died in 486 av. J. - C.
Darius Ier or Darius the Large one; in old Darayavoush Persian, Dareios Greek, Latin Darius. Son of Hystaspe, which belonged, like Cyrus and Cambyse, to the family of Achéménides, Darius I er is ridden on the throne, succeeding Cambyse, during an serious attack of the Persian Empire, then shaken revolts and secessions. He had to restore the authority of the central power everywhere, before giving to the Empire achéménide a solid administrative framework. He failed however in his attempts at conquest of Scythie and Greece, without however knowing the disasters of his son and successor, Xerxès, in the same company. The conquest of the heritage After the suicide of the emperor Cambyse (521 av. J. - C.), son of Cyrus, on his return of Egypt, the throne achéménide had been usurped by the Gaumâta magus, who was made pass for Bardiya, brother of Cambyse.
The election of Darius
Wanting to found a theocracy dominated by Mèdes, the Persian big families caused against Gaumata a conspiracy which leads to the assassination of the usurper in the fortress of Sikthawatich (521). After the massacre of the partisans of Gaumata, the chiefs of the seven big families of the Persian nobility indicated one of them to go up on the throne. The tradition reported by Hérodote wanted that was selected that whose horse would neigh the first with the sunrise, which contradicts the official version according to which Darius would have been selected because it belonged to the family of Achéménides.
Revolted provinces
Darius had to reconquer the Empire. One did not have less than nineteen battles and seven years of engagements to overcome nine applicants who had proclaimed kings. In Elam, it was Athrina; in Arménie, five battles gained against the rebels could not impose the power of Darius; in Persia even, Martiya raised Susiane, while the army mède proclaimed Phraortès. The richest city of the Empire, Babylon, was with the hands of Nidintu-Beautiful, which had taken the name of Nabuchodonosor III. After a hard campaign and a seat two years, the city was taken by trick. The revolt of Phraortès was then crushed, then that of Tchitratakhma in Sagartie (Kurdistan current). Hystaspe, father of the large king, had to subject Parthiène and Hyrcanie. A second Bardiya forgery, Vahyazdâta, and a second revolt of Babylon were defeated.
The conquest of the world The unit of the Empire restored, Darius sought to still move back the limits of them.
Scythie
In 515, Darius could leave to the conquest Scythie (Romania and Ukraine current), perhaps to prepare that of Greece or to make sure of the fabulous richnesses allotted to these plains. Persians found there only one steppe empty, where the wandering Scythians refused the battle and practiced the scorched earth policy.
The first medic war
Being wary of the Greeks of Ionie, whose fleet had contributed to the crossing of the Bosphorus and the Danube, Darius made intern Histiée, tyrant of Millet. It was the signal of the revolt of Ionie (499-494) and the beginning of the first medic war between Greeks and Persians, which saw the catch of Sardinians, the Millet destruction and finally the Persian defeat with Marathon (490), vis-a-vis the Athenians, who fought on their native ground. In spite of this failure, Darius extended the Persian domination on Thrace and Macedonia in Europe, on Penjab in India (512), and on Cyrénaïque in North Africa.
Egypt
Darius was shown excel political in Egypt, repairing the errors made by Cambyse, making sure of the support of the clergy, reopening the channel of the Nile to the Red Sea and building in Thèbes a temple of Amon. The monumental statue of Darius found in Suse in 1973 and entirely realized in Egypt shows the crucial role of this rich province under its reign. The year even of its death, however, a revolt of peasants set ablaze all Egypt.
Assessment of the reign
The “king of the kings” was a large organizer. Darius founded in the provinces of the satraps, governors supervised by a commander of troops and a Secretary of State, to put an end to inclinations secession. It unified the weights and measures and struck gold a currency, the darique one. It also made build, of Sardinians with Suse, a road of 2 400 km, marked out fortresses and relay of station, which controlled thus strategically and fiscally all former Asia. Lastly, it made build the palate of Suse and began the construction of Persépolis.
During its reign of thirty-six years, Darius restored the Empire achéménide in its borders and even beyond; it gave him its final face by the administrative unification. Knowing to show itself in turn reconciling and pitiless, it joined again with the tradition of Cyrus. Its reign constitutes the apogee of Achéménides, but its failure vis-a-vis the Greeks was the starting point of their disasters, until final collapse under the blows of Alexandre the Large one.