by Matt Waters
Darius’ late and initially secondary involvement in Herodotus’ version also raises questions. In another part of his account (3.139), Herodotus relays the story of a Greek from Samos named Syloson, who gave Darius his cloak while both were in Egypt during Cambyses’ invasion. After Darius’ accession, Syloson received rule of the island of Samos in gratitude. In that anecdote Herodotus labeled Darius a person of no great importance, but the fact that Darius was in Egypt as a member of Cambyses’ personal guard indicates otherwise. Herodotus’ description “of no great account” has meaning only relative to Darius’ later position as king. In fact, Darius was a “spear-bearer” (Greek doruphoros) of Cambyses. The same title in Old Persian (arshitibara) accompanies the image of Gobryas (another of the Seven, and Darius’ father-in-law) engraved on Darius’ tomb – clearly a position of high honor. But in any event, reading Herodotus makes it plain that Darius had no a priori claim to the throne.
Fission or Fusion?
If one considers the situation in the Empire in the immediate aftermath of Cambyses death, there was no guarantee who would rule. Numerous individuals put themselves forward as kings, and the Empire that Cyrus and Cambyses had assembled was in real danger of splintering. How did Darius secure sufficient support to win the throne? The narrative of his military victories – all, of course, reflecting Ahuramazda’s divine favor – constitutes the bulk of the Bisitun Inscription, which in the end is a victory monument. And even though it is all about Darius, the new king acknowledged the names, lineages, and ethnic backgrounds of many of his supporters and enemies. He also specified the locations and dates of various battles. Other members of the Persian “Magnificent Seven” are named as active participants in the battles: Intaphernes against a Babylonian revolt (DB §50); Hydarnes against rebellious Medes (DB §25); and Gobryas against an Elamite revolt (DB §71).
Darius’ father Hystaspes and the satraps Vivana and Dadarshi are also explicitly named by Darius. It appears that they held their respective positions before Darius became king, which means that they were appointed by Cyrus or Cambyses. Hystaspes held a military command and may have been a satrap, though Darius does not use that term for him, Old Persian xaçapv. Vivana was the satrap of Arachosia and battled the rebel Vahyazdata there (DB §45). Dadarshi was the satrap of Bactria and battled the rebel Frada in Margiana (DB §38).11 All three are identified as Persians. Thus, beyond the six coconspirators, Darius had additional supporters who held important positions based in the north (Parthia), east (Arachosia), and northeast (Bactria) – directions from a compass point based in Fars. It is difficult to determine the political and military strength of these individuals, even relative to the forces arrayed against them, because we lack the necessary demographic information12 Darius relied upon these men to defeat rivals on the Iranian plateau and in eastern Iran, while Darius himself and other commanders addressed threats in the core of the Empire: Parsa (Fars) itself, Elam, Media, and Babylonia. These regions were the mainstays of Cyrus’ family’s power, and it is probably not a coincidence that they gave Darius so much difficulty.
Appendix – Darius’ War for the Succession
Map 4.1 Main Battles Mentioned in the Bisitun Inscription. After Cambridge Ancient History, Vol. 4, Second Edition, 1988, map 1.
Map 4.1 offers a visual aid for the geographic scope of the resistance encountered by Darius, as he himself relayed in the Bisitun Inscription. Darius provides at some points an impressive specificity (e.g., with regard to most dates) and at others quite the opposite (e.g., the exact circumstances of the slaying of the purported impostor). The locations indicated on the map are only approximated by region and numbered roughly in order of sequence; there is much uncertainty and overlap. In several instances, there were multiple engagements over time. Was military action in a given place continuous or sporadic between given dates?
See Amélie Kuhrt The Persian Empire: A Corpus of Sources from the Achaemenid Period (pp. 140–158) for a precise chronology, translation of the Old Persian version, and copious notes and references.
