The story of one of Persia’s most famous rulers paints him as a saviour – but did he write it himself?
As his grand epithet suggests, Darius I of Persia has gone down in history as one of the good guys. He’s remembered as a conqueror, who consolidated his power at home before waging war across Europe and Asia to expand the mighty Achaemenid Persian Empire. But there’s more to the tale than meets the eye, with scant records of this ancient ruler, what there is was written by an unreliable narrator – Darius the Great himself.
Darius was born in 550 BCE, the same year Cyrus II established the Persian Empire by defeating King Astyages of Media. Seizing Astyages’s territory – which stretched from Iran to eastern Anatolia (Turkey) – for himself, Cyrus then set about smashing the Babylonians and Lydians in quick succession, upending the balance of power in the ancient Near East. When Cyrus died in 530, his son Cambyses looked set to continue his father’s winning streak, conquering Egypt in 525. But the new king’s luck wasn’t to last. His brother Bardiya, who was believed to be dead, led a coup in Persia in 522.
As soon as he found out, Cambyses was set to rush back from Syria but, according to some ancient sources, the cap fell off the sheath of his sword when he jumped from his horse. The exposed blade pierced his thigh and he contracted a deadly, gangrenous infection.
In the ensuing power vacuum, Darius rose to power. However, the only way we know how Darius ascended to the throne is through inscriptions, the most famous being chiseled into the rock face at Behistun, in modern-day Iran. This is immediately suspicious – it’s essentially an autobiography legitimising his rule in a huge, visible piece of propaganda. We know about Bardiya’s revolt from
Greek scholar Herodotus’s Histories, but he also got his information from the Behistun Inscription. So how much can we trust Herodotus here? Though the Greek is known as ‘the father of history’ for pioneering the field of study, his critics have been just as quick to call him ‘the father of lies’. Beyond a penchant for reporting gossip as solid facts, his chronicles are often filled with outlandish mythical creatures, such as flying snakes and fox-sized ants.
Nevertheless, Herodotus writes that after Cambyses’s death, Bardiya claimed the Persian throne for himself. While courtiers considered plotting against him, they lacked leadership – that is, until Darius arrived. A distant relative of Cambyses, Darius led the march on Bardiya’s royal palace in Susa and killed the usurper. With some debate – but probably very little – Darius was proclaimed king. Herodotus also claims that Darius went on a rampage and killed many of Bardiya’s supporters, which would have consolidated his power grab.
Greek scholar Herodotus’s Histories, but he also got his information from the Behistun Inscription. So how much can we trust Herodotus here? Though the Greek is known as ‘the father of history’ for pioneering the field of study, his critics have been just as quick to call him ‘the father of lies’. Beyond a penchant for reporting gossip as solid facts, his chronicles are often filled with outlandish mythical creatures, such as flying snakes and fox-sized ants.
Nevertheless, Herodotus writes that after Cambyses’s death, Bardiya claimed the Persian throne for himself. While courtiers considered plotting against him, they lacked leadership – that is, until Darius arrived. A distant relative of Cambyses, Darius led the march on Bardiya’s royal palace in Susa and killed the usurper. With some debate – but probably very little – Darius was proclaimed king. Herodotus also claims that Darius went on a rampage and killed many of Bardiya’s supporters, which would have consolidated his power grab.
However Darius came to the throne, he ruled for about 36 years and must have done something to earn the name ‘great’. The best place to start is probably the empire itself. The post-revolutionary Persian Empire was a mess, so the first order of business was to clean it up. Herodotus writes that Darius set up 20 provincial governorships and each nation that made up the empire was assessed for taxes. He then organised his land into tax districts, which were also used to muster armies. A new currency was issued with the gold daric and the silver siglos.
His treasury renewed, Darius set about upgrading the empire’s infrastructure. Roads were improved and way stations added so that Silk Road travellers could change horses and sleep. Members of the government apparently received passports that entitled them to food rations along these major roads. A canal was also built linking the Nile and the Red Sea. This canal was written about by more people than just Herodotus, so we know that it was a great boon for interregional trade as sailors could now cut through the Arabian peninsula. Granaries were built for the army, so they could maintain their supplies. The calendar was reformed and implemented all over the empire so that it used a more modern Babylonian system.
His treasury renewed, Darius set about upgrading the empire’s infrastructure. Roads were improved and way stations added so that Silk Road travellers could change horses and sleep. Members of the government apparently received passports that entitled them to food rations along these major roads. A canal was also built linking the Nile and the Red Sea. This canal was written about by more people than just Herodotus, so we know that it was a great boon for interregional trade as sailors could now cut through the Arabian peninsula. Granaries were built for the army, so they could maintain their supplies. The calendar was reformed and implemented all over the empire so that it used a more modern Babylonian system.
