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108-512: Authored by Darius the Great sometime between his coronation as king of the Persian Empire in the summer of 522 BC and his death in autumn of 486 BC, the inscription begins with a brief autobiography of Darius, including his ancestry and lineage. Later in the inscription, Darius provides a lengthy sequence of events following the death of Cambyses II in which he fought nineteen battles in

216-500: A satrap ( archon ) and specified fixed tributes that the satrapies were required to pay. A complete list is preserved in the catalogue of Herodotus, beginning with Ionia and listing the other satrapies from west to east excluding Persis , which was the land of the Persians and the only province which was not a conquered land. Tributes were paid in both silver and gold talents. Tributes in silver from each satrap were measured with

324-503: A Persian, son of a Persian, an Aryan , having Aryan lineage." A relief under his tomb portraying equestrian combat was later carved during the reign of the Sasanian King of Kings, Bahram II ( r.  274–293 CE ). Xerxes , the eldest son of Darius and Atossa , succeeded to the throne as Xerxes I ; before his accession, he had contested the succession with his elder half-brother Artobarzanes, Darius's eldest son, who

432-712: A Sultan, in Ottoman territory he was most often referred to as Padishah and several used the title Shah in their tughras . Their male offspring received the title of Şehzade , or prince (literally, "offspring of the Shah", from Persian shahzadeh ). The full title of the Achaemenid rulers was Xšāyaθiya Xšāyaθiyānām , literally "King of Kings" in Old Persian, corresponding to Middle Persian Šâhân Šâh , and Modern Persian شاهنشاه ( Šâhanšâh ). In Greek , this phrase

540-499: A UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2006. In 2012, the Bisotun Cultural Heritage Center organized an international effort to re-examine the inscription. In the first section of the inscription, Darius the Great declares his ancestry and lineage: King Darius says: My father is Hystaspes [Vištâspa]; the father of Hystaspes was Arsames [Aršâma]; the father of Arsames was Ariaramnes [Ariyâramna];

648-494: A brief autobiography including his ancestry and lineage . To aid the presentation of his ancestry, Darius wrote down the sequence of events that occurred after the death of Cyrus the Great . Darius mentions several times that he is the rightful king by the grace of the supreme deity Ahura Mazda . In addition, further texts and monuments from Persepolis have been found, as well as a clay tablet containing an Old Persian cuneiform of Darius from Gherla , Romania (Harmatta) and

756-628: A deserter, enter the Babylonian camp, and gain the trust of the Babylonians. The plan was successful and Darius's army eventually surrounded the city and overcame the rebels. During this revolt, Scythian nomads took advantage of the disorder and chaos and invaded Persia. Darius first finished defeating the rebels in Elam, Assyria, and Babylon and then attacked the Scythian invaders. He pursued

864-933: A direct response to the revolt in Ionia, were the beginning of the First Persian invasion of (mainland) Greece. At the same time, anti-Persian parties gained more power in Athens, and pro-Persian aristocrats were exiled from Athens and Sparta. Darius responded by sending troops led by his son-in-law across the Hellespont . However, a violent storm and harassment by the Thracians forced the troops to return to Persia. Seeking revenge on Athens and Eretria, Darius assembled another army of 20,000 men under his Admiral, Datis , and his nephew Artaphernes , who met success when they captured Eretria and advanced to Marathon. In 490 BCE, at

972-558: A lasting legacy. Since Cyrus's conquest, Susa's urban layout had remained unchanged, maintaining the layout from the Elamite era. Only during Darius's rule does the archeological evidence at Susa start showing any signs of a Achaemenid layout. During Darius's Greek expedition , he had begun construction projects in Susa, Egypt and Persepolis . The Darius Canal that connected the Nile to

1080-764: A letter from Darius to Gadates, preserved in a Greek text of the Roman period . In the foundation tablets of Apadana Palace , Darius described in Old Persian cuneiform the extent of his Empire in broad geographical terms: Darius the great king, king of kings, king of countries, son of Hystaspes, an Achaemenid. King Darius says: This is the kingdom which I hold, from the Sacae who are beyond Sogdia to Kush , and from Sind ( Old Persian : 𐏃𐎡𐎭𐎢𐎺 , "Hidauv", locative of " Hiduš ", i.e. " Indus valley ") to Lydia ( Old Persian : "Spardâ") – [this is] what Ahuramazda ,

1188-493: A period of one year (ending in December 521 BC) to put down multiple rebellions throughout the Persian Empire . The inscription states in detail that the rebellions were orchestrated by several impostors and their co-conspirators in various cities throughout the empire, each of whom falsely proclaimed himself king during the upheaval following Cambyses II's death. Darius the Great proclaimed himself victorious in all battles during

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1296-478: A plan to oust the pseudo-Bardiya. After killing the impostor along with his brother Patizeithes and other Magians, Darius was crowned king the following morning. The details regarding Darius's rise to power is generally acknowledged as forgery and was in reality used as a concealment of his overthrow and murder of Cyrus's rightful successor, Bardiya. To legitimize his rule, Darius had a common origin fabricated between himself and Cyrus by designating Achaemenes as

1404-408: A republic would lead to corruption and internal fighting, while a monarchy would be led with a single-mindedness not possible in other governments, Darius was able to convince the other nobles. To decide who would become the monarch, six of them decided on a test, with Otanes abstaining, as he had no interest in being king. They were to gather outside the palace, mounted on their horses at sunrise, and

