66 Facts About Darius I

Darius I ruled the empire at its territorial peak, when it included much of Western Asia, parts of the Balkans and the Caucasus, most of the Black Sea's coastal regions, Central Asia, the Indus Valley in the far east, and portions of North Africa and Northeast Africa including Egypt, eastern Libya, and coastal Sudan.

Darius I ascended the throne by overthrowing the legitimate Achaemenid monarch Bardiya, whom he later fabricated to be an imposter named Gaumata.

The new king met with rebellions throughout his kingdom and quelled them each time; a major event in Darius I' life was his expedition to subjugate Greece and punish Athens and Eretria for their participation in the Ionian Revolt.

Darius I organized the empire by dividing it into administrative provinces that were governed by satraps.

Darius I organized Achaemenid coinage as a new uniform monetary system, and made Aramaic a co-official language of the empire alongside Persian.

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Darius I put the empire in better standing by building roads and introducing standard weighing and measuring systems.

Darius I worked on other construction projects throughout the empire, primarily focusing on Susa, Pasargadae, Persepolis, Babylon and Egypt.

Darius I had the cliff-face Behistun Inscription carved at Mount Behistun to record his conquests, which would later become an important testimony of the Old Persian language.

At some time between his coronation and his death, Darius I left a tri-lingual monumental relief on Mount Behistun, which was written in Elamite, Old Persian and Babylonian.

King Darius says: This is the kingdom which I hold, from the Sacae who are beyond Sogdia to Kush, and from Sind to Lydia – [this is] what Ahuramazda, the greatest of gods, bestowed upon me.

However, once Cyrus had crossed the Aras River, he had a vision in which Darius I had wings atop his shoulders and stood upon the confines of Europe and Asia .

However, his son Cambyses was the heir to the throne, not Darius I, causing Cyrus to wonder if Darius I was forming treasonable and ambitious designs.

Darius I's 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.

Details regarding Darius I' rise to power is generally acknowledged as forgery and was in reality used as a concealment of his overthrow and murder of Cyrus' rightful successor, Bardiya.

In reality, Darius I was not from the same house as Cyrus and his forebears, the rulers of Anshan.

Darius I soon learned that support for Bardiya was strong, and revolts in Elam and Babylonia had broken out.

Darius I ended the Elamite revolt when the revolutionary leader Aschina was captured and executed in Susa.

Darius I left a detailed account of these revolutions in the Behistun Inscription.

One evening, Intaphernes went to the palace to meet Darius I, but was stopped by two officers who stated that Darius I was with a woman.

Darius I 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 officers was the first sign of revolt.

Darius I sent a messenger to each of the noblemen, asking them if they approved of Intaphernes's actions.

Darius I 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 I killed Intaphernes's entire family, excluding his wife's brother and son.

Darius I was impressed by her response and spared both her brother's and her son's life.

Darius I conquered the lands surrounding the Indus River in 515 BCE.

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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 I asserted his position as king by force, taking his armies throughout the empire, suppressing each revolt individually.

At Babylon, Darius I was met with closed gates and a series of defences to keep him and his armies out.

Darius I first finished defeating the rebels in Elam, Assyria, and Babylon and then attacked the Scythian invaders.

Darius I pursued the invaders, who led him to a marsh; there he found no known enemies but an enigmatic Scythian tribe.

Scythians were a group of north Iranian nomadic tribes, speaking an Eastern Iranian language who had invaded Media, killed Cyrus in battle, revolted against Darius I 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.

Darius I crossed the Black Sea at the Bosphorus Straits using a bridge of boats.

Darius I conquered large portions of Eastern Europe, even crossing the Danube to wage war on the Scythians.

In frustration Darius I sent a letter to the Scythian ruler Idanthyrsus to fight or surrender.

Darius I had conquered enough Scythian territory to force the Scythians to respect the Persian forces.

Darius I's European expedition was a major event in his reign, which began with the invasion of Thrace.

Darius I conquered many cities of the northern Aegean, Paeonia, while Macedonia submitted voluntarily, after the demand of earth and water, becoming a vassal kingdom.

Darius I then left Megabyzus to conquer Thrace, returning to Sardis to spend the winter.

Darius I responded by sending troops led by his son-in-law across the Hellespont.

Darius I began preparations for a second force which he would command, instead of his generals; however, before the preparations were complete, Darius I died, thus leaving the task to his son Xerxes.

Darius I was the son of Hystaspes and the grandson of Arsames.

Darius I married Atossa, daughter of Cyrus, with whom he had four sons: Xerxes, Achaemenes, Masistes and Hystaspes.

Darius I married Artystone, another daughter of Cyrus, with whom he had two sons, Arsames and Gobryas.

Darius I married Parmys, the daughter of Bardiya, with whom he had a son, Ariomardus.

Furthermore, Darius I married Phratagune, with whom he had two sons, Abrokomas and Hyperantes.

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Darius I married another woman of the nobility, Phaidyme, the daughter of Otanes.

Darius I had spent three years preparing men and ships for war when a revolt broke out in Egypt.

Early in his reign, Darius I wanted to reorganize the structure of the empire and reform the system of taxation he inherited from Cyrus and Cambyses.

Darius I kept Aramaic as the common language, which soon spread throughout the empire.

However, Darius I gathered a group of scholars to create a separate language system only used for Persis and the Persians, which was called Aryan script and was only used for official inscriptions.

Darius I used the coinage system as a transnational currency to regulate trade and commerce throughout his empire.

Darius I 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 officials, which entitled the traveller to draw provisions at daily stopping places.

Darius I had dualistic philosophical convictions and believed that each rebellion in his kingdom was the work of druj, the enemy of Asha.

Darius I believed that because he lived righteously by Asha, Ahura Mazda supported him.

Darius I 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.

Darius I 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.

Darius I had observed Egyptian religious rites related to kingship and had built the temple for the Egyptian god, Amun.

Darius I had linked the Red Sea to the river Nile by building a canal which ran from modern Zaqaziq to modern Suez.

Darius I built a canal to connect the Red Sea and Mediterranean.

When Darius I returned to Persis, he found that the codification of Egyptian law had been finished.

Additionally, Darius I sponsored large construction projects in Susa, Babylon, Egypt, and Persepolis.

In Susa, Darius I built a new palace complex in the north of the city.

In Pasargadae Darius I finished all incomplete construction projects from the reign of Cyrus the Great.

In Egypt Darius I built many temples and restored those that had previously been destroyed.

The monuments that Darius I built were often inscribed in the official languages of the Persian Empire, Old Persian, Elamite and Babylonian and Egyptian hieroglyphs.

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Relief showing Darius I offering lettuces to the Egyptian deity Amun-Ra Kamutef, Temple of Hibis.