1: Gaumata slain in Media, September 522
2: Against Acina in Elam, October 522
3: Against Nidintu-Bel/Nebuchadnezzar III in Babylonia, October 522 and December 522
4: Against Vahyazdata in Parsa, December 522, May 521, and July 521
5: Against Martiya in Elam, December 522
6: Against Vahyazdata’s army in Arachosia, December 522 and February 521
7: Against Armenians, December 522, May 521 (two battles) and June 521 (two battles)
8: Against Medes and Fravartish in Media, December 522, January 521, and May 521
9: Against Fravartish’s supporters in Parthia and Hyrcania, March 521 and July 521
10: Against Arakha/Nebuchadnezzar IV in Babylonia, August 521 and November 521
11: Against Cicantakhma in Sagartia (location of this region uncertain), October 521
12: Against Frada in Margiana, December 521
13: Against Athaimaita in Elam, 520
14: Against Skunkha in Scythia (location uncertain), 519
DB §21 also indicates rebellions in Egypt, Assyria, Sattagydia, and Scythia (location of last two uncertain), but no further details about any of those are provided in the Bisitun Inscription.
5 Darius, the Great King
Darius Triumphant – Bisitun Revisited
Darius’ victory in 522–521 BCE was by no means a sure thing. The Bisitun Inscription makes plain the widespread extent and ferocity of the resistance Darius faced. Darius repeated several times (DB §56, §57, §59, and §62) that he accomplished the defeat of the nine rebels in “one and the same year,” though his own dating seems to belie this claim: Gaumata was slain in late September 522, and Darius’ generals were still subduing the last of the rebels in December 521. A great deal of scholarly ingenuity has been applied to reconciling Darius’ statements.1 Rather than insist on the literal truth – which is not a vain enterprise, because Darius himself makes much of it – one might instead ask why the “one and the same year” was so important to Darius that he made the claim. In the end, it was another way to solidify his legitimacy: by divine favor (of course), by descent (exaggerated), by fitness to rule (standard for any king), and by military might (ultimately, the key element).
As always, one must examine earlier traditions for parallels, of which there are many. The “nine kings in one year” motif occurs several times in the Akkadian king Naram-Sin’s inscriptions, more than sixteen centuries earlier. Darius tapped into an ancient convention. Part of the Persian genius lay not only in their successful co-opting of the past but also in their innovations based on it. The Persians had great respect for their Mesopotamian and Elamite forebears, and they borrowed (and modified) both textual and iconographic modes of expression. The Bisitun relief’s imagery hearkens back to elements of the stele of Naram-Sin (reigned c. 2213–2176), among many others (Figure 5.1). Naram-Sin’s stele had been plundered from Sippar in the early twelfth century by the Elamite king Shutruk-Nahhunte I, who took it to Susa and added his own inscription in Elamite. The stele was found in Susa by Jacques Jean Marie de Morgan during his excavations at the very end of the nineteenth century. A separate statue plinth also found in Susa bears an inscription of Naram-Sin in which he referred to his victories in nine battles in one year.2 This antiquarian connection appealed to the Persian kings as much as it did to their predecessors. It is possible that these monuments were on display at Susa in Darius’ time and, if so, they would certainly have had an impact on him.
Figure 5.1 Stele of Naram-Sin, King of Akkad. Photo Credit: Gianni Dagli Orti/The Art Archive at Art Resource, NY.
Other themes prominent in the Bisitun Inscription also find precedent. The Babylonian king Nabopolassar (626–605 BCE) emphasized the truth of his assertions in his inscription. Neo-Assyrian kings frequently cast their rebellious opponents as liars.3 This phenomenon, an emphasis on truth that accompanies the rightful sovereign by virtue of divine favor, was th
us not new, but one may credit Darius for taking it to another level as he disparaged his enemies as both rebels and liars. “One man called Gaumata, a magus, he lied and claimed ‘I am Bardiya, the son of Cyrus.’ He made Persia rebellious” (DB §52). And on it went for each of the challengers Darius had defeated. Most of the other rebels adopted the names of prominent kings who ruled previously in those areas. One Persian rebel, Martiya, claimed to be Ummanunu, after a previous king in Elam; another Persian, Vahyazdata, also claimed to be Bardiya. Two Babylonian rebels each styled himself after the famous Nebuchadnezzar and claimed to be the son of Nabonidus. Two Iranian rebels (one Mede, one Sagartian) claimed to be of the line of the Median ruler Cyaxeres.