1512-687: A revolt broke out in Egypt. This revolt in Egypt worsened his failing health and prevented the possibility of his leading another army. Soon afterwards, Darius died, after thirty days of suffering through an unidentified illness, partially due to his part in crushing the revolt, at about sixty-four years old. In October 486 BCE, his body was embalmed and entombed in the rock-cut tomb at Naqsh-e Rostam , which he had been preparing. An inscription on his tomb introduces him as "Great King, King of Kings, King of countries containing all kinds of men, King in this great earth far and wide, son of Hystaspes, an Achaemenian,

1620-476: A separate language system only used for Persis and the Persians, which was called Aryan script and was only used for official inscriptions. Before this, the accomplishments of the king were addressed in Persian solely through narration and hymns and through the "masters of memory". Indeed, oral history continued to play an important role throughout the history of Iran. Darius introduced a new universal currency,

1728-538: A son, Ariomardus . Furthermore, Darius married his niece Phratagune , with whom he had two sons, Abrokomas and Hyperantes . He also married another woman of the nobility, Phaidyme, the daughter of Otanes . It is unknown if he had any children with her. Before these royal marriages, Darius had married an unknown daughter of his good friend and lance carrier Gobryas from an early marriage, with whom he had three sons, Artobazanes, Ariabignes and Arsamenes . Any daughters he had with her are not known. Although Artobazanes

1836-456: A year and a half, Darius and his armies were unable to retake the city, though he attempted many tricks and strategies—even copying that which Cyrus the Great had employed when he captured Babylon. However, the situation changed in Darius's favour when, according to the story, a mule owned by Zopyrus , a high-ranking soldier, foaled. Following this, a plan was hatched for Zopyrus to pretend to be

1944-566: Is derived from usage in Ancient Greek and Arabic sources, particularly Diodorus Siculus and Ya'qubi , transliterated into English in the 19th century by Henry Rawlinson . The modern Persian version name is Bisotun. After the fall of the Persian Empire's Achaemenid Dynasty and its successors, and the lapse of Old Persian cuneiform writing into disuse, the nature of the inscription was forgotten, and fanciful explanations became

2052-468: Is derived. Most recently, the form xšāyaθiya has been analyzed as a genuine, inherited Persian formation with the meaning 'pertaining to reigning, ruling'. This formation with the "origin" suffix -iya is derived from a deverbal abstract noun * xšāy-aθa- 'rule, ruling, Herrschaft ' , from the (Old Persian) verb xšāy- 'to rule, reign'. The full, Old Persian title of the Achaemenid rulers of

2160-521: Is mine, I am Ahura Mazda's". In the lands that were conquered by his empire, Darius followed the same Achaemenid tolerance that Cyrus had shown and later Achaemenid kings would show. He supported faiths and religions that were "alien" as long as the adherents were "submissive and peaceable", sometimes giving them grants from his treasury for their purposes. He had funded the restoration of the Israelite temple which had originally been decreed by Cyrus,

2268-718: Is thought to have derived from the traditions of Elam , Lullubi , the Babylonians and the Assyrians . Darius the Great Darius I ( Old Persian : 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁 Dārayavaʰuš ; c.  550 – 486 BCE), commonly known as Darius the Great , was the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire , reigning from 522 BCE until his death in 486 BCE. He ruled the empire at its territorial peak, when it included much of Western Asia , parts of

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2376-630: Is well established that Darius was a firm believer in Ahura Mazda , whom he saw as the supreme deity. However, Ahura Mazda was also worshipped by adherents of the (Indo-)Iranian religious tradition. As can be seen at the Behistun Inscription , Darius believed that Ahura Mazda had appointed him to rule the Achaemenid Empire. Darius had dualistic philosophical convictions and believed that each rebellion in his kingdom

2484-403: The Achaemenid Empire leaving the empire in turmoil. Even though Darius did not seem to have the support of the populace , Darius had a loyal army, led by close confidants and nobles (including the six nobles who had helped him remove Gaumata). With their support, Darius was able to suppress and quell all revolts within a year. In Darius's words, he had killed a total of nine "lying kings" through

2592-544: The Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran . In 1999, Iranian archeologists began the documentation and assessment of damages to the site incurred during the 20th century. Malieh Mehdiabadi, who was project manager for the effort, described a photogrammetric process by which two-dimensional photos were taken of the inscriptions using two cameras and later transmuted into 3-D images. In recent years, Iranian archaeologists have been undertaking conservation works. The site became

2700-624: The Balkans ( Thrace – Macedonia and Paeonia ) and the Caucasus , most of the Black Sea 's coastal regions, Central Asia , the Indus Valley in the far east, and portions of North Africa and Northeast Africa including Egypt ( Mudrâya ), eastern Libya , and coastal Sudan . Darius ascended the throne by overthrowing the Achaemenid monarch Bardiya (or Smerdis ), who he claimed

2808-495: The Battle of Marathon , the Persian army was defeated by a heavily armed Athenian army, with 9,000 men who were supported by 600 Plataeans and 10,000 lightly armed soldiers led by Miltiades . The defeat at Marathon marked the end of the first Persian invasion of Greece. Darius began preparations for a second force which he would command, instead of his generals; however, before the preparations were complete, Darius died, thus leaving

