Sung by Xerxes I of Persia in praise of the shade offered by an old world sycamore tree, the aria contains one of Handel’s best-known melodies, his Largo.

Outnumbered and undaunted, Spartan warriors and other Greek troops held firm in the face of Persia's might, until treachery brought King Xerxes' fury down upon them in 480 B.C.

It was Xerxes of Persia who caused a throne to be built for himself on the crest of the mountain overlooking Salamis so that he might enjoy the pageant of his conquest;--but it was a Grecian ...