Darius I

Darius I (Old Persian: Drayava(h)u, c. 550486 or dharan, which means to hold has the same roots.
BCE) was the third king of the Persian Achaemenid Em- The Modern Persian form is Drysh ().
pire. Also called Darius the Great, he ruled the empire at its peak, when it included much of West Asia, the
Caucasus, parts of the Balkans (Thrace-Macedonia and
Paeonia), most of the Black Sea coastal regions, parts of
the North Caucasus, Central Asia, as far as the Indus Valley in the far east, and portions of north and northeast
Africa including Egypt (Mudrya),[1] eastern Libya and
coastal Sudan.[2][3]

2 Primary sources

Darius ascended the throne by overthrowing Gaumata,

the alleged magus usurper of Bardiya with the assistance
of six other Persian noble families; Darius was crowned
the following morning. The new king met with rebellions
throughout his kingdom and quelled them each time. A
major event in Dariuss life was his expedition to punish
Athens and Eretria for their aid in the Ionian Revolt, and
subjugate Greece. Although ultimately ending in failure
at the Battle of Marathon, Darius succeeded in the resubjugation of Thrace, expansion of the empire through
the conquest of Macedon, the Cyclades, and the island
of Naxos, and the sacking and enslavement of the city of
Eretria.

See also: Behistun Inscription and Herodotus

At some time between his coronation and his death,
Darius left a tri-lingual monumental relief on Mount
Behistun, which was written in Elamite, Old Persian
and Babylonian. The inscription begins with a brief
autobiography including his ancestry and lineage. To
aid the presentation of his ancestry, Darius wrote down
the sequence of events that occurred after the death of
Cyrus the Great.[5][6] Darius mentions several times that
he is the rightful king by the grace of Ahura Mazda, the
Zoroastrian god. In addition, further texts and monuments from Persepolis have been found, including a fragmentary Old Iranian inscription from Gherla, Romania
(Harmatta) and a letter from Darius to Gadates, preserved
in a Greek text of the Roman period.[7]

Darius organized the empire by dividing it into provinces

and placing satraps to govern it. He organized a new uniform monetary system, along with making Aramaic the
ocial language of the empire. Darius also worked on
construction projects throughout the empire, focusing on
Susa, Pasargadae, Persepolis, Babylon and Egypt. He
had the cli-face Behistun Inscription carved to record Herodotus, a Greek historian and author of The Histohis conquests, an important testimony of the Old Persian ries, provided an account of many Persian kings and the
Greco-Persian Wars. He wrote extensively on Darius,
language.
spanning half of Book 3 along with Books 4, 5 and 6. It
Darius is mentioned in the Biblical books of Haggai,
begins with the removal of the alleged usurper Gaumata
Zechariah, EzraNehemiah and Daniel.
and continues to the end of Dariuss reign.[7]

The Book of Ezra (chapter 6, verses 1 to 11) describes

the decree to continue reconstruction of the Temple in
Jerusalem, specifying nancial support and supplies for
the temple services. This decree is dated approximately
519 BCE.[8] Between Cyrus and Darius, an exchange of
letters with King Ahasuerus and Artaxerxes is described
(chapter 4, verse 7), the grandson of Darius I, during
whose reign Ezra and Nehemiah came to Jerusalem. The
generous funding of the temple gave Darius and his successors the support of the Jewish priesthood.[9][10]

Etymology

Drus and Drus are the Latin form of the Greek

Dareos (), itself from Old Persian Draya(h)u
(
; in Aramaic dryhw ), which is a shortened
form of Drayava(h)u (
). The longer form
is also seen to have been reected in the Elamite Da-ri(y)a-ma-u-i, Babylonian Da-(a-)ri-ia-(a-)mu, Aramaic
drywhw, and possibly the longer Greek form Dareiaos
(). The name means holding rm the good,
which can be seen by the stem draya, meaning hold,
and the adjective vau, meaning good.[4] Sanskrit dhar

Darius is mentioned in the near-contemporary biblical

books of Haggai and Zechariah (two of the Twelve Minor Prophets), whose account is also reected in the later
books of EzraNehemiah and Daniel.
1

