Darius I (circa 548—486 BC) became King of Persia. The nobles elected him in 521 BC, and he restored order in a rebellious empire and reorganized the administration, dividing his land into 20 satrapies.
He pushed Persia’s frontier eastward into India and crushed a revolt of the Ionian city-states. Darius I determined to punish the Greeks for supporting the Ionians and sent two expeditions against them.
He expanded the empire’s borders into the Indus Valley in the east and parts of Europe and Greece in the west, eventually leading into the early Persian Wars with Athens. The first was partly successful, but the second resulted in the disastrous Persian defeat at Marathon (490 BC). Darius died while he was preparing a third expedition.
He divided the massive empire into provinces called satrapies and appointed loyal officials known as satraps to govern them. Darius the Great also set up a spy network called the “King’s Eyes and Ears” to monitor the satraps.
Darius constructed the Royal Road, a 2,500-kilometer trade and communication highway, and introduced a standardized currency called the golden daric. He initiated the construction of the magnificent ceremonial city of Persepolis.
He practiced Zoroastrianism and deeply believed in Ahura Mazda, the supreme wise god of that faith. Darius did not force Zoroastrianism on the people he conquered. He respected local traditions and native religions across his large empire.
In Egypt, he supported local temples, restored holy sites, and worked with native priests. He also permitted the Jewish people to rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem.
He died at the age of about sixty-four years old. In October 486 BCE, they embalmed his body and entombed it 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, a Persian, son of a Persian, an Aryan, having Aryan lineage.”
Content for this question contributed by Bill Copthorne, resident of Tampa, Florida, USA
