IΔΡΥΜA ΜΕΙΖΟΝΟΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ Συγγραφή : Νούτσου Μαρίνα Μετάφραση : Βελέντζας Γεώργιος (18/7/2005) Για παραπομπή : Νούτσου Μαρίνα , "Darius I", 2005, Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Μ. Ασία URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=6771> Περίληψη : Darius I was king of the Persian Empire from 522/521 to 486/485 BC. He expanded the boundaries of the Persian Empire, reorganized the administration into satrapies and created a detailed financial system for the administration of the country's resources. He squashed the Ionian Revolt and campaigned against Scythia and Greece. He supported the development of the arts and architecture. Άλλα Ονόματα Darajava(h)us, Darjawes, Dareiaios, Dareian, King of the Peoples, King of the Kings, Great King, Great Τόπος και Χρόνος Γέννησης 550-549 BC (approximately) Τόπος και Χρόνος Θανάτου 486/485 BC Κύρια Ιδιότητα Official at the royal court, King of the Persian Empire 1. Birth-Family Darius I was the King of the Persian Empire from 522/521 until 486/485 BC. His name means ‘he who has the power’or ‘he who maintains the good’.1 Ancient sources do not mention the year he was born. However, this is estimated circa 550-549 BC, according to information from Herodotus2, who says that Darius I was approximately 20 years old when King Cyrus II was killed, which happened between 530 and 529 BC. There is more information about his origins.3 He was the eldest son of Hystaspes, descendant of Ariaramnes of the Persian dynasty of the Achaemenids. Darius’father was an officer by Cyrus II, whom he followed in the campaign against the Massagetai. It is likely that Hystaspes became governor of the province of the Parthians.4 Herodotus 5 says that Darius had two brothers, Artabanus and Artaphernes, satrap of Sardis. 2. Youth The only information about Darius’youth comes from Herodotus6, who mentions the dream Cyrus had before he was killed in the battle against the Massagetai. According to the historian, Darius appeared in his dream as the Great King of Persia. Cyrus took the warning seriously and sent Hystaspes to suppress his son’s alleged conspiracy. Before Darius ascended to the throne, he had been an officer under Cambyses II, whom he had served as a doryforos in the campaign against Egypt (525 BC).7 3. Action After Cambyses died (522 BC), Darius faced Smerdis (or Gaumata the Magian), a Mede usurper of the throne in Susa. On the inscription at Behistun Darius is said to have killed Smerdis in the Median acropolis Sikayauvatis, where he had taken him helped by six other conspirators.8 Herodotus writes that Darius headed a group of six Persian noblemen, united against the usurper on Otanes’ Δημιουργήθηκε στις 24/9/2021 Σελίδα 1/10 IΔΡΥΜA ΜΕΙΖΟΝΟΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ Συγγραφή : Νούτσου Μαρίνα Μετάφραση : Βελέντζας Γεώργιος (18/7/2005) Για παραπομπή : Νούτσου Μαρίνα , "Darius I", 2005, Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Μ. Ασία URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=6771> initiative. After Darius killed Smerdis, he slaughtered the town’s magicians.9 The murder of Smerdis signified the ascent of Darius to the throne. According to the prevalent view, the fact dates back to 522 BC.10 According to earlier estimations, based on the inscription at Behistun, the information from Herodotus that Smerdis remained in power for 7 months and the Babylonian calendar, the 16th October 521 BC is thought to have been the exact date.11 Darius was then approximately 30 years old and reigned in the Persian Empire for 36 years.12 Among the first actions of Darius as a king were the murders of two officers and the capture of Samos.13 After the murders of the magicians, he killed Intaphernes, one of the conspirators, because he had not respected him. He then put to death Oroetes, the Persian first officer of Sardis, for the crimes he had committed. It was then that the Persians set out against Samos under the command of General Otanes. The desire of Syloson, son of Aeakes, to win back his power on the island is reported to have been the reason for that campaign. Darius responded to the request of the Samian tyrant in order to reward him for the help he had offered in Egypt, when he still was a doryforos of Cambyses. According to Herodotus, Samos was the first conquest of Darius. The major military activities of Darius in his early reign included the recapture of the revolted provinces of his kingdom. Rarely did he lead his campaigns, which were under his commanders and generals. The most important revolt was led by the Babylonians under the command of Nidintu-Bel, who called himself Nebuchadrezzar III. Darius led the army himself during the siege of Babylon, which lasted several months14. He finally captured the city towards the end of 520 BC15 with the help of a cunning plan of Zopyrus, one of the conspirators and son of Megabyzus. After the capture of Babylon a large number of provinces in the east and northeast revolted, the most important being Media and Parthia. Abettors of the two revolts were Phraates of the Median dynasty of Cyaxares and Hystaspes respectively. Darius confronted and beat Phraates. The rest of the uprisings, most of which happened simultaneously, were suppressed by the king’s commanders. While Darius was in Media, a second uprising sparked off in Babylon was suppressed towards the end of 519 BC. The campaign against the Asian Scythians was launched in the same period. Ctesias writes that the operation was undertaken by Ariaramnes, the satrap of Cappadocia, on Darius’order. 