EARLY REIGN

Early life

had served Cambyses as his lance-bearer until the deposed rulers death, prayed for aid and in September
Darius was the eldest of ve sons to Hystaspes and Rho- 522 BCE, along with Otanes, Intraphrenes, Gobryas,
killed Gaumata in
dugune in 550 BCE. Hystaspes was a leading gure of Hydarnes, Megabyzus and Aspathines,
[16]
the
fortress
of
Sikayauvati.
authority in Persia, which was the homeland of the Persians. Dariuss inscription states that his father was satrap Herodotus provides a dubious account of Dariuss ascenof Bactria in 522 BCE. According to Herodotus, Hys- sion: Several days after Gaumata had been assassinated,
taspes was the satrap of Persis, although most historians Darius and the other six nobles discussed the fate of the
state that this is an error. Also according to Herodotus empire. At rst, the seven discussed the form of gov(III.139), Darius, prior to seizing power and of no con- ernment; a democratic republic was strongly pushed by
sequence at the time, had served as a spearman (do- Otanes, an oligarchy was pushed by Megazybus, while
ryphoros) in the Egyptian campaign (528525 BCE) of Darius pushed for a monarchy. After stating that a repubCambyses II, then the Persian Great King.[11] Hystaspes lic would lead to corruption and internal ghting, while
was an ocer in Cyrus's army and a noble of his court.[12] a monarchy would be led with a single-mindedness not
Before Cyrus and his army crossed the Aras River to bat- possible in other governments, Darius was able to contle with the Armenians, he installed his son Cambyses II vince the other nobles that a monarchy was the correct
as king in case he should not return from battle.[13] How- form of government. To decide who would become the
ever, once Cyrus had crossed the Aras River, he had a monarch, the six nobles (Otanes stated that he had no invision in which Darius had wings atop his shoulders and terest in becoming king) decided on a test. All six nostood upon the connes of Europe and Asia (the known bles would gather outside mounted on their horses at sunworld). When Cyrus awoke from the dream, he inferred rise, and the nobles horse which neighed rst would beit as a great danger to the future security of the empire, as come Great King. According to Herodotus, Darius had a
it meant that Darius would one day rule the whole world. slave, Oebares who helped Darius win this contest. BeHowever, his son Cambyses was the heir to the throne, fore the contest, Oebares rubbed his hand over the gennot Darius, causing Cyrus to wonder if Darius was form- itals of a mare that Dariuss horse had a fondness for.
ing treasonable and ambitious designs. This led Cyrus to When the six nobles gathered outside, Oebares placed
order Hystaspes to go back to Persis and watch over his his hands beside the nostrils of Dariuss horse, who beson strictly, until Cyrus himself returned.[14] Darius did came excited at the smell and neighed. Immediately afnot seem to have any treasonous thoughts as Cambyses II ter, lightning and thunder occurred leading the other six
causing them
ascended the throne peacefully; and, through promotion, noblemen to believe to be an act of God,
[17]
to
dismount
and
kneel
before
Darius.
Darius
did not
Darius was eventually elevated to be Cambysess personal
believe
that
he
had
achieved
the
throne
through
fraud
but
lancer.
through brilliant sagacity, even erecting a statue of himself mounted on his neighing horse stating Darius, son
of Hystaspes, obtained the sovereignty of Persia by the
4 Accession
sagacity of his horse and the ingenious contrivance of Oebases, his groom.[18]
See also: Gaumata (False Smerdis)
The rise of Darius to the throne contains two variations,
an account from Darius and another from Greek historians. Some modern historians have inferred that Dariuss
rise to power might have been illegitimate. To them, it
seems likely that Gaumata was in fact Bardiya, and that
under cover of revolts, Darius killed the heir to the throne
and took it himself.[15]
Dariuss account, written at the Behistun Inscription
states that Cambyses II killed his own brother Bardiya,
but that this murder was not known among the Iranian
people. A would-be usurper named Gaumata came and
lied to the people, stating he was Bardiya.[16] The Iranians had grown rebellious against Cambysess rule and on
11 March 522 BCE a revolt against Cambyses broke out
in his absence. On 1 July, the Iranian people chose to
be under the leadership of Gaumata, as Bardiya. No
member of the Achaemenid family would rise against
Gaumata for the safety of their own life. Darius, who

