Darius

(really Darayavaush, but he is known as Darius, through the Greek interpretation)

King of Persia from 522 to 486 BCE , known for his soldiering and administrative abilities. His reign saw hostilities intensify between the Persian Empire and its relatively weak western neighbors, the Greeks.

Although not the son of a king, Darius was of Persian royal blood. Coming to the throne at around age 30, following the death of the childless king Cambyses, Darius soon advanced the empire's boundaries. On the northwestern frontier, he subdued several eastern Greek states, including Samos, Chios, Lesbos, and Byzantium. He was the first Persian king to cross into Europe, bridging the Bosporus and the Danube and leading an expedition against the nomads of western Scythia (ca. 512 B.C. ). This expedition failed, but Darius did gain the submission of Thrace and Macedon, which brought his domain right up to the northeastern border of mainland Greece. The Persian Empire had reached its greatest extent, stretching (in modern terms) from Pakistan to Bulgaria and southern Egypt. It was the largest empire the world had yet seen.

Darius ruled strictly but wisely. He was the first Persian ruler to mint coins, and he reorganized the empire into 20 provinces, or "satrapies," each governed by a satrap, answerable to the king. Darius built a road system with relay stations for mounted messengers: This Persian "pony express" became a marvel of the ancient world. He organised the city of Susa as his capital and began work on a summer capital at Persepolis. Darius practiced the Zoroastrian faith, but he enforced Persian tolerance toward the religions of subject peoples, such as Jews and Greeks. One ancient Greek inscription records Darius' show of respect for the god Apollo.

Darius employed Greek subjects as soldiers and craftsmen; his personal physician was a Greek, Democedes of Croton. But in 499 B.C. the empire's Greek cities erupted in rebellion. This Ionian Revolt was finally crushed by Darius (in 493 B.C. ), but meanwhile it had drawn in two free cities of mainland Greece to fight against Persia: Athens and Eretria. Angry at these two cities, Darius sent a seaborne expedition to capture them. At the ensuing Battle of Marathon (summer 490 B.C. ), the Persians were unexpectedly defeated by the Athenians.

This distant defeat must have mattered little to the mighty Darius. He died in 486 B.C. It was his son and successor, Xerxes, who mobilized the full strength of Persia against mainland Greece.

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