To return to the fantastic elements of the story, the impostor-double appears not only in the Bisitun Inscription (Gaumata) and Herodotus (the magus Smerdis) but also in Ctesias (there called Sphendadates; Fragment 13 §11–16) and in later tradition as well. Many scholars find even the outlines of this story improbable: that Cambyses slew his real brother (Bardiya) in secret and that a magus later impersonated Bardiya so successfully that few suspected. And yet there is some precedent for the phenomenon of a royal double. In previous Near Eastern history, disastrous omens threatening the king’s person were countered by what was called the substitute-king ritual.4 A substitute would be chosen (often someone of limited mental capacity) who would literally take the king’s place on the throne. The substitute wore the king’s clothes and the royal accoutrements, sat on the throne, ate the king’s meals, and even slept in the king’s bed. The real king, meanwhile, stayed hidden. This way, the disastrous fate that had been preordained for the king would fall upon the substitute instead. Nothing was left to chance: the substitute-king would be killed at the end of his term (in Assyrian times, usually one hundred days), thus ensuring that no harm fell upon the real king – so it was believed. The substitute-king ritual was even performed during Alexander the Great’s reign in 323 BCE, in a vain attempt to forestall his death. Some scholars have postulated that such a ritual might lay behind Darius’ fantastic tale of the impostor-double. While an ingenious idea, there is no way to tell for certain. In any event, if there was a substitute, it would not have been for Darius. And if Darius did indeed kill a substitute – let us assume the substitute was for Bardiya – the question as to what happened to the real Bardiya remains. Darius’ assertion that Cambyses killed his brother, the “official version,” invites skepticism.
A later addition to the Old Persian version of the Bisitun Inscription (§71–76) celebrated victories over an Elamite named Athamaita in Elam and against a Saka named Skunkha. The Saka here were the Scythians of the “pointed-cap,” who are generally understood to have been Scythiansof Central Asia in the extreme northeast of the Empire. Remarkably, Darius chose to have Skunkha the Scythian, but not Athamaita, engraved at the end of the line of the original liar-kings. The original relief included the nine kings defeated by Darius: Gaumata supine and the eight others in a line, with hands behind their backs and a rope around each of their necks. Skunkha’s addition necessitated the defacement of part of the inscription to the right of the relief, the first Elamite version. The whole Elamite version was then reinscribed to the lower left of the relief, below the Akkadian version and to the left of the Old Persian version.
To note that this was a significant modification is an understatement. Something about the victory over Skunkha must have held great significance for Darius. What that may have been is generally not considered in modern scholarship, but here is one possibility. According to Herodotus, Cyrus died while on campaign against the Massagetae (1.201–214), a Scythian group in the extreme northeast of the Empire. Perhaps Darius considered his victory over the Scythians of such importance – he succeeded in the region where the great Cyrus had failed – that he made special provision for its commemoration in the Bisitun relief. Of course, this is speculation, and all appropriate qualifiers must be kept in mind.
Consolidation and Expansion
In Herodotus’ version of the crisis of 522 BCE, it was not a forgone conclusion that Darius would be king. In a famous passage (3.80–83), Herodotus relates a debate about the best form of government. This debate supposedly occurred between three of the conspirators against the magus: Otanes, Megabyzus, and Darius. Otanes argued for democracy, Megabyzus for oligarchy (or aristocracy), and Darius for monarchy. Although Herodotus insisted that the debate truly occurred, his readers – ancient or modern – have every right to be skeptical. Such a debate is easily imagined in fifth-century Athens, but it is inconceivable in a late sixth-century Persian context. Even if the Persian Empire was then still in a transitional phase from its tribal days, there could not have been much doubt about continuing monarchical rule – especially after a successful thirty-year run under Cyrus and Cambyses. Herodotus’ motivation for insisting on the historical truth of the debate remains opaque, but the debate itself must be considered in light of Herodotus’ ongoing examination of forms of government – in this case, the strengths and weaknesses of democracy vis-à-vis the alternatives.