According to the accounts of Greek historians, Cambyses II had left Patizeithes in charge of the kingdom
when he headed for Egypt. He later sent Prexaspes to
murder Bardiya. After the killing, Patizeithes put his
brother Gaumata, a Magian who resembled Bardiya, on
the throne and declared him the Great King. Otanes discovered that Gaumata was an impostor, and along with six
other Iranian nobles including Darius, created a plan to
oust the pseudo-Bardiya. After killing the impostor along
with his brother Patizeithes and other Magians, Darius
was crowned king the following morning.[7]

5 Early reign
Following his coronation at Pasargadae, Darius moved to
Ecbatana. He soon learned that support for Bardiya was
strong, and revolts in Elam and Babylonia had broken out.
Darius ended the Elamite revolt when the revolutionary
leader Aschina was captured and executed in Susa. After

3
three months the revolt in Babylonia had ended. While in
Babylonia, Darius learned a revolution had broken out in
Bactria, a satrapy which had always been in favour of Darius, and had initially volunteered an army of soldiers to
quell revolts. Following this, revolts broke out in Persis,
the homeland of the Persians and Darius and then in Elam
and Babylonia, followed by in Media, Parthia, Assyria,
and Egypt. By 522 BCE, there were revolts against Darius in most parts of the Achaemenid Empire leaving the
empire in turmoil. Even though Darius did not seem to
have the support of the populace, Darius had a loyal army,
led by close condants and nobles (including the six nobles who had helped him remove Gaumata). With their
support, Darius was able to suppress and quell all revolts
within a year. In Dariuss words, he had killed a total
of eight lying kings through the quelling of revolutions.
Darius left a detailed account of these revolutions in the
Behistun Inscription.

6 Military campaigns
After securing his authority over the entire empire, Darius embarked on a campaign to Egypt where he defeated
the armies of the Pharaoh and secured the lands that
Cambyses had conquered while incorporating a large portion of Egypt into the Achaemenid Empire.[20]

6.1 Invasion of Indus Valley

One of the signicant events of Dariuss early reign was

the slaying of Intaphernes, one of the seven noblemen
who had deposed the previous ruler and installed Darius as the new monarch. The seven had made an agreement that they could all visit the new king whenever they
pleased, except when he was with his wife. One evening,
Intaphernes went to the palace to meet Darius, but was
stopped by two ocers who stated that Darius had retired for the night. Becoming enraged and insulted, Intaphernes drew his sword and cut o the ears and noses
of the two ocers. While leaving the palace, he took the
bridle from his horse, and tied the two ocers together.
The ocers went to the king and showed him what Intaphernes had done to them. Darius began to fear for
his own safety; he thought that all seven noblemen had
banded together to rebel against him and that the attack
against his ocers was the rst sign of revolt. He sent a
messenger to each of the noblemen, asking them if they
approved of Intapherness actions. They denied and disavowed any connection with Intapherness actions, stating
that they stood by their decision to appoint Darius as King
of Kings.

Eastern border of the Achaemenid Empire

Taking precautions against further resistance, Darius sent

soldiers to seize Intaphernes, along with his son, family members, relatives and any friends who were capable
of arming themselves. Darius believed that Intaphernes
was planning a rebellion, but when he was brought to the
court, there was no proof of any such plan. Nonetheless,
Darius killed Intapherness entire family, excluding his
wifes brother and son. She was asked to choose between
her brother and son. She chose her brother to live. Her
reasoning for doing so was that she could have another
husband and another son, but she would always have but
one brother. Darius was impressed by her response and
spared both her brothers and her sons life.[19]

6.2 Babylonian revolt

Main article: Achaemenid invasion of the Indus Valley

In 516 BCE, Darius embarked on a campaign to Central
Asia, Aria and Bactria and then marched into Afghanistan
to Taxila in modern day Pakistan. Darius spent the winter of 516-515 BCE in Gandhara, preparing to conquer
the Indus Valley. Darius conquered the lands surrounding the Indus River in 515 BCE.[21] Darius I controlled
the Indus Valley from Gandhara to modern Karachi and
appointed the Greek Scylax of Caryanda to explore the
Indian Ocean from the mouth of the Indus to Suez. Darius then marched through the Bolan Pass and returned
through Arachosia and Drangiana back to Persia.