2916-895: The Danube River, River Don and the Black Sea. Darius crossed the Black Sea at the Bosphorus Straits using a bridge of boats. Darius conquered large portions of Eastern Europe, even crossing the Danube to wage war on the Scythians . Darius invaded European Scythia in 513 BCE, where the Scythians evaded Darius's army, using feints and retreating eastwards while laying waste to the countryside, by blocking wells, intercepting convoys, destroying pastures and continuous skirmishes against Darius's army. Seeking to fight with

3024-695: The Indus Valley . Darius conquered the lands surrounding the Indus River in 515 BCE. Darius I controlled the Indus Valley from Gandhara to modern Karachi and appointed the Greek Scylax of Caryanda to explore the Indian Ocean from the mouth of the Indus to Suez . Darius then marched through the Bolan Pass and returned through Arachosia and Drangiana back to Persia . After Bardiya

3132-601: The Latin forms of the Greek Dareîos ( Δαρεῖος ), itself from Old Persian Dārayauš ( 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎢𐏁 , d-a-r-y-uš ; which is a shortened form of Dārayavaʰuš ( 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁 , d-a-r-y-v-u-š ). The longer Persian form is reflected in the Elamite Da-ri-(y)a-ma-u-iš , Babylonian Da-(a-)ri-ia-(a-)muš , and Aramaic drywhwš ( 𐡃𐡓𐡉𐡅𐡄𐡅𐡔 ) forms, and possibly in

3240-506: The Lost Tribes of Israel and Shalmaneser of Assyria . In 1604, Italian explorer Pietro della Valle visited the inscription and made preliminary drawings of the monument. German surveyor Carsten Niebuhr visited in around 1764 for Frederick V of Denmark , publishing a copy of the inscription in the account of his journeys in 1778. Niebuhr's transcriptions were used by Georg Friedrich Grotefend and others in their efforts to decipher

3348-584: The Old Persian cuneiform script. Grotefend had deciphered ten of the 37 symbols of Old Persian by 1802, after realizing that unlike the Semitic cuneiform scripts, Old Persian text is alphabetic and each word is separated by a vertical slanted symbol. In 1835, Sir Henry Rawlinson , an officer of the British East India Company army assigned to the forces of the Shah of Iran, began studying

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3456-590: The Red Sea was constructed by him. It ran from present-day Zagazig in the eastern Nile Delta through Wadi Tumilat , Lake Timsah , and Great Bitter Lake , which are both close to present-day Suez . To open this canal, he travelled to Egypt in 497 BCE, where the inauguration was carried out with great fanfare and celebration. Darius also built a canal to connect the Red Sea and Mediterranean . On this visit to Egypt he erected monuments and executed Aryandes on

3564-506: The Shahanshah ( شاهنشاه , Šâhanšâh , lit.   ' King of Kings ' ) or Padishah ( پادشاه , Pâdešâh , lit.   ' Master King ' ) in the sense of a continuation of the original Persian Empire . The word descends from Old Persian xšāyaθiya "king", as it was compared to Avestan xšaθra- , "power" and "command", corresponding to Sanskrit kṣatra- (same meaning), from which kṣatriya - , "warrior",

3672-431: The daric , sometime before 500 BCE. Darius used the coinage system as a transnational currency to regulate trade and commerce throughout his empire. The Daric was also recognized beyond the borders of the empire, in places such as Celtic Central Europe and Eastern Europe. There were two types of darics, a gold daric and a silver daric. Only the king could mint gold darics. Important generals and satraps minted silver darics,

3780-400: The "eyes and ears" of Darius, completed further checks on each satrap. The imperial administration was coordinated by the chancery with headquarters at Persepolis, Susa, and Babylon with Bactria, Ecbatana, Sardis, Dascylium and Memphis having branches. Darius kept Aramaic as the common language, which soon spread throughout the empire. However, Darius gathered a group of scholars to create

3888-402: The Achaemenid Empire became centralized and unified. Darius undertook other construction projects throughout his realm, primarily focusing on Susa , Pasargadae , Persepolis , Babylon , and Egypt. He had an inscription carved upon a cliff-face of Mount Behistun to record his conquests, which would later become important evidence of the Old Persian language. Dārīus and Dārēus are

3996-544: The Achaemenid Empire through his conquests of Macedonia , the Cyclades , and the island of Naxos . Darius organized the empire by dividing it into administrative provinces, each governed by a satrap . He organized Achaemenid coinage as a new uniform monetary system, and he made Aramaic a co-official language of the empire alongside Persian . He also put the empire in better standing by building roads and introducing standard weights and measures . Through these changes,

4104-512: The Babylonian talent . Those paid in gold were measured with the Euboic talent. The total tribute from the satraps came to an amount less than 15,000 silver talents. The majority of the satraps were of Persian origin and were members of the royal house or the six great noble families. These satraps were personally picked by Darius to monitor these provinces. Each of the provinces was divided into sub-provinces, each having its own governor, who

4212-401: The Babylonian people had taken advantage of him and deceived him, which resulted in Darius gathering a large army and marching to Babylon . At Babylon, Darius was met with closed gates and a series of defences to keep him and his armies out. Darius encountered mockery and taunting from the rebels, including the famous saying "Oh yes, you will capture our city, when mules shall have foals." For

4320-470: The Elamite text includes 260 lines in eight columns, and the Babylonian text is in 112 lines. A copy of the text in Aramaic, written during the reign of Darius II, was found in Egypt. The inscription was illustrated by a life-sized bas-relief of Darius I, the Great , holding a bow as a sign of kingship, with his left foot on the chest of a figure lying supine before him. The supine figure is reputed to be

