Darius the Great

(noun)

The third king of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, who ruled at its peak from c. 522-486 BCE.

Related Terms

Examples of Darius the Great in the following topics:

  • The Achaemenid Empire

    • Under Cyrus the Great and Darius the Great, the Achaemenid Empire became the first global empire.
    • The Achaemenid Empire, c. 550-330 BCE, or First Persian Empire, was founded in the 6th century BCE by Cyrus the Great, in Western and Central Asia.
    • Yet in 522 BCE, Darius I, also known as Darius the Great, overthrew Gaumata and solidified control of the territories of the Achaemenid Empire, beginning what would be a historic consolidation of lands.
    • Between c. 500-400 BCE, Darius the Great and his son, Xerxe I, ruled the Persian Plateau and all of the territories formerly held by the Assyrian Empire, including Mesopotamia, the Levant, and Cyprus.
    • Cyrus II of Persia, better known as Cyrus the Great, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire.

  • Government and Trade in the Achaemenid Empire

    • When Darius I (550-486 BCE), also known as Darius the Great, ascended the throne of the Achaemenid Empire in 522 BCE, he established Aramaic as the official language and devised a codification of laws for Egypt.
    • The Behistun Inscription, the text of which Darius wrote, came to have great linguistic significance as a crucial clue in deciphering cuneiform script.
    • The inscription begins by tracing the ancestry of Darius, followed by a description of a sequence of events following the deaths of the previous two Achaemenid emperors, Cyrus the Great and Cyrus’s son, Cambyses II, in which Darius fought 19 battles in one year to put down numerous rebellions throughout the Persian lands.
    • Under Darius the Great, Persia would become the first empire to inaugurate and deploy an imperial navy, with personnel that included Phoenicians, Egyptians, Cypriots, and Greeks.
    • Darius the Great moved the capital of the Achaemenid Empire to Persepolis c. 522 BCE.

  • Art and Architecture of the Achaemenid Empire

    • The largest hall in the complex is the audience hall of Apadana.
    • The construction of Persepolis was initiated by Darius I (550–486 BCE), who also commissioned the construction of a grand palace in the city of Susa.
    • In 330 BCE, the Macedonian emperor Alexander the Great (356–323 BCE) captured the city and allowed his troops to loot the palace.
    • Inscriptions describe a great fire that engulfed "the palace" but do not specify which palace.
    • Decorative frieze from the palace of Darius the Great at Susa, ca. 510 BCE

  • Defeat of Persia by Alexander the Great

    • Alexander the Great conquered the Achaemenid Empire in 331 BCE to form the largest empire in the ancient world.
    • Alexander then chased the ruling Persian king, Darius III, into Media and then Parthia.
    • As Alexander approached, Bessus had his men fatally stab the Great King and then declared himself Darius' successor as Artaxerxes V, before retreating into Central Asia to launch a guerrilla campaign against Alexander.
    • He claimed that, while dying, Darius had named him as his successor to the Achaemenid throne.
    • Mosaic representing the battle of Alexander the Great against Darius (III) the Great, possibly at Battle of Issus or Battle of Gaugamela, perhaps after an earlier Greek painting of Philoxenus of Eretria.

  • The Persian Wars

    • According to Herodotus, he received the ambiguous answer that “if Croesus was to cross the Halys [River] he would destroy a great empire”.
    • Specifically, the riot was incited by the Milesian tyrant Aristagoras, who in the wake of a failed expedition to conquer Naxos, utilized Greek unrest against Persian king Darius the Great to his own political purposes.
    • Darius vowed to exact revenge against Athens and developed a plan to conquer all Greeks in an attempt to secure the stability of his empire.
    • After the failure of the first Persian invasion, Darius raised a large army with the intent of invading Greece again.
    • During preparations to march on Egypt, Darius died and his son, Xerxes I, inherited the throne.

  • Paintings, Macedonian Court Art, and the Alexander Mosaic

    • Alexander the Great was a talented general who conquered territory from the Mediterranean to India and maintained power through use of art.
    • The head of Alexander the Great demonstrates Alexander's portrait style .
    • The mosaic depicts the Battle of Issus that occurred between the troops of Alexander the Great and King Darius III of Persia.
    • His horses flee under the whip of the charioteer and Darius leans outward, stretching out a hand having just thrown a spear.
    • Discuss how Alexander the Great used artists to legitimize his political rule

  • Painting in the Greek High Classical Period

    • Alexander III of Macedonia (356-323 BCE), better known as Alexander the Great, very carefully controlled and crafted his portraiture.
    • The mosaic depicts the Battle of Issus that occurred between the troops of Alexander the Great and King Darius III of Persia.
    • Alexander's gaze remains focused on Darius and he appears calm and in control, despite the hectic battle happening around him.
    • Darius III on the other hand commands the battle in desperation from his chariot, as his charioteer removes them from battle.
    • His horses flee under the whip of the charioteer and Darius leans outward, stretching out a hand having just thrown a spear.

  • Late Classical Period

    • The Late Classical period covers the last decades of the Classical periods in the fourth century BCE before the conquest of Greece by Philip II of Macedon and the beginning of the Hellenistic period following the death of Alexander the Great.
    • Another war of stalemates, it ended with the status quo restored, after the threat of Persian intervention on behalf of the Spartans.
    • The weakened state of the heartland of Greece coincided with the Rise of Macedon, led by Philip II.
    • Alexander defeated Darius III of Persia and completely destroyed the Achaemenid Empire, annexing it to Macedon and earning himself the epithet 'the Great'.
    • When Alexander the Great died in 323 BCE, Greek power and influence was at its zenith.

  • Alexander the Great

    • He overthrew the Persian King Darius III and conquered the entirety of the Persian Empire.
    • Alexander earned the honorific epithet "the Great" due to his unparalleled success as a military commander.
    • At Issus in 333 BCE, his first confrontation with Darius, he used the same deployment, and again the central phalanx pushed through.
    • The advance proved successful and broke Darius's center, and Darius was forced to retreat once again.
    • Bust of a young Alexander the Great from the Hellenistic era, now at the British Museum.

  • Zoroastrianism

    • The most important texts of the religion are those of the Avesta, which includes the writings of Zoroaster, known as the Gathas and the Yasna.
    • The Gathas are enigmatic poems that define the religion's precepts, while the Yasna is the scripture.
    • According to Herodotus i.101, the Magi were the sixth tribe of the Medians (until the unification of the Persian empire under Cyrus the Great, all Iranians were referred to as "Mede" or "Mada" by the peoples of the Ancient World).
    • Darius I, and later Achaemenid emperors, acknowledged their devotion to Ahura Mazda in inscriptions (as attested to several times in the Behistun inscription), and appear to have continued the model of coexistence with other religions.
    • Whether Darius was a follower of Zoroaster has not been conclusively established, since devotion to Ahura Mazda was (at the time) not necessarily an indication of an adherence to Zoroaster's teaching.