After Bardiya was murdered, widespread revolts occurred throughout the empire, especially on the eastern
side. Darius asserted his position as king by force, taking
his armies throughout the empire, suppressing each revolt
individually. The most notable of all these revolts was the
Babylonian revolt which was led by Nebuchadnezzar III.
This revolt occurred when Otanes withdrew much of the
army from Babylon to aid Darius in suppressing other revolts. Darius felt that the Babylonian people had taken
advantage of him and deceived him, which resulted in

MILITARY CAMPAIGNS

6.3 Persian invasion of Scythia

The Scythians were a group of north Iranian nomadic
tribes, speaking an Iranian language (Scythian languages)
who had invaded Media, killed Cyrus in battle, revolted
against Darius and threatened to disrupt trade between
Central Asia and the shores of the Black Sea as they
lived between the Danube river, river Don and the Black
Sea.[7][25]

Archers frieze from Darius palace at Susa. Detail of the beginning of the frieze, left

Darius crossed the Black Sea at the Bosphorus Straits using a bridge of boats. Darius conquered large portions of
Eastern Europe, even crossing the Danube to wage war on
the Scythians. Darius invaded Scythia, where the Scythians evaded Dariuss army, using feints and retreating eastwards while laying waste to the countryside, by blocking wells, intercepting convoys, destroying pastures and
continuous skirmishes against Dariuss army.[26] Seeking to ght with the Scythians, Dariuss army chased the
Scythian army deep into Scythian lands, where there were
no cities to conquer and no supplies to forage. In frustration Darius sent a letter to the Scythian ruler Idanthyrsus
to ght or surrender. The ruler replied that he would not
stand and ght with Darius until they found the graves of
their fathers and tried to destroy them. Until then, they
would continue their strategy as they had no cities or cultivated lands to lose.[27] Darius ordered a halt at the banks
of Oarus, where he built eight frontier fortresses spaced at
intervals of eight miles. After chasing the Scythians for a
month, Dariuss army was suering losses due to fatigue,
privation and sickness. Concerned about losing more of
his troops, Darius halted the march at the banks of the
Volga River and headed towards Thrace.[28] He had conquered enough Scythian territory to force the Scythians
to respect the Persian forces.[29]

Darius gathering a large army and marching to Babylon.

At Babylon, Darius was met with closed gates and a series 6.4 Persian invasion of Greece
of defences to keep him and his armies out.[22] Darius encountered mockery and taunting from the rebels, includ- Main article: First Persian invasion of Greece
ing the famous saying Oh yes, you will capture our city, See also: Ionian Revolt
when mules shall have foals. For a year and a half, Dar- Dariuss European expedition was a major event in his
ius and his armies were unable to retake the city, though
he attempted many tricks and strategieseven copying
that which Cyrus the Great had employed when he captured Babylon. However, the situation changed in Dariuss favour when, according to the story, a mule owned
PERSIAN
by Zopyrus, a high-ranking soldier, foaled. Following
EMPIRE
this, a plan was hatched for Zopyrus to pretend to be a
deserter, enter the Babylonian camp, and gain the trust
of the Babylonians. The plan was successful and Dariuss army eventually surrounded the city and overcame
the rebels.[23]
Odryses

Byzantium

Chalcedon

Perinthus

Abdera

Eion

Epidamnus

Canal
Olynthus
Torone
Potidaea

Aegae Pydna

Cyzicus

Lampsacus

Sestos

Abydos

Imbros

Xerxes

Methoni

Apollonia

Samothrace

Ilium

Antandrus
Adramyttium

Lemnos

Assus

Pergamon

Lesbos

Kasthanaia

Larissa

Dodona

Pherae

Kassope Ambracia

Thermopylae
480

Anactorium
Leucas

Calydon

Cephallenia

Phocaea

Skiathos

EA

480
Phlius Corinth Salamis

Keos

Kythnos

Zakynthos

Elis

Argos

Tegea
Sparta
Messene

Colophon
Ephesus
Samos

Ikaros

Tralles

Mycale
479
Miletus
Mylasa
Lade
494

Mykonos

Halicarnassus Physcus

Syros
Delos

Serifos

Olympia

The Greek World during

the Persian Wars (500479 BC)