4428-593: The First Persian Empire was Xšāyaθiya Xšāyaθiyānām or (Middle Persian) Šâhân Šâh , "King of Kings" or "Emperor". This title has ancient Near Eastern or Mesopotamian precedents. The earliest attestation of such a title dates back to the Middle Assyrian period as šar šarrāni , in reference to the Assyrian ruler Tukulti-Ninurta I (1243–1207 BC). Šāh , or Šāhanšāh ( King of Kings ) to use

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4536-574: The Great in the Behistun complex that have been registered in the Iranian national list of historical sites. Some of them are: The Anubanini rock relief , also called Sarpol-i Zohab, of the Lullubi king Anubanini , dated to c.  2300 BC , and which is located not far from the Behistun reliefs at Sarpol-e Zahab , is very similar to the reliefs at Behistun. The attitude of the ruler,

4644-464: The Iranian people chose to be under the leadership of Gaumata, as "Bardiya". No member of the Achaemenid family would rise against Gaumata for the safety of their own life. Darius, who had served Cambyses as his lance-bearer until the deposed ruler's death, prayed for aid and, in September 522 BCE, along with Otanes , Intaphrenes , Gobryas , Hydarnes , Megabyzus and Aspathines , killed Gaumata in

4752-779: The Persian Empire (later the Empire of Iran ). The European opinion changed in the Napoleonic era, when Persia was an ally of the Western powers eager to make the Ottoman Sultan release his hold on various (mainly Christian) European parts of the Ottoman Empire , and western (Christian) emperors had obtained the Ottoman acknowledgement that their western imperial styles were to be rendered in Turkish as padishah . In

4860-484: The Scythians, Darius's army chased the Scythian army deep into Scythian lands, where there were no cities to conquer and no supplies to forage. In frustration Darius sent a letter to the Scythian ruler Idanthyrsus to fight or surrender. The ruler replied that he would not stand and fight with Darius until they found the graves of their fathers and tried to destroy them. Until then, they would continue their strategy as they had no cities or cultivated lands to lose. Despite

4968-475: The accounts of Greek historians, Cambyses II had left Patizeithes in charge of the kingdom when he headed for Egypt. He later sent Prexaspes to murder Bardiya. After the killing, Patizeithes put his brother Gaumata, a Magian who resembled Bardiya, on the throne and declared him the Great King. Otanes discovered that Gaumata was an impostor, and along with six other Iranian nobles, including Darius, created

5076-635: The attack against his officers was the first sign of revolt. He sent a messenger to each of the noblemen, asking them if they approved of Intaphernes's actions. They denied and disavowed any connection with Intaphernes's actions, stating that they stood by their decision to appoint Darius as King of Kings. Darius's choice to ask the noblemen indicates that he was not yet completely sure of his authority. Taking precautions against further resistance, Darius sent soldiers to seize Intaphernes, along with his son, family members, relatives and any friends who were capable of arming themselves. Darius believed that Intaphernes

5184-629: The charge of treason. When Darius returned to Persis, he found that the codification of Egyptian law had been finished. In Egypt, Darius built many temples and restored those that had previously been destroyed. Even though Darius was a believer of Ahura Mazda, he built temples dedicated to the Gods of the Ancient Egyptian religion . Several temples found were dedicated to Ptah and Nekhbet . Darius also created several roads and routes in Egypt. The monuments that Darius built were often inscribed in

5292-427: The daric made it easier to collect new taxes on land, livestock and marketplaces. This led to the registration of land which was measured and then taxed. The increased government revenues helped maintain and improve existing infrastructure and helped fund irrigation projects in dry lands. This new tax system also led to the formation of state banking and the creation of banking firms. One of the most famous banking firms

5400-443: The dream, he inferred it as a great danger to the future security of the empire, as it meant that Darius would one day rule the whole world. However, his son Cambyses was the heir to the throne, not Darius, causing Cyrus to wonder if Darius was forming treasonable and ambitious designs. This led Cyrus to order Hystaspes to go back to Persis and watch over his son strictly, until Cyrus himself returned. There are different accounts of

5508-772: The element "šah," meaning "king" in Middle Persian and New Persian . These names can be found in both masculine and feminine forms and may include native Armenian or foreign components. The element "šah" can appear as either the first or second component and is sometimes part of doublet forms with the components reversed. For example, masculine names include Šah-amir and Amir-šah, Šah-paron and Paron-šah, and Vahram-šah; feminine names include Šah-xat‘un and Xat‘un-šah, and Šah-tikin. Some examples of these compound names include masculine Šah-aziz and feminine Aziz-šah, masculine Sult‘an-šah and feminine Šah-sult‘an, and masculine Melik‘-šah and feminine Šah-melē/ik‘. These names, particularly

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5616-573: The empire, so that there was a system of travel authorization for the King, satraps and other high officials, which entitled the traveller to draw provisions at daily stopping places. "By the grace of Ahuramazda am I king; Ahuramazda has granted me the kingdom." — Darius, on the Behistun Inscription While there is no general consensus in scholarship whether Darius and his predecessors had been influenced by Zoroastrianism , it

5724-549: The eponymous founder of their dynasty. In reality, Darius was not from the same house as Cyrus and his forebears, the rulers of Anshan . Following his coronation at Pasargadae , Darius moved to Ecbatana . He soon learned that support for Bardiya was strong, and revolts in Elam and Babylonia had broken out. Darius ended the Elamite revolt when the revolutionary leader Aschina was captured and executed in Susa . After three months

