1. DAREIUS, the eldest son of Hystaspes (Gustasp), was one of the seven Persian chiefs who destroyed the usurper SMERDIS, after whose death Dareius obtained the throne. Hee was a
member of the royal family of the Achaemenidae (
When Cyrus undertook his expedition against the Massagetae, Dareius, who was then about
twenty years old, was left in Persis, of which country his father Hystaspes was satrap. The
night after the passage of the Araxes, Cyrus dreamt that he saw Dareius with wings on his
shoulders, the one of which overshadowed Asia and the other Europe. SYLOSON.) After the detection of the imposture of the
Magian, Dareius went to Snsa just at the time when the conspiracy against the usurper was
formed, and he was associated with the six other conspirators, who, by his advice, resolved to
act without delay. [SMERDIS.] The discussions among the Persian
chiefs, which ensued upon the death of the Magian, ended in favour of the monarchical form of
government, which was advocated by Dareius, and Dareius himself was chosen to the kingdom by a
sign, which had been agreed on by the conspirators, and which Dareius, with the aid of his
groom Oebares, contrived to obtain for himself, Asiatic Researches, ii. p. 350; comp. Tac. Germ. 10.)
The usurpation of Smerdis seems to have been an attempt on the part of the Medes to regain
their supremacy. The conspirators against him were noble Persians, and in all probability the
chiefs of Persian tribes. Their discussion about the form of government to be adopted is
evidently related by Herodotus according to Greek rather than Oriental notions. The
proposition to share the supreme power among themselves seems to be what Herodotus means by an
aristocracy, and this scheme may be traced in the privileges for which the conspirators
afterwards stipulated with Dareius, but it is very difficult to conceive in what sense a
democracy could have been proposed. At all events, the accession of Dareius confirmed both the
supremacy of the Persians, and the monarchical form of government. The other conspirators
stipulated for free admission to the king at all times, with one exception, and for the
selection of his wives from their families. A dispute soon arose respecting the exercise of
the former privilege between the royal servants and Intaphernes, one of the seven; and
Dareius, thinking, from the conduct of Intaphernes, that a conspiracy had been formed against
himself, put him to death with all his male relations except two. (
It was in the reign of Dareius that the consolidation of the Persian empire was effected, so
far at least as it ever was; for in truth it never possessed a sure principle of cohesion.
Cyrus and Cambyses had been engaged in continual wars, and their conquests had added to the
Persian empire the whole of Asia (up to India and Scythia), except Arabia. (N.A. 1.59;
The seven months of the reign of Smerdis had produced much confusion throughout the whole
empire. His remission of all taxes for three years, if it be true, must have caused Dareius
some trouble in reimposing them. It cannot be doubted that the governors of the provinces
would seize the opportunity to assume a sort of independence. We have an example in the
conduct of Oroetas, the governor of Sardis, who, in addition to his cruel and treacherous
murder of Polycrates and other acts of tyranny, put to death a noble Persian, Mitrobates, the
governor of Dascylium in Bithynia, with his son, and killed a royal messenger whom Dareius
sent to rebuke him. Dareius was prevented from marching against Oroetas in person, on account
of his recent accession to the throne and the power of the offender; but one of his courtiers,
named Bagaeus, effected the death of Oroetas by gaining over his body-guard of 1000 Persians.
In consequence of this event the Greek physician Democedes fell into the hands of Dareius, and
cured him of a sprained ankle, and was established at his court--a most important event in the
history of the world, for Democedes used his influence with Atossa to persuade Dareius to
attack Greece. [DEMOCEDES.] Dareius sent him, with fifteen noble
Persians, to examine the coasts of Greece, of which they made a sort of map. Democedes escaped
from his companions, who, after a great variety of adventures, got back safe to Dareius.