Sardis
498

Smyrna
Clazomenae

Chios

Chalcis

Eretria
Thebes
Delphi
Marathon Karystos
Naupactus
490
Andros
Plataea 479
Athens
Megara
ACHA
Tinos

Patras

Pitane

Mytilene

Skyros
480
Cape Artemision

Pharsalus

Korkyra

Astakos

Proconnesus

Aenus

Thasos

Therma Stagira

Pella

Maronea Doriskos

Naxos
Paros

Sifnos

Kos

Cnidus

Amorgos

Lindos

Astipalea

Ios

During this revolt, Scythian nomads took advantage of

the disorder and chaos and invaded Persia. Darius rst
nished defeating the rebels in Elam, Assyria, and Babylon and then attacked the Scythian invaders. He pursued
the invaders, who led him to a marsh; there he found no
Map showing key sites during the Persian invasions of Greece
known enemies but an enigmatic Scythian tribe.[24]
Ionian revolt

50

Rhodes

Melos

Methoni

Main battle
Greek opponents of Persia
Greek neutral states
Persian empire
Persian vassal states
Ionian rebels (498 BC)
Mardonius (492 BC)
Artaphernes/Datis (490 BC)
Xerxes/Mardonius (480 BC)

Thera

Anafe

Karpathos

Cythera

100 km

5
reign, which began with the invasion of Thrace. Darius also conquered many cities of the northern Aegean,
Paeonia, while Macedonia submitted voluntarily, after the demand of earth and water, becoming a vassal
kingdom.[30] He then left Megabyzus to conquer Thrace,
returning to Sardis to spend the winter. The Greeks living in Asia Minor and some of the Greek islands had
submitted to Persian rule already by 510 BCE. Nonetheless, there were certain Greeks who were pro-Persian,
although these were largely based in Athens. To improve Greek-Persian relations, Darius opened his court
and treasuries to those Greeks who wanted to serve him.
These Greeks served as soldiers, artisans, statesmen and
mariners for Darius. However, the increasing concerns
amongst the Greeks over the strength of Dariuss kingdom along with the constant interference by the Greeks
in Ionia and Lydia were stepping stones towards the conict that was yet to come between Persia and certain of
the leading Greek city states.

7 Family
Darius was the son of Hystaspes and the grandson of
Arsames. Both men belonged to the Achaemenid tribe
and were still alive when Darius ascended the throne.
Darius justies his ascension to the throne with his lineage. He claimed he could trace his ancestors back
to Achaemenes, even though he was only distantly related. With this in mind, Darius married Atossa, daughter of Cyrus, with whom he had four sons: Xerxes,
Achaimenes, Masistes and Hystaspes. He also married Artystone, another daughter of Cyrus, with whom
he had two sons, Arsames and Gobryas. Darius married Parmys, the daughter of Bardiya, with whom he
had a son, Ariomardos. Furthermore, Darius married
Phratagone, with whom he had two sons, Abrokomas
and Hyperantes. He also married another woman of the
nobility, Phaidime, the daughter of Otanes. It is unknown if he had any children with her. Before these royal
marriages, Darius had married an unknown daughter of
his good friend and lace carrier Gorbyas from an early
marriage, with whom he had three sons, Artobazanes,
Ariabignes and Arsamenes. Any daughters he had with
her are not known. Although Artobazanes was Dariuss
rst-born, Xerxes became heir and the next king through
the inuence of Atossa; she had great authority in the
kingdom as Darius loved her most of all his wives.

When Aristagoras organized the Ionian Revolt, Eretria

and Athens supported him by sending ships and troops to
Ionia and by burning Sardis. Persian military and naval
operations to quell the revolt ended in the Persian reoccupation of Ionian and Greek islands, as well as the resubjugation of Thrace and the conquering of Macedonia in 492 BC under Mardonius.[31] Macedon had been
a vassal kingdom of the Persians since the late 6th century BC, but remained having autonomy. Mardonius 492
campaign made it a fully subordinate part of the Persian
kingdom.[30] These military actions as a direct response 8 Death
to the revolt in Ionia as well commenced the beginning
of the First Persian invasion of (mainland) Greece. At
the same time, anti-Persian parties gained more power
in Athens, and pro-Persian aristocrats were exiled from
Athens and Sparta. Darius responded by sending troops
led by his son-in-law across the Hellespont. However, a
violent storm and harassment by the Thracians forced the
troops to return to Persia. Seeking revenge on Athens and
Eretria, Darius assembled another army of 20,000 men
under his Admiral, Datis, and his nephew Artaphernes,
who met success when they captured Eretria and advanced to Marathon. In 490 BCE, at the Battle of
Marathon, the Persian army was defeated by a heavily
armed Athenian army, with 9,000 men who were supported by 600 Plataeans, 1,000 soldiers from each of
eleven Greek city-states (11,000 men in total) and 10,000
lightly armed soldiers led by Miltiades.
Tomb of Darius the Great, located next to other Achaemenian
kings at Naqsh-e Rustam

