Darius

• How did Otanes know that the Smerdis wasn't Cambyses' brother?

  He told his daughter to see if he had ears because cambyses cut off his ears. And when his daughter came back from sleeping with him she told him that he didn't
• How was Darius made King?

  The 7 noble men had a competition that whose horse neighed first got to be king, Darius' horse neighed first
• What is the Behinstun Inscription?

  It is an inscription which says that he is King and his family tree. And he is shoen with the Ahura Mazda above him.
• What does the statue of Darius from Susa show?

  It shows that he is the king of Egypt and the images at the bottom of the statue show the unity between the people and Darius
• Democedes was a Greek doctor in Darius' court
• What reward was Democedes given by Darius for healing him?

  Two pairs of golden fetters, sent him his wives and chests full of gold, grand house, and he got to eat at the king's table
• Darius sent Democedes with 15 Persians to scout out the coast of Greece and Southern Italy.
• Samos was the first new territory to be brought into the empire in about 517. And by 513 two other important Aegean islands, Lesbos and Chios were fighting for Darius
• A Greek named Scylax from the city of Caryanda was sent out by Darius to explore India. Indian scribes are recorded in the Persepolis bureaucracy at around 500
• In 513, Darius lunched a full invasion into Europe. The invasion targeted western Scythia.
• What did the Scythians do to avoid Battle?

  • They moved around and split up as much as possible
• The Persians controlled the northern Aegean coastline. And Thrace was rich in precious metals, such as gold and silver.
• What does Darius do to Administrate Persia?

  He organised the empire

  He created the royal road, these roads acted as the arteries of the empire.

  He reformed the calendar and created a standard currency
• As King of Kings, Darius was the ruler of a multicultural empire, and he was willing to accept the god of other ethnic groups.
• Why did the Ionian revolt happen?

  Aristagoras fell out with local Persian satrap, Artaphernes, over the failed invasion of Naxos. Aristagoras was worried that he would be removed as a tyrant so he lay down his tyranny and encouraged other Ionian cities to revolt.
• ANother reason for the ionian revolt was that the persians had confiscated the best land, which caused boundry disputes between the Ionian cities and general unrest
• The Athenians were already in diplomatic conflict with Persia, which explains their willingness to help the Ionians
• The Greek allies burnt the old Lydian Capital city of Sardis, destroying the temple of the major goddess Cybebe
• In 492, Darius sent a fleet to Greece to attack Eretria and Athens for their involvement in the Ionian revolt
• In 491, Darius sent heralds to Greece, Athenians threw the heralds into a pit for criminals. In Sparta they were murdered by being thrown down a well.
• In 490

  • took Naxos, burn down temples
  • took delos, no burnt temples (propaganda, opposition=temples burnt, respect=respect)
  • Took Eretria, burnt temples
• Battle of Marathon 


  • Persians met Greeks at the plain of Marathon
  • Greeks were out numbered
  • Greeks won
• Darius dies after picking his successor, Xerxes, due to the Egyptian revolts