5832-482: The evading tactics of the Scythians, Darius's campaign was so far relatively successful. As presented by Herodotus , the tactics used by the Scythians resulted in the loss of their best lands and of damage to their loyal allies. This gave Darius the initiative. As he moved eastwards in the cultivated lands of the Scythians in Eastern Europe proper, he remained resupplied by his fleet and lived to an extent off

5940-449: The father of Ariaramnes was Teispes [Cišpiš]; the father of Teispes was Achaemenes [Haxâmaniš]. King Darius says: That is why we are called Achaemenids; from antiquity we have been noble; from antiquity has our dynasty been royal. King Darius says: Eight of my dynasty were kings before me; I am the ninth. Nine in succession we have been kings. King Darius says: By the grace of Ahuramazda am I king; Ahuramazda has granted me

6048-484: The feminine forms, sometimes vary in gender depending on the source. The name Artamšin, for instance, is based on *Artam from Old Iranian *R̥tāma-, interpreted as "having power of/from R̥ta." The auslaut of the Armenian name suggests a connection to the Iranian word for "king," šāh, found in various languages including Middle Persian and New Persian. In another example, the name Šaštʻi is interpreted as "Šah-Lady," with

6156-428: The fortress of Sikayauvati. Herodotus provides a dubious account of Darius's ascension: Several days after Gaumata had been assassinated, Darius and the other six nobles discussed the fate of the empire. At first, the seven discussed the form of government: A democratic republic ( Isonomia ) was strongly pushed by Otanes , an oligarchy was pushed by Megabyzus, while Darius pushed for a monarchy. After stating that

6264-478: The forts were still standing in his day. After chasing the Scythians for a month, Darius's army was suffering losses due to fatigue, privation and sickness. Concerned about losing more of his troops, Darius halted the march at the banks of the Volga River and headed towards Thrace . He had conquered enough Scythian territory to force the Scythians to respect the Persian forces. Darius's European expedition

6372-594: The full-length term, was the title of the Persian emperors . It includes rulers of the first Persian Empire, the Achaemenid dynasty , who unified Persia in the sixth century BC, and created a vast intercontinental empire, as well as rulers of succeeding dynasties throughout history until the 20th century and the Imperial House of Pahlavi . While in Western sources the Ottoman monarch is most often referred to as

6480-494: The greatest of gods, bestowed upon me. May Ahuramazda protect me and my royal house! Herodotus , a Greek historian and author of The Histories , provided an account of many Persian kings and the Greco-Persian Wars . He wrote extensively on Darius, spanning half of Book 3 along with Books 4, 5 and 6. It begins with the removal of the alleged usurper Gaumata and continues to the end of Darius's reign. Darius

6588-640: The increasing concerns amongst the Greeks over the strength of Darius's kingdom along with the constant interference by the Greeks in Ionia and Lydia were stepping stones towards the conflict that was yet to come between Persia and certain of the leading Greek city states. When Aristagoras organized the Ionian Revolt , Eretria and Athens supported him by sending ships and troops to Ionia and by burning Sardis . Persian military and naval operations to quell

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6696-435: The inscription in earnest. As the town of Bisotun's name was anglicized as "Behistun" at this time, the monument became known as the "Behistun Inscription". Despite its relative inaccessibility, Rawlinson was able to scale the cliff with the help of a local boy and copy the Old Persian inscription. The Elamite was across a chasm, and the Babylonian four meters above; both were beyond easy reach and were left for later. In 1847, he

6804-420: The inscription, Darius provides an eye-witness account of battles he successfully fought over a one-year period to put down rebellions which had resulted from the deaths of Cyrus the Great, and his son Cambyses II: The site covers an area of 116 hectares. Archeological evidence indicates that this region became a human shelter 40,000 years ago. There are 18 historical monuments other than the inscription of Darius

6912-413: The invaders, who led him to a marsh; there he found no known enemies but an enigmatic Scythian tribe. The Scythians were a group of north Iranian nomadic tribes, speaking an Eastern Iranian language ( Scythian languages ) who had invaded Media , killed Cyrus in battle, revolted against Darius and threatened to disrupt trade between Central Asia and the shores of the Black Sea as they lived between

7020-748: The kingdom. Darius also lists the territories under his rule: King Darius says: These are the countries which are subject unto me, and by the grace of Ahuramazda I became king of them: Persia [Pârsa], Elam [Ûvja], Babylonia [Bâbiruš], Assyria [Athurâ], Arabia [Arabâya], Egypt [Mudrâya], the countries by the Sea [Tyaiy Drayahyâ ( Phoenicia )], Lydia [Sparda], the Greeks [Yauna ( Ionia )], Media [Mâda], Armenia [Armina], Cappadocia [Katpatuka], Parthia [Parthava], Drangiana [Zraka], Aria [Haraiva], Chorasmia [Uvârazmîy], Bactria [Bâxtriš], Sogdia [Suguda], Gandhara [Gadâra], Scythia [Saka], Sattagydia [Thataguš], Arachosia [Harauvatiš] and Maka [Maka]; twenty-three lands in all. Later in

7128-411: The land. While moving eastwards in the European Scythian lands, he captured the large fortified city of the Budini , one of the allies of the Scythians, and burnt it. Darius eventually ordered a halt at the banks of Oarus, where he built "eight great forts, some eight miles [13 km] distant from each other", no doubt as a frontier defence. In his Histories , Herodotus states that the ruins of