16 Two years later Darius went to Egypt either to quell the riots caused by the bad behaviour of first officer Ariadnes or punish the officer because he wanted to resemble the Great King. It was then that the neighbouring areas of Egypt were annexed to the Persian territory.17 According to the prevalent view, the year 517 BC signified the end of operations and the recapture of revolted provinces.18 The only sufficient ancient evidence for the above events is the bas-relief at Behistun, carved by order of Darius. The relief shows the defeated sovereigns, appearing tied up before the Great King. The representation is accompanied by a long trilingual inscription with the day and the month each campaign took place, without indicating the year though, which makes it difficult to establish the accurate chronology of the events.19 The inscription of Behistun mentions 23 nations Darius annexed to his territory in the first period of his reign. India, later inscribed on Darius’sepulchral stele, had not been conquered yet.20 The year India was conquered is not known. In any case, it was the easternmost edge of the Empire. When the eastern provinces had been annexed, Darius launched his campaigns against Ionia and the West.21 The dominance of Darius over Ionia resulted in replacing the democratic regimes of the cities with tyrannies. The fleets of the Ionian tyrants, mainly Histiaeus of Miletus, supported the campaign against the Scythians, who lived beyond the Danube River (Ister). Darius tried to extend his territory over Europe22 and gave particular attention to the conquest of Thrace, a region rich in gold and wheat, by leading the operations himself. Although Artabanus had dissuaded him from advancing, Darius crossed the Bosporus in 513 BC with a big number of soldiers, helped by the Samian architect Mandrocles, who built a bridge of ships. In memory of the event Darius erected two columns in Byzantium. Most Thracian towns submitted voluntarily to the Persian army. The operations against the European Scythians lasted for only a few days and were disastrous for the Persians. The Danube became the northernmost European boundary Δημιουργήθηκε στις 24/9/2021 Σελίδα 2/10 IΔΡΥΜA ΜΕΙΖΟΝΟΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ Συγγραφή : Νούτσου Μαρίνα Μετάφραση : Βελέντζας Γεώργιος (18/7/2005) Για παραπομπή : Νούτσου Μαρίνα , "Darius I", 2005, Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Μ. Ασία URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=6771> of Darius’territory. 23 After the campaign against the Scythians Darius ordered Megabyzus at first and Otanes later to submit the Greek cities and secure Thrace; then he returned to Asia Minor. The satrapy of Thrace between the Strymon (Struma) and Danube Rivers was then formed. Darius gave Histiaeus, as a reward for his services, the region of Myrkinos in the Struma River, rich in silver mines and timber. When Histiaeus started to fortify the area, Darius suspected him of disloyalty so he recalled him to be his adviser in Sardis.24 In 499 BC the Ionian Revolt broke out, after the unsuccessful attempt of Aristagoras, the tyrant of Miletus, and Artaphernes, the satrap of Sardis, to conquer Naxos. Aristagoras and Histiaeus were the instigators of the revolt. Operations to suppress the revolt finished in 494 BC, when Miletus was captured.25 During the war Darius annexed Cyprus (498 BC) and the islands along the Ionian coast to his territory. After the Ionian Revolt general Mardonius, Darius’son -in-law, established democratic regimes in the Greek cities of Asia Minor.26 Mardonius led the campaign against the Greek mainland, organised by Darius in 492 BC. The operation was not completed, for the Persian fleet was wrecked off the peninsula of Mount Athos. The Persians under the command of Datis and Artaphernes attacked the Greek cities again the following year, but they were defeated in the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC. The only benefit Darius reaped from the campaign of Mardonius was the conquest of the Cyclades. 3.1 Relations According to Herodotus,27 Democedes of Croton, a doctor taken from Sardis to Persia together with other captives after the murder of Oroetes, belonged to the immediate environment of Darius.