Next, according to Herodotus, it was necessary for the Seven conspirators to select which of them would be king. Already we are far-removed from Darius’ assertions of legitimacy and lineage in the Bistiun Inscription, but the special place accorded his helpers (listed at DB §68) provides a link. In Herodotus, the initial chief conspirator, Otanes, chooses to step aside – making no claim on the throne – with the understanding that he and his descendants would remain absolutely free, not subject to the king’s authority except by their choice and on condition that they adhere to Persian laws. Otanes’ avowed detachment was apparently short-lived. In Herodotus, we find Otanes soon in charge of military operations in Asia Minor, especially against the Ionian island of Samos (3.141–149). Otanes the military commander must have followed royal directives. One may thus consider Otanes’ prominent place in Herodotus’ narrative, and the special privileges due him and his family, to reflect a pro-Otanes source that Herodotus used for this part of his account.
Herodotus then returned to a favorite motif, omens and the supernatural, for the next stage: the actual selection of the king among the remaining six conspirators. They staked this momentous decision on whose horse would neigh first the following morning at a prearranged meeting spot (3.84–87). Modern scholars have discerned echoes of horse oracles associated with royal ritual in ancient Iran, perhaps the ultimate origin of Herodotus’ exaggerated and garbled version. Darius’ groom Oibares arranged a clever trick – for which Herodotus himself gave two versions, more indication that the story was a popular folktale – whereby the night before Oibares allowed Darius’ horse to mate with his favorite mare at the designated spot. The next morning, when Darius’ horse reached that spot and caught the scent, the horse leaped forward and neighed. That alone fulfilled the omen, but Herodotus for good measure added a simultaneous flash of lightning and a crash of thunder, a divine omen of approval, to seal the deal.
Darius moved swiftly to consolidate his newly won throne. Darius married the daughters and wives of his predecessors: Atossa and Artystone(daughters of Cyrus), Parmys (daughter of Bardiya/Smerdis), and also Phaidymie (daughter of Otanes). Other recorded marriages included a previous one to a daughter of Gobryas and a later one to Phratagune, Darius’ own niece (daughter of his brother Artanes), the last mainly for purposes of preserving Artanes’ estate within the extended family. Through his marriages to Cyrus’ daughters, Darius joined himself to Cyrus’ family, another means by which he strengthened his hold on the throne.
A certain Oroites posed another challenge to Darius. The story is known only from Herodotus (3.120–128). Oroites had been appointed by Cyrus as satrap (or governor) of Lydia. While the false-Smerdis ruled, Oroites remained in Sardis and took no part in the war of succession. It may be assumed that Oroites remained loyal to Cyrus’ family or, perhaps more likely, was only biding his time. Oroites murdered one of Darius’ messengers (3.126), because the
message did not please him. Presumably, Darius was looking for support in his gambit for the throne. The rejection of the message and murder of the messenger was a statement to Darius: an act of defiance and rebellion. Once secure in his power, Darius dispatched another messenger, this one to test the loyalty of the Persians around Oroites. A series of communiques was given to be read in succession by the royal secretary, each with a different order for Oroites’ guards. Once he was comfortable that the guards’ ultimate loyalty was to the king, the messenger directed the secretary to read the final communique: the order to put Oroites to death. Regardless of the historicity of this specific anecdote, it illustrates how the king’s power was upheld by his loyal officials and troops in the provinces. Another holdover from the Cambyses era, a man named Aryandes who governed Egypt, also posed a challenge to Darius (Hdt. 4.166). At some point during the reign of Darius, Aryandes began to mint coins with the intent to make himself the equal of Darius. Aryandes thus went beyond the normal satrapal prerogatives for minting, and Darius considered it an act of rebellion. Aryandes paid the price with his life.
Darius was not content merely to reassemble the Empire that Cyrus and Cambyses had built. Darius pushed the boundaries of the Empire eastward by incorporating the Indus River valley region (modern Pakistan and parts of India). Subsequent royal inscriptions that list the Empire’s holdings include Old Persian Hidush, a province named for the Indus River. Darius also expanded Persian territory in northeast Africa. Herodotus records a Persian expedition across Libya that culminated in Euesperides, identified with modern Benghazi (4.200–204). Some of the inhabitants of Barca, also in Libya, were deported to Bactria, at the extreme opposite end of the Empire. There is little information about the chronology and details of these conquests, but they are both usually dated in the 510s BCE.
