Darius I

Definition

Darius I "the Great" (549-486 BCE) was a king of Persia who ruled for 35 years, from September 522 BCE to October 486 BCE. He was the third Achaemenian king and was considered by many to be “the greatest of the Achaemenian kings.” During his reign, Darius completed the work of his predecessors and not only did he “hold together the empire,” but he also extended it in all directions. Thus, with Darius as Great King, Achaemenian Persia became the largest empire in the world.

Darius was responsible for more than just the expansion of the empire. He also centralized the administration of the empire, encouraged cultural and artistic pursuits, introduced legal reforms and developed juridical systems. In addition, many large building projects were started under Darius’ rule, including the construction of a new capital city called Persepolis.

As much as Darius’ reign can be characterized by these achievements, it can also be characterized by a number of upheavals and battles, and general unrest among the citizens. There were two revolts in Babylonia and three in Susania. The Ionian Revolt lasted from 499 to 493 BCE, and was a large-scale rebellion by many regions of Asia Minor against Persian rule.

Darius planned an expedition to Greece in order to punish the Greeks for supporting the Ionian Revolt. His health, however, began to fail and he chose Xerxes I, his oldest son by Atossa, to be his successor. He never went to Greece as he died in Persis in October 486 BCE.

Written by Steven Fife, published on 02 September 2009 under the following license: Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms.

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Illustrations

Darius I Books

• Warfare in the Classical World: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Weapons, Warriors... John Warry Univ of Oklahoma Pr (Trd) (01 October 1995) Price: $21.83

• Exodus Lost S C Compton BookSurge Publishing (24 November 2010) Price: $6.99

• The Campaigns of Alexander Arrian Penguin Classics (28 October 1976) Price: $11.44

• New Testament History F. F. Bruce Galilee / Doubleday (22 May 1980) Price: $12.59

• The Landmark Arrian: The Campaigns of Alexander Arrian Anchor (17 January 2012) Price: $18.33