The defeat at Marathon marked the end of the rst Persian

invasion of Greece. Darius began preparations for a second force which he would command, instead of his gen- After becoming aware of the Persian defeat at the Battle
erals; however, before the preparations were complete, of Marathon, Darius began planning another expedition
against the Greek-city states; this time, he, not Datis,
Darius died, thus leaving the task to his son Xerxes.[29]
would command the imperial armies. Darius had spent
three years preparing men and ships for war when a revolt broke out in Egypt. This revolt in Egypt worsened his
failing health and prevented the possibility of his leading
another army. Soon after, Darius died. In October 486
BCE, the body of Darius was embalmed and entombed

GOVERNMENT

in the rock-cut sepulchre that had been prepared for him complete list is preserved in the catalogue of Herodotus,
several years earlier.
beginning with Ionia and listing the other satrapies from
Xerxes, the eldest son of Darius and Atossa, succeeded west to east excluding Persis which was the land of the
to the throne as Xerxes I; however, prior to Xerxess Persians and the only province which was not a conquered
accession, he contested the succession with his elder land. Tributes were paid in both silver and gold talents.
half-brother Artobarzanes, Dariuss eldest son who was Tributes in silver from each satrap were measured with
born to his commoner rst wife before Darius rose to the Babylonian talent. Those paid in gold were measured
power.[32]
with the Euboic talent. The total tribute from the satraps
[33]
In 1923 German archaeologist Ernst Herzfeld made casts came to an amount less than 15,000 silver talents.
of the cuneiform inscriptions on Dariuss tomb. They are
currently housed in the archives of the Freer Gallery of
Art and Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.

9
9.1

Government
Organization

The majority of the satraps were of Persian origin and

were members of the royal house or the six great noble
families. These satraps were personally picked by Darius to monitor these provinces. Each of these provinces
were divided into sub-provinces with their own governors which were chosen either by the royal court or by
the satrap. To assess tributes, a commission evaluated
the expenses and revenues of each satrap. To ensure that
one person did not gain too much power, each satrap
had a secretary who observed the aairs of the state and
communicated with Darius, a treasurer who safeguarded
provincial revenues and a garrison commander who was
responsible for the troops. Additionally, royal inspectors
who were the eyes and ears of Darius completed further
checks on each satrap.[34]
The imperial administration was coordinated by the
chancery with headquarters at Persepolis, Susa, and
Babylon with Bactria, Ecbatana, Sardis, Dascylium and
Memphis having branches. Darius chose Aramaic as a
common language, which soon spread throughout the empire. However, Darius gathered a group of scholars to
create a separate language system only used for Persis
and the Persians, which was called Aryan script which
was only used for ocial inscriptions.[34]

9.2 Economy
Darius introduced a new universal currency, the daric,
sometime before 500 BCE. Darius used the coinage system as a transnational currency to regulate trade and commerce throughout his empire. The daric was also recognized beyond the borders of the empire, in places such
as Celtic Central Europe and Eastern Europe. There
were two types of darics, a gold daric and a silver daric.
Only the king could mint gold darics. Important generals and satraps minted silver darics, the latter usually to
recruit Greek mercenaries in Anatolia. The daric was a
major boost to international trade. Trade goods such as
textiles, carpets, tools and metal objects began to travel
throughout Asia, Europe and Africa. To further improve
Darius I, imagined by a Greek painter, 4th century BCE
trade, Darius built a royal highway, a postal system and
Early in his reign, Darius wanted to reorganise the struc- Phoenician-based commercial shipping.
ture of the empire and reform the system of taxation he The daric also improved government revenues as the ininherited from Cyrus and Cambyses. To do this, Darius troduction of the daric made it easier to collect new
created twenty provinces called satrapies (or archi) which taxes on land, livestock and marketplaces. This led to
were each assigned to a satrap (archon) and specied the registration of land which was measured and then
xed tributes that the satrapies were required to pay. A taxed. The increased government revenues helped main-

