Darius I (558? - 486/485 B.C.) was an Achaemenid Great King and empire builder. At Persepolis, Darius had inscribed the extent of his empire: from the Sakas beyond Sogdiana to the Kush, and from Sind to Sardis, according to Touraj Daryaee. Darius divided his empire into 20 satrapies. He was responsible for the Persian Empire's capital at Persepolis and for many other building projects, including roads through his empire and, as king of Egypt where he was known as a law-giver, the completion of a canal from the Nile to the Red Sea, and a postal system.
Accession of Darius
Darius I is known as Darius the Great. He ruled from c. 522-486/485, probably after conspiring successfully to eliminate his predecessor Cambyses' rightful successor. Darius claimed Cambyses had murdered his brother, then Cambyses died naturally, and when an imposter claimed the throne, Darius and his followers killed him, thereby restoring the rule to the family: Darius claimed descent from an ancestor of Cyrus [Krentz]. This and details of Darius' violent treatment of rebels are inscribed in a relief at Bisitun (Behistun), whose text was circulated throughout the Persian Empire.
In the Bisitun text, Darius explains why he has the right to rule. He claims descent through four generations to the eponymous Achaemenes, the father of Teispes who was the great-grandfather of Cyrus. Darius says his father was Hystaspes, whose father was Arsamnes, whose father was Ariamnes, a son of Teispes. Cyrus did not claim a genealogical connection to Achaemenes; that is, unlike Darius, he didn't say Teispes was a son of Achaemenes [Waters ].
Darius and his son Xerxes are associated with the Greco-Persian or Persian Wars.
Darius the Great References:
- Peter Krentz' The Battle of Marathon
- "The Construction of the Past in Late Antique Persia," by Touraj Daryaee Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte Vol. 55, No. 4 (2006), pp. 493-503.
- "Cyrus and the Achaemenids," by Matt Waters; Iran Vol. 42, (2004), pp. 91-102.