Then there was Persepolis. Darius founded a new capital, the ruins of which can be found today in Iran’s Fars Province, and still show signs of its ancient grandeur. Home to a grand palace that was completed during the reign of Darius’s son Xerxes, Persepolis played such an important role in Persian royal life that his grandson added further buildings to the city during his reign. But it was the audience hall, known in Persian as the Apadana, which would serve as another piece of propaganda. It could hold hundreds of people and a total of 72 columns held the roof more than 20 metres in the air. Just to cement the idea of the greatness of the man who built it, an inscription on what remains of the hall reads, “Darius the great king, king of kings, king of countries, son of Hystaspes, an Achaemenian, built this palace.”
Stone reliefs and carvings also depicted representatives from every corner of the empire in procession towards the king, bowing before his greatness. While this propaganda may have exaggerated how harmonious Darius’s empire was, his people did enjoy certain liberties. For instance, while Darius and many Persians practised Zoroastrianism, there’s no suggestion he imposed his views on others, with temples for all sorts of religions springing up across his empire.
Inscriptions left at different times give us some sort of timeframe for Darius the Great’s many conquests. We know that he invaded northern India before he built Persepolis, and inscriptions on his tomb suggest that before his death he conquered the mighty kingdoms of Cyrenaica (modern-day Libya) and Kush (in Sudan). Herodotus seems to have used these inscriptions to tell of Darius’s travels through Asia, eastern Europe and Africa, but it’s impossible to verify his account. The lack of contemporary sources, again, leaves us short. However, there is one thing we know for certain – in his bid to expand his empire, Darius battled the Greeks. While Darius had consolidated Persia’s western conquests in the Aegean, in 498 the eastern Greek Ionian cities revolted.
Inscriptions left at different times give us some sort of timeframe for Darius the Great’s many conquests. We know that he invaded northern India before he built Persepolis, and inscriptions on his tomb suggest that before his death he conquered the mighty kingdoms of Cyrenaica (modern-day Libya) and Kush (in Sudan). Herodotus seems to have used these inscriptions to tell of Darius’s travels through Asia, eastern Europe and Africa, but it’s impossible to verify his account. The lack of contemporary sources, again, leaves us short. However, there is one thing we know for certain – in his bid to expand his empire, Darius battled the Greeks. While Darius had consolidated Persia’s western conquests in the Aegean, in 498 the eastern Greek Ionian cities revolted.
Sensing that the Athenians were behind the trouble, Darius marched on Greece with plans to quell the uprising and place his own puppet ruler on the throne of Athens. The campaign started well with the subduing of the Aegean Islands. On their way, the Persians made a sacrifice to Apollo, who they identified with their own supreme deity, Ahuramazda, and then continued on attack Eretria. It took them a week but they overran the city. Then they moved on to Marathon, a village that had the best ground for Persian cavalry manoeuvres.
However, the Battle of Marathon in 490 did not go well for the Persians. After a few hours of fighting, the strong Greek flanks surrounded the Persian centre and that was that. The Persians fled to their ships and tried to reach Athens before the Athenian army could make its way home, but they were to be repelled again.
Not only had Darius’s dream of adding Greece to his long list of land failed, but word of the defeat may have emboldened other rebels throughout the empire, triggering a revolt in Egypt after Darius’s death, which caused further loss to the prestige of the once-mighty Persian military.
Darius’s death has no exact date – the closest we can get is a two-week window in 486. He was 64 and died after 30 days of illness, so we know that he wasn’t murdered in a coup by someone younger who wanted to take power. He was liked enough that he could die in peace. He was embalmed, placed in his coffin and taken to Naqš-e Rustam to be buried. Outside his tomb were two inscriptions – one about his conquests, and the other about his philosophy. The latter said, “What things develop in my anger, I
hold firmly under control by my thinking power. I am firmly ruling over my own impulses.” It was this self-control that led to his long and prosperous rule.
In fact, even his Athenian archenemies conceded that he was a good king. The playwright Aeschylus, who fought at Marathon, called Darius’s reign the golden age of Persia when he was writing 13 years later.
So does Darius deserve to be called ‘great’?
It’s undoubtedly a title that he or his son came up with, but he does seem to share some of the characteristics that have qualified others, like Catherine II of Russia and Alfred of Wessex, to obtain the sobriquet. Given his record of tolerance and the way he brought order to a vast empire, it seems unlikely that he’d be called anything else, so long as you’re willing to take his word for it.