(
The great struggle between the despotism of Asia and the freedom of Europe was now
beginning. The successive rulers of Western Asia had long desired to extend their dominion
across the Aegean into Greece; but both Croesus and Cyrus had been prevented from making the
attempt, the former by the growth of the Persian power, the latter by his wars in Central
Asia. Dareius, who already, as seen in the dream of Cyrus, overshadowed Asia with one wing,
now began to spread the other over Europe. He attacked Samos under the pretext of restoring
SYLOSON, but his further designs in that quarter were interrupted
by the revolt of the Babylonians, who had profited by the period of confusion which followed
the death of Cambyses to make every preparation for rebellion. After a siege of twenty months,
Babylon was taken by a stratagem of ZOPYRUS, and was severely
punished for its revolt, probably about
The reduction of Babylon was soon followed by Dareius's invasion of Scythia (about CYAXARES,--far too remote a
cause, though very probably used as a pretext. Ctesias says, that on the occasion of a
predatory incursion into Scythia by the satrap of Cappadocia, the Scythian king had sent a
letter of defiance to Dareius, and that this provoked him to the war. The only rational
motives which can MANDROCLES, a Samian engineer, and
commemorated his passage by setting up two pillars, on which the names of the tribes composing
his army were recorded in Greek and Assyrian letters. Thence he marched through Thrace to the
delta of the Danube, where he found a bridge of boats already formed by his fleet, which had
been sent round in the mean time to the mouth of the river. This bridge he would have broken
up after the passage of his army; but by the advice of Coes, the commander of the forces of
Mytilene, lie left it guarded by the Greeks, many of whom served in his fleet, under their
tyrants, with orders to break it up if he did not return within sixty days. The sixty days
elapsed, and MILTIADES, the tyrant of the Thracian Chersonese,
endeavoured to prevail on his fellow officers to take Dareius at his word, and thus to cut off
his retreat; but HISTIAEUS, the tyrant of Miletus, pointed out the
probability that, if so serious a blow were inflicted on the Persian power, they, the tyrants,
who were protected by Persia, must fall. The bridge was therefore preserved, but a feint was
made of destroying it, in order to deceive the Scythians, who were thus rendered less active
in the pursuit of Dareius. The king was now in full retreat, his expedition having entirely
failed, through the impossibility of bringing the Scythians to an engagement. If we are to
believe Herodotus, he had penetrated far into the interior of Russia, and yet he had not been
much distressed for provisions ; and he recrossed the Danube with so large an army, that he
detached a force of eighty thousand men for the conquest of Thrace, under Megabazus, who
subdued that country and Paeonia, and received the symbols of submission, earth and water,
from Amyntas, the king of Macedonia. Dareius re-entered Asia by the Hellespont, which he
crossed at Sestos, and staid for some time at Sardis, whence he sent Otanes to reduce those
maritime cities on the north coast of the Aegean, Hellespont, and Bosporus, which still
remained independent. The most important conquest of Otanes, were Byzantium, Chalcedon, and
the islands of Imbrus and Lemnos. [OTANES.] Dareius himself then
returned to Susa, leaving Artaphernes governor of Sardis.
These operations were succeeded by a period of profound peace (about ARISTAGORAS; HISTIAEUS ; HIFPIAS; MARDONIUS; MILTIADES ; ARTAPHERNES,
&c.; Thirlwall's Hist. of Greece, 2.100.14.) It is a debated question
whether Dareius was accidentally involved in his war with Greece by the course of events, or
whether he simply took advantage of the opportunity to carry out a long cherished design.
Herodotus took the latter view, which seems to be borne out fully by the invasion of Seythia,
the reduction of Thrace, and some minor circumstances. The period of peace which preceded the
war was, no doubt, simply a matter of necessity, after the wars of the early part of the
reign, and especially after the Scythian disaster. Even Thirlwall, who takes the other view
(p. 191), attributes elsewhere an aggressive policy to Dareius (p. 199). So great, however,
was Dareius's ignorance of the strength of the free states of Greece, that the force sent to
subdue them was quite inconsiderable when compared with the army which marched to the invasion
of Scythia. The battle of Marathon convinced him of his error, but still left him the idea
that Greece must be easily crushed by a greater armament. He therefore called out the whole
force of his empire; but, after three years of preparation, his attention was called off by
the rebellion of Egypt, and the dispute between his sons for the succession [ARIABIGNES ; XERXES]; and the decision of
this dispute was very soon followed by his death, F. H. vol. ii.
p. 313), or 31, according to Ctesias.
There are two other events in the reign of Dareius which deserve notice : namely, the
expedition against Libya, at the time of the Scythian expedition (
The children of Dareius were, by the daughter of Gobryas, whom he had married before he came
to the throne, Artabazanes and two others; by Atossa, Xerxes, Hystaspes, Achaemenes, and
Masistes ; by Artystone, Arsames and Gobryas; by Parmys, Ariomardas; and by Phrataguna, the
daughter of his brother Artanes, Abrocome and Hyperanthe. Diodorus mentions a daughter,
Mandane. The inscriptions at Persepolis in which his name appears are fully described by
Grotefend (Beilage) and Höckh. (Vet. Med. et Pers.
Monum.) Höckh shews that the sepulchre which Dareius caused to be constructed for
himself is one of those in the hill called Rachmed. (Pers. 14-19, ed. Lion;