10 Facts About Bardiya

Bardiya is called Tanyoxarces by Ctesias, who names Gaumata as Sphendadates; he is called Tanooxares by Xenophon, who takes the name from Ctesias, and he is called Mergis and Merdis by Justin and Merdis by Aeschylus.

Bardiya was the younger son of Cyrus the Great and a full or half-brother of Cambyses II.

Bardiya's death was not known to the people, and so in the spring of 522 BC, a usurper pretended to be him and proclaimed himself king on a mountain near the Persian town of Paishiyauvada.

Bardiya's suspicions confirmed, Otanes then gathers six noblemen and plots to get rid of the false Smerdis.

The real Bardiya had only one daughter, called Parmys, who eventually married Darius the Great.

Darius says that Bardiya destroyed some temples, which Darius later restored.

Bardiya took away the herds and houses of the people, which Darius corrected once he gained the throne.

The death of the false Bardiya was annually celebrated in Persia by a feast called "the killing of the magian," at which no magian was allowed to show himself.

Bardiya takes the view that the person who ruled for a few months was the real Bardiya.

Bardiya is the only historical character that the protagonist is able to recognize when discovering the article on the fictitious nation of Uqbar, and it is stated that his name has been invoked mainly as a metaphor.