[Makers of History 12] • Darius the Great

The chronicles of Darius the Great are some of the greatest annals in Persian history. In about 600 B.C., the founder of the Persian Empire, Cyrus the Great was on a campaign to expand his dominion and obtain some additional glory by defeating certain uncivilized tribes to the north, beyond the Araxes. One night, after he had crossed a mighty river, on the way to his triumphs, he had a remarkable dream. His dream was that Darius, the son of one of his advisers, and a non-heir to the throne, appeared to him with vast wings growing from his shoulders, overshadowing the whole known world. To Cyrus, it seemed that Darius would eventually hold sway over his empire, and immediately sent for Hystaspes, the father of Darius, to keep a close eye on him until such a time as Cyrus could return. Cyrus, in fact, was killed in a battle, never to return. The heir-ship was passed to one of Cyrus' two rightful sons, Cambyses.

Under his new reign, Cambyses undertook to expand his empire and conquer new lands. He set his sights on Egypt, whose king he felt, had betrayed his father in a convoluted scheme. While there he achieved great victories against the people of Egypt, however, on his way back, he heard of a conspiracy that his brother Smerdis had been killed and an impostor had usurped the throne back in Susa, the capital city. A local magician also named Smerdis who bore a remarkable likeness to the heir, had taken his place. In his haste to return to the capital, and with great irony, Cambyses suffered a nasty wound while mounting his horse as his blade fell from its sheath. Unfortunately, the wound turned out to be fatal, and the impersonator was then firmly in power.

Amongst the conspirators that helped put the false Smerdis in power, was

the distant cousin of Cambyses, and thus of Cyrus, the same Darius who

appeared in the prophetic vision which Cyrus had dreamt of some time

before. In the end, a contest was decided to determine the next king of

the Persian Empire. As the story goes, Darius played a deception at the

competition, and thus succeeded to the throne, and the rest, as they

say, is history. The narrative of his achievements were first found,

engraved in multiple scripts, high on a rock wall in on Behistun

mountain, on the main highway between present-day Iraq and Iran. First

discovered in 1621 by an Italian traveler, it wasn't until the early

18th century that Sir Henry Rawlinson was able to use the trilingual

translation to finally unlock the secrets of cuneiform writing, and thus

the fertile history of the Middle East. 286 pages o illustrated