7236-415: The latter usually to recruit Greek mercenaries in Anatolia . The daric was a major boost to international trade. Trade goods such as textiles, carpets, tools and metal objects began to travel throughout Asia, Europe and Africa. To further improve trade, Darius built the Royal Road , a postal system and Phoenician-based commercial shipping. The daric also improved government revenues as the introduction of

7344-409: The limestone in which the text was inscribed, while leaving new deposits of limestone over other areas, covering the text. In 1938, the inscription became of interest to the Nazi German think tank Ahnenerbe , although research plans were cancelled due to the onset of World War II. The monument later suffered some damage from Allied soldiers using it for target practice in World War II , and during

7452-450: The longer Greek form, Dareiaîos ( Δαρειαῖος ). The name in nominative form means "he who holds firm the good(ness)", which can be seen by the first part dāraya , meaning "holder", and the adverb vau , meaning "goodness". At some time between his coronation and his death, Darius left a tri-lingual monumental relief on Mount Behistun , which was written in Elamite , Old Persian and Babylonian . The inscription begins with

7560-399: The man whose horse neighed first in recognition of the rising sun would become king. According to Herodotus, Darius had a slave, Oebares, who rubbed his hand over the genitals of a mare that Darius's horse favored. When the six gathered, Oebares placed his hands beside the nostrils of Darius's horse, who became excited at the scent and neighed. This was followed by lightning and thunder, leading

7668-455: The mother of Darius. The Behistun Inscription of Darius states that his father was satrap of Bactria in 522 BCE. According to Herodotus (III.139), Darius, prior to seizing power and "of no consequence at the time", had served as a spearman ( doryphoros ) in the Egyptian campaign (528–525 BCE) of Cambyses II , then the Persian Great King; this is often interpreted to mean he was the king's personal spear-carrier, an important role. Hystaspes

7776-411: The norm. In 1598, Englishman Robert Sherley saw the inscription during a diplomatic mission to Safavid Persia on behalf of Austria , and brought it to the attention of Western European scholars. His party incorrectly came to the conclusion that it was Christian in origin. French General Gardanne thought it showed "Christ and his twelve apostles ", and Sir Robert Ker Porter thought it represented

7884-410: The official languages of the Persian Empire, Old Persian , Elamite and Babylonian and Egyptian hieroglyphs . To construct these monuments, Darius employed a large number of workers and artisans of diverse nationalities. Several of these workers were deportees who had been employed specifically for these projects. These deportees enhanced the empire's economy and improved inter-cultural relations. At

7992-446: The others to dismount and kneel before Darius in recognition of his apparent divine providence . In this account, Darius himself claimed that he achieved the throne not through fraud, but cunning, even erecting a statue of himself mounted on his neighing horse with the inscription: "Darius, son of Hystaspes, obtained the sovereignty of Persia by the sagacity of his horse and the ingenious contrivance of Oebares, his groom." According to

8100-399: The period of upheaval, attributing his success to the "grace of Ahura Mazda ". The inscription is approximately 15 m (49 ft) high by 25 m (82 ft) wide and 100 m (330 ft) up a limestone cliff from an ancient road connecting the capitals of Babylonia and Media ( Babylon and Ecbatana , respectively). The Old Persian text contains 414 lines in five columns;

8208-443: The pretender Gaumata . Darius is attended to the left by two servants, and nine one-meter figures stand to the right, with hands tied and rope around their necks, representing conquered peoples. A Faravahar floats above, giving its blessing to the king. One figure appears to have been added after the others were completed, as was Darius's beard, which is a separate block of stone attached with iron pins and lead . The name Behistun

8316-415: The quelling of revolutions. Darius left a detailed account of these revolutions in the Behistun Inscription . One of the significant events of Darius's early reign was the slaying of Intaphernes , one of the seven noblemen who had deposed the previous ruler and installed Darius as the new monarch. The seven had made an agreement that they could all visit the new king whenever they pleased, except when he

8424-447: The realm of a shah (or a loftier derived ruler style), a prince or princess of the royal blood was logically called shahzada as the term is derived from shah using the Persian patronymic suffix -zâde or -zâdeh, "born from" or "descendant of". However the precise full styles can differ in the court traditions of each shah's kingdom. This title was given to the princes of the Ottoman Empire ( Şehzade , Ottoman Turkish : شهزاده) and

8532-400: The revolt ended in the Persian reoccupation of Ionian and Greek islands, as well as the re-subjugation of Thrace and the conquering of Macedonia in 492 BCE under Mardonius . Macedon had been a vassal kingdom of the Persians since the late 6th century BCE, but retained autonomy. Mardonius's 492 campaign made it a fully subordinate part of the Persian kingdom. These military actions, coming as

8640-692: The revolt in Babylonia had ended. While in Babylonia, Darius learned a revolution had broken out in Bactria , a satrapy which had always been in favour of Darius, and had initially volunteered an army of soldiers to quell revolts. Following this, revolts broke out in Persis , the homeland of the Persians and Darius and then in Elam and Babylonia, followed by in Media , Parthia , Assyria , and Egypt . By 522 BCE, there were revolts against Darius in most parts of

8748-406: The rise of Darius to the throne from both Darius himself and Greek historians. The oldest records report a convoluted sequence of events in which Cambyses II lost his mind, murdered his brother Bardiya , and was killed by an infected leg wound. After this, Darius and a group of six nobles traveled to Sikayauvati to kill an usurper, Gaumata , who had taken the throne by pretending to be Bardiya during

