DARI'US. The name of several Persian kings, and, like the Egyptian Pharaoh, titular and not personal. According to Ilerodotus (6. 98). Aapeios: signifies one who restrains; but the old Persian form, shows that it signifies upholding what is good. The most fa mous of the name is called DARIUS I., or DARIUS YSTASPIS, from his father's name. (See HYS TASPES.) lie was born B.C. 558, and was a Per sian and of the AchTmenian line. On the death of Cambyses (B.c. 522), he leagued himself with six other nobles to murder Smerdis the Magian. who had usurped the throne. The conspirators were successful in their plot, and Dai:ius was chosen King. An account of these occurrences is given in the great Behistun inscription, which serves to supplement or correct the narrative of Herodotus. His position at first was very in secure, but his caution, skill, and energy enabled him to govern his Vast dominions for thirty-six years. To strengthen himself, he married the daughter of Otanes, who had been the head of the conspiracy, and likewise took three wives from the royal honsehold—viz. two daughters of Cyrus and one of 0-rus's son, Smerdis. lle then divided his empire into twenty satrapies, and determined the exact amount of the taxation to be borne by each. In some of the remoter prov inces great confusion seems to have prevailed after the death of Smerdis the Magian; and a proof of how little Darius could effect at first is afforded by the conduct of Orcetes, the Gover nor of who for some time was quite defiant of his authority. The inscriptions of Darius contain the account of no fewer than nine or ten rebellions against his sway. Babylon also revolted, and Darius besieged the city un successfully for two years. At last. however. it was taken by an extraordinary stratagem of his general, Zopyrus (516). It is more likely, however. that the account of the conquest of Babylon, as given by Ilerodotus (3, 150). belongs to the first siege of the city. In the year B.C. 514 Darius is thought to have begun the great rock inscription of Behistnn, which records the events of his reign. In 513 Darius. with an army of 700.000, crossed the Bosporus by a
bridge of boats, marched to the mouths of the Danube. crossed the river. and advanced against the Seythians. The expedition proved a failure. Darius retreated. but detached from his main force an army of 80,000 men, under Meg.abyzus. to conquer Thrace. while he himself returned to Asia, whence he extended his authority in the east as far as the Indus. About 501 B.C. the Ionian cities rose in revolt against Persian do minion. They were unsuccessful, the final vic tory of the Persians being achieved in the naval battle at Lade and the taking of Miletus (494). The assistance given by the Athenians and Ere trians to the Ionians, and the part which they had taken in the burning of Sardis, determined Darius, who was also influenced thereto by the banished Hippias. to attempt the subjugation of the whole of Greece. In 492 he sent Mardonius with an army into Thrace and Macedonia. and at the same time dispatched a fleet against the islands. The former was routed by the Brygi in Thrace, the latter was shattered and dispersed by a storm when rounding the promontory of Mount Athos. In 490 he renewed his attempt. 1lis fleet committed great ravages in the Cyclades, hut his army was entirely defeated at Alarathnn by the Athenians, under AliBlades, the tyrant of the Chersonese. In the midst of his prepara tions for a third expedition, Darius died B.C. 486. and was succeeded by his son Xerxes. His tomb is still to be seen at. Nakshi-Rustam. Darius was an able ruler, and he organized and wisely administered the kingdom which Cyrus had founded. His liberality to the .Jews in connection with the rebuilding of tb.2. Temple at Jerusalem is referred to in the Bible. For the inscriptions of Darius, consult : Rawlinson, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain, vol. x. (Loudon. 1847) ; Spie gel. Altpersischc Keilinschriften (Leipzig, 1882) : Weissbach and Bang, ltpers. Keil. (Leipzig, 18931: Tolman, ObT Persian Inscriptions (New York. 1893) : Justi. in Grundriss der iranischen Philologie (Strassburg. 1897). See ACILE MENES : CAMBYSES : CYRUS : PERSIA.