9.4

Construction

7
to rule over the world.[40]
In the lands that were conquered by his empire, Darius
followed the same Achaemenid tolerance that Cyrus had
shown and later Achaemenid kings would show. He supported faiths and religions that were alien as long as the
adherents were submissive and peaceable, sometimes giving them grants from his treasury for their purposes.[41]
He had funded the restoration of the Israelite temple
which had originally been decreed by Cyrus, was supportive towards Greek cults which can be seen in his letter to
Gadatas, and supported Elamite priests. He had also observed Egyptian religious rites related to kingship and had
built the temple for the Egyptian god, Amun.[42]

9.4 Construction
Gold darics such as this one (with a purity of 95.83%) were only
issued by the king himself. (c. 490 BCE).

tain and improve existing infrastructure and helped fund

irrigation projects in dry lands. This new tax system
also led to the formation of state banking and the creation of banking rms. One of the most famous banking
rms was Murashu Sons, based in the Babylonian city of
Nippur.[35] These banking rms provided loans and credit
to clients.[36]
The daric was called drayaka within the empire and was
most likely named after Darius. In an eort to further
improve trade, Darius built canals, underground waterways and a powerful navy. He further improved and expanded the network of roads and way stations throughout
the empire, so that there was a system of travel authorization for the King, satraps and other high ocials, which
entitled the traveller to draw provisions at daily stopping
places.[37][34]

The ruins of Persepolis. In the foreground is the treasure house,

right behind the Palace of Darius.

During Dariuss Greek expedition, he had begun construction projects in Susa, Egypt and Persepolis. He had
linked the Red Sea to the river Nile by building a canal
which ran from modern Zaqzq to modern Suez. To
open this canal, he travelled to Egypt in 497 BCE, where
the inauguration was carried out with great fanfare and
9.3 Religion
celebration. Darius also built a canal to connect the Red
By the grace of Ahuramazda am I king; Ahuramazda has Sea and Mediterranean.[32][43] On this visit to Egypt he
granted me the kingdom. Darius, on the Behistun In- erected monuments and executed Aryandes on the charge
scription
of treason. When Darius returned to Persis, he found that
[29]
While there is no absolute consensus about the adherence the codication of Egyptian law had been nished.
of the kings before Darius, such as Cyrus and Cambyses, Additionally, Darius sponsored large construction
it is well established that Darius was an adherent of projects in Susa, Babylon, Egypt, and Persepolis. In
Zoroastrianism[38] or at least a rm believer in Ahura Susa, Darius built a new palace complex in the north
Mazda. As can be seen at the Behistun Inscription, Dar- of the city. An inscription states that the palace was
ius believed that Ahura Mazda had appointed him to rule destroyed during the reign of Artaxerxes I, but was
the Achaemenid Empire. Darius had dualistic convic- rebuilt. Today only glazed bricks of the palace remain,
tions and believed that each rebellion in his kingdom was the majority of them in the Louvre. In Pasargadae
the work of druj, the enemy of Asha. Darius believed Darius nished all incomplete construction projects from
that because he lived righteously by Asha, Ahura Mazda the reign of Cyrus the Great. A palace was also built
supported him.[39] In many cuneiform inscriptions denot- during the reign of Darius, with an inscription in the
ing his achievements, he presents himself as a devout be- name of Cyrus the Great. It was previously believed that
liever, perhaps even convinced that he had a divine right Cyrus had constructed this building, however due to the

11

cuneiform script being used, the palace is believed to

have been constructed by Darius.
In Egypt Darius built many temples and restored those
that had previously been destroyed. Even though Darius was a Zoroastrian, he built temples dedicated to the
Gods of the Ancient Egyptian religion. Several temples found were dedicated to Ptah and Nekhbet. Darius also created several roads and routes in Egypt. The
monuments that Darius built were often inscribed in
the ocial languages of the Persian Empire, Old Persian, Elamite and Babylonian and Egyptian hieroglyphs.
To construct these monuments Darius employed a large
number of workers and artisans of diverse nationalities.
Several of these workers were deportees who had been
employed specically for these projects. These deportees enhanced the empires economy and improved intercultural relations.[34] At the time of Dariuss death construction projects were still under way. Xerxes completed these works and in some cases expanded his fathers projects by erecting new buildings of his own.[44]

REFERENCES

[15] Boardman 1988, p. 53.