8856-544: The second component reflecting the Arabic term sittī, meaning "My lady, lady." This name is found in a colophon from the Kołbay monastery as the name of a sister of Dawitʻ and priest Vardan. Overall, Armenian compound names containing the element "šah" provide insight into the linguistic and cultural interactions between Armenian and Iranian languages and cultures. Shahzade ( Persian : شاهزاده , transliterated as Šâhzâde ). In

8964-409: The sovereign shah bahadur (see above) were by birth-right styled "Shahzada [personal title] Mirza [personal name] Bahadur", though this style could also be extended to individual grandsons and even further relatives. Other male descendants of the sovereign in the male line were merely styled "Mirza [personal name]" or "[personal name] Mirza". This could even apply to non-Muslim dynasties. For example,

9072-399: The task to his son Xerxes . Darius was the son of Hystaspes and the grandson of Arsames . Darius married Atossa , daughter of Cyrus , with whom he had four sons: Xerxes , Achaemenes , Masistes and Hystaspes. He also married Artystone , another daughter of Cyrus, with whom he had two known sons, Arsames and Gobryas. Darius married Parmys , the daughter of Bardiya, with whom he had

9180-460: The territorial apex of the empire, when it stretched from parts of the Balkans ( Thrace - Macedonia , Bulgaria - Paeonia ) in the west, to the Indus Valley in the east. In 516 BCE, Darius embarked on a campaign to Central Asia, Aria and Bactria and then marched into Afghanistan to Taxila in modern-day Pakistan . Darius spent the winter of 516–515 BCE in Gandhara , preparing to conquer

9288-405: The time of Darius's death construction projects were still under way. Xerxes completed these works and in some cases expanded his father's projects by erecting new buildings of his own. Shah Shah ( / ʃ ɑː / ; Persian : شاه , Šāh [ʃɒːh] , lit.   ' king ' ) is a royal title that was historically used by the leading figures of Iranian monarchies . It

9396-588: The trampling of an enemy, the lines of prisoners are all very similar, to such extent that it was said that the sculptors of the Behistun Inscription had probably seen the Anubanini relief beforehand and were inspired by it. The Lullubian reliefs were the model for the Behistun reliefs of Darius the Great . The inscriptional tradition of the Achaemenids, starting especially with Darius I ,

9504-495: The true king's absence. Darius's account, written at the Behistun Inscription, states that Cambyses II killed his own brother Bardiya, but that this murder was not known among the Iranian people . A would-be usurper named Gaumata came and lied to the people, stating that he was Bardiya. The Iranians had grown rebellious against Cambyses's rule and, on 11 March 522 BCE, a revolt against Cambyses broke out in his absence. On 1 July,

9612-399: The twentieth century, the Shah of Persia , Mohammad Reza Pahlavi , officially adopted the title شاهنشاه Šâhanšâh and, in western languages, the rendering Emperor . He also styled his wife شهبانو Shahbânū ("Empress"). Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was the last Shah, as the Iranian monarchy was abolished after the 1979 Iranian Revolution . Armenian compound personal names often contain

9720-511: The younger sons of the ruling Sikh maharaja of Punjab were styled "Shahzada [personal name] Singh Bahadur". The borrowing shahajada , "Shah's son", taken from the Mughal title Shahzada, was the usual princely title borne by the grandsons and male descendants of a Nepalese sovereign in the male line of the Shah dynasty until its abolition in 2008. For the heir to a "Persian-style" shah's royal throne, more specific titles were used, containing

9828-449: Was Murashu Sons , based in the Babylonian city of Nippur . These banking firms provided loans and credit to clients. In an effort to further improve trade, Darius built canals, underground waterways and a powerful navy. According to Herodotus, qanat irrigation technology was introduced to Egypt, which is supported by the historian Albert T. Olmstead . He further improved and expanded the network of roads and way stations throughout

9936-511: Was Darius's first-born, Xerxes became heir and the next king through the influence of Atossa ; she had great authority in the kingdom as Darius loved her the most of all his wives. After becoming aware of the Persian defeat at the Battle of Marathon , Darius began planning another expedition against the Greek city-states ; this time, he, not Datis , would command the imperial armies. Darius had spent three years preparing men and ships for war when

10044-927: Was a major event in his reign, which began with the invasion of Thrace . Darius also conquered many cities of the northern Aegean, Paeonia , while Macedonia submitted voluntarily, after the demand of earth and water , becoming a vassal kingdom. He then left Megabyzus to conquer Thrace, returning to Sardis to spend the winter. The Greeks living in Asia Minor and some of the Greek islands had submitted to Persian rule already by 510 BCE. Nonetheless, there were certain Greeks who were pro-Persian, although these were largely based in Athens . To improve Greek-Persian relations, Darius opened his court and treasuries to those Greeks who wanted to serve him. These Greeks served as soldiers, artisans, statesmen and mariners for Darius. However,

10152-701: Was able to send a full and accurate copy to Europe. The site was visited by the American linguist A. V. Williams Jackson in 1903. Later expeditions, in 1904 sponsored by the British Museum and led by Leonard William King and Reginald Campbell Thompson and in 1948 by George G. Cameron of the University of Michigan , obtained photographs, casts and more accurate transcriptions of the texts, including passages that were not copied by Rawlinson. It also became apparent that rainwater had dissolved some areas of

