και μηδοι και ελαμιται και οι κατοικουντες την μεσοποταμιαν ιουδαιαν τε και καππαδοκιαν ποντον και την ασιαν [gnt]

Peter to areas of Asia Minor:

1 Peter 1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, [kjv]

πετρος αποστολος ιησου χριστου εκλεκτοις παρεπιδημοις διασπορας ποντου γαλατιας καππαδοκιας ασιας και βιθυνιας [gnt]

Acts 2:9

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KJV: Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,

Greek: παρθοι και μηδοι και ελαμιται και οι κατοικουντες την μεσοποταμιαν ιουδαιαν τε και καππαδοκιαν ποντον και την ασιαν

1 Peter 1:1

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KJV: Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,

Greek: πετρος αποστολος ιησου χριστου εκλεκτοις παρεπιδημοις διασπορας ποντου γαλατιας καππαδοκιας ασιας και βιθυνιας

Acts 18:2 And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came unto them. [kjv]

και ευρων τινα ιουδαιον ονοματι ακυλαν ποντικον τω γενει προσφατως εληλυθοτα απο της ιταλιας και πρισκιλλαν γυναικα αυτου δια το διατεταχεναι κλαυδιον χωριζεσθαι παντας τους ιουδαιους απο της ρωμης προσηλθεν αυτοις [gnt]

Acts 18:2

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KJV: And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came unto them.

Greek: και ευρων τινα ιουδαιον ονοματι ακυλαν ποντικον τω γενει προσφατως εληλυθοτα απο της ιταλιας και πρισκιλλαν γυναικα αυτου δια το διατεταχεναι κλαυδιον χωριζεσθαι παντας τους ιουδαιους εκ απο της ρωμης προσηλθεν αυτοις