[16] Boardman 1988, p. 54.
[17] Poolos 2008, p. 17.
[18] Abbott 2009, p. 98.
[19] Abbott 2009, p. 99-101.
[20] Del Testa 2001, p. 47.
[21] Darius the Great
[22] Abott 2009, p. 129.
[23] Slincourt 2002, p. 234-235.
[24] Siliotti 2006, p. 286-287.
[25] Woolf 2004, p. 686.
[26] Ross 2004, p. 291.

10

See also

Darius the Mede

Tomb of Darius I
Tachara

11

References

[1] http://www.livius.org/be-bm/behistun/behistun-t02.
html#1.9-17

[27] Beckwith 2009, p. 68-69.

[28] Chaliand 2004, p. 16.
[29] Shahbazi 1996, p. 45.
[30] Joseph Roisman,Ian Worthington. A companion to Ancient Macedonia John Wiley & Sons, 2011. ISBN
144435163X pp 135-138, p 343
[31] Joseph Roisman,Ian Worthington. A companion to Ancient Macedonia John Wiley & Sons, 2011. ISBN
144435163X pp 135-138
[32] Shahbazi.

[2] DESTN. Retrieved 29 December 2014.

[33] Shahbazi 1996, p. 47.
[3] The Making of the Georgian Nation. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
[4] Shahbazi 1996, p. 40.
[5] Duncker 1882, p. 192.

[34] Shahbazi 1996, p. 48.

[35] Farrokh 2007, p. 65.
[36] Farrokh 2007, p. 65-66.

[6] Egerton 1994, p. 6.

[7] Shahbazi 1996, p. 41.
[8] Pfandl, Gerhard (2004). Daniel: The Seer of Babylon.
Herald Publishing Association. p. 95.
[9] Tropea 2006, p. 54-55.

[37] Verlag 2009, p. 86.

[38] Moulton 2005, p. 48.
[39] Boyce 1979, p. 55.
[40] Boyce 1979, p. 54-55.

[10] Bedford 2001, p. 183-184.

[11] Cook 1985, p. 217.
[12] Abbott 2009, p. 14.

[41] Boyce 1979, p. 56.

[42] Shahbazi 1996, p. 49.

[13] Abbott 2009, p. 14-15.

[43] Spielvogel 2009, p. 49.

[14] Abbott 2009, p. 15-16.

[44] Boardman 1988, p. 76.

12

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13 Further reading
Burn, A.R. (1984). Persia and the Greeks : the defence of the West, c. 546-478 B.C. (2nd ed.). Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press. ISBN 08047-1235-2.
Ghirshman, Roman (1964). The Arts of Ancient
Iran from Its Origins to the Time of Alexander the
Great. New York: Golden Press.
Meyer, Eduard (1911). Darius. In Chisholm,
Hugh. Encyclopdia Britannica 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 832833.

10
Olmstead, Albert T. (1948). History of the Persian
Empire, Achaemenid Period. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press.
Vogelsang, W.J. (1992). The rise and organisation
of the Achaemenid Empire : the eastern Iranian evidence. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 90-04-09682-5.
Warner, Arthur G. (1905). The Shahnama of Firdausi. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trbner and
Co.
Wiesehfer, Josef (1996). Ancient Persia : from 550
BC to 650 AD. Azizeh Azodi, trans. London: I.B.
Tauris. ISBN 1-85043-999-0.
Wilber, Donald N. (1989). Persepolis : the archaeology of Parsa, seat of the Persian kings (Rev. ed.).
Princeton, N.J.: Darwin Press. ISBN 0-87850-0626.

13 FURTHER READING

11

14
14.1

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14.2

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12

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TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

File:Eastern_border_of_the_Achaemenid_Empire.jpg Source:
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