10260-702: Was also used by a variety of Persianate societies , such as the Ottoman Empire , the Kazakh Khanate , the Khanate of Bukhara , the Emirate of Bukhara , the Mughal Empire , the Bengal Sultanate , historical Afghan dynasties , and among Gurkhas . Rather than regarding himself as simply a king of the concurrent dynasty (i.e. European-style monarchies ), each Iranian ruler regarded himself as

10368-594: Was an officer in Cyrus 's army and a noble of his court. Before Cyrus and his army crossed the river Araxes to battle with the Armenians, he installed his son Cambyses II as king in case he should not return from battle. However, once Cyrus had crossed the Aras River, he had a vision in which Darius had wings atop his shoulders and stood upon the confines of Europe and Asia (the known world). When Cyrus awoke from

10476-400: Was born to his first wife before Darius rose to power. With Xerxes's accession, the empire was again ruled by a member of the house of Cyrus . Early in his reign, Darius wanted to reorganize the structure of the empire and reform the system of taxation he inherited from Cyrus and Cambyses. To do this, Darius created twenty provinces called satrapies (or archi ) which were each assigned to

10584-447: Was chosen either by the royal court or by the satrap. To assess tributes, a commission evaluated the expenses and revenues of each satrap. To ensure that one person did not gain too much power, each satrap had a secretary, who observed the affairs of the state and communicated with Darius; a treasurer, who safeguarded provincial revenues; and a garrison commander, who was responsible for the troops. Additionally, royal inspectors, who were

10692-479: Was impressed by her response and spared both her brother's and her son's life. After securing his authority over the entire empire , Darius embarked on a campaign to Egypt where he defeated the armies of the Pharaoh and secured the lands that Cambyses had conquered while incorporating a large portion of Egypt into the Achaemenid Empire . Through another series of campaigns, Darius I would eventually reign over

10800-417: Was in fact an imposter named Gaumata . The new king met with rebellions throughout the empire but quelled each of them; a major event in Darius's life was his expedition to subjugate Greece and punish Athens and Eretria for their participation in the Ionian Revolt . Although his campaign ultimately resulted in failure at the Battle of Marathon , he succeeded in the re-subjugation of Thrace and expanded

10908-462: Was murdered, widespread revolts occurred throughout the empire , especially on the eastern side. Darius asserted his position as king by force, taking his armies throughout the empire, suppressing each revolt individually. The most notable of all these revolts was the Babylonian revolt which was led by Nebuchadnezzar III . This revolt occurred when Otanes withdrew much of the army from Babylon to aid Darius in suppressing other revolts. Darius felt that

11016-412: Was planning a rebellion, but when he was brought to the court, there was no proof of any such plan. Nonetheless, Darius killed Intaphernes's entire family, excluding his wife's brother and son. She was asked to choose between her brother and son. She chose her brother to live. Her reasoning for doing so was that she could have another husband and another son, but she would always have but one brother. Darius

11124-457: Was supportive towards Greek cults which can be seen in his letter to Gadatas, and supported Elamite priests. He had also observed Egyptian religious rites related to kingship and had built the temple for the Egyptian god, Amun . Early on, Darius and his advisors had the idea to establish new royal mansions at Susa and Persepolis because he was eager to demonstrate his newfound power and leave

11232-534: Was the eldest of five sons to Hystaspes . The identity of his mother is uncertain. According to the modern historian Alireza Shapour Shahbazi (1994), Darius's mother was thought to have been a woman named Rhodogune. However, according to Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones (2013), recently uncovered texts in Persepolis indicate that his mother was Irdabama , an affluent landowner descended from a family of local Elamite rulers. Richard Stoneman likewise refers to Irdabama as

11340-411: Was the work of druj, the enemy of Asha . Darius believed that because he lived righteously by Asha, Ahura Mazda supported him. In many cuneiform inscriptions denoting his achievements, he presents himself as a devout believer, perhaps even convinced that he had a divine right to rule over the world. However, his relationship with the deity was far more complex: in one inscription he writes "Ahura Mazda

11448-440: Was translated as βασιλεὺς τῶν βασιλέων ( basileus tōn basiléōn ), "King of Kings", equivalent to "Emperor". Both terms were often shortened to their roots shah and basileus . In Western languages, Shah is often used as an imprecise rendering of Šāhanšāh . For a long time, Europeans thought of Shah as a particular royal title rather than an imperial one, although the monarchs of Persia regarded themselves as emperors of

11556-653: Was used by the princes of Islamic India ( Shahzāda , Urdu : شہزاده, Bengali : শাহজাদা , romanized :  Shāhozāda ) such as in the Mughal Empire. The Mughals and the Sultans of Delhi were of Indian origin and Mongol-Turkic origin but were heavily influenced by Persian culture, a continuation of traditions and habits ever since Persian language was first introduced into the region by Persianised Turkic dynasties centuries earlier. Thus, in Oudh , only sons of

11664-570: Was with a woman. One evening, Intaphernes went to the palace to meet Darius, but was stopped by two officers who stated that Darius was with a woman. Becoming enraged and insulted, Intaphernes drew his sword and cut off the ears and noses of the two officers. While leaving the palace, he took the bridle from his horse, and tied the two officers together. The officers went to the king and showed him what Intaphernes had done to them. Darius began to fear for his own safety; he thought that all seven noblemen had banded together to rebel against him and that

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