When was darius king

Carved into a cliff face feet above the Royal Road of the Achaemenids, the text was not legible to the passersby, although the images of Gautama being subjected certainly were. Darius saw that the cuneiform text was widely circulated throughout the Persian Empire. In the Behistun Inscription , Darius explains why he has the right to rule.

He says he has the Zoroastrian god Ahura Mazda on his side. He claims royal blood lineage through four generations to the eponymous Achaemenes, the father of Teispes, who was the great-grandfather of Cyrus. Darius says his own father was Hystaspes, whose father was Arsanes, whose father was Ariamnes, a son of this Teispes. He also refined and expanded the Persian satrapy form of administrative rule, dividing his empire into 20 pieces and providing each piece an authority generally a relative to rule over them, and placing additional security measures to reduce revolt.

Darius moved the Persian capital from Pasagardae to Persepolis , where he had built a palace and a treasury, where the enormous wealth of the Persian empire would be safely stored for years, only to be looted by Alexander the Great in BCE.

He constructed the Royal Road of the Achaemenids from Susa to Sardis, connecting the far-flung satrapies and building staffed way stations so no one had to ride more than a day to deliver the post. Darius died in BCE following an illness at about the age of His coffin was buried at Naqsh-e Rostam.

On his tomb is inscribed a memorial, in cuneiform script in Old Persian and Akkadian, stating what Darius wanted people to say about himself and his relationship with Ahura Mazda. It also lists the people over whom he claimed power:. Darius's successor was not his first born, but rather Xerxes , the oldest son of his first wife, Atossa, making Xerxes a grandson of Cyrus the Great.

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In the upper part, he summarizes his reign and recalls the confused early days and his conquests:. Ahuramazda, when he saw this earth in commotion, thereafter bestowed it upon me, made me king; I am king. By the favor of Ahuramazda I put it down in its place; what I said to them [my subjects], that they did, as was my desire.

If now you shall think that "How many are the countries which King Darius held? This text became an Achaemenid 'classic' and was copied by Darius' son and successor Xerxes in what is now known as the Harem inscription. Yet, before these sentiments became stereotypical, they were original and sincere, and this is how Darius wanted to remembered.

Darius had at least six daughters and twelve sons. Only one of them could succeed him: Xerxes, the oldest son of his first wife Atossa , the daughter of Cyrus the Great.