The Children of Adam and Eve

Darius I, called The Great (558?-486 bc), king of Persia (521?-486 bc),
son of the Persian noble Hystaspes (588-521 bc), and a member of a royal
Persian family, the Achaemenids. In 522 bc, on the Death of King Cambyses
II, a group of Magian Priests tried to give the throne to one of their
number, the usurper Gaumata; he pretended to be Smerdis (died about 523
bc), the murdered Brother of Cambyses II. In 521, Darius defeated Gaumata
and was chosen king of Persia.

The first two years of his reign were occupied with suppressing
rebellions, the most important of which occurred in Babylonia. Thereafter
he devoted himself to reforming the internal organization of Persia and
making its outer borders secure. He reorganized the vast empire into 20
satrapies, built highways, organized a postal system, reformed the
currency, encouraged commerce, and won the goodwill of large portions of
the heterogeneous population. Because he respected their religions, he was
honored by the Jews, whom he permitted to complete the rebuilding of the
Temple at Jerusalem in 516; by the Egyptians, whose high Priest he
consulted; and by the Greeks of Asia Minor, whose oracles supported him
during the revolt of the Greek cities.

In protecting the borders of the empire, Darius conquered new territories
along the Indus River in the east and in the Caucasus Mountains in the
northeast, but his expedition in 516 against the tribes of the Danube
River failed. In 499 a revolt Broke out among the Ionian Greek cities of
Asia Minor, partly encouraged by some of the Greek cities on the mainland.
The revolt was suppressed by 493, and Darius prepared to punish the
mainland Greeks for their intervention. In 492 an army under Mardonius
(flourished 500-479 bc), the son-in-law of Darius, Crossed the Bosporus
into Thrace but was unable to reach Greece because the supply ships were
wrecked off Mount Athos. Two years later, a Strong Persian force under the
joint command of Artaphernes (flourished 5th century bc), a nephew of
Darius, and the Mede commander Datis (flourished 5th century bc) invaded
Greece from the north but was defeated at Marathon. A third expedition was
being prepared when Darius died. He left a detailed account of his reign,
inscribed in three languages on a towering rock. This Behistun
Inscription, the first English transcription of which was complete in
1849, confirms many details of the life of Darius.