Darius III of Persia

peaceful and stable empire. After Cyrus’ death, there was a period of unrest under a weak emperor. Then a strong emperor, Darius I, came to power. Building on what Cyrus had achieved, Darius divided the Persian Empire into several provinces to make it easier to govern. He appointed a governor called a satrap to carry out his orders in each province and to collect taxes. Darius also started use of a Royal Road that allowed messages, soldiers, and mail to be sent quickly across the empire. He…

Did you know that in Persia, a pagan country, there were people who believed in God, people who no matter what praised God? In what we know as Iran and Afghanistan, an empire arose, Persia. They were a powerful people, conquering everything in their path. But there arose some people in high places that had great influence in their country. These people were Daniel, Esther, and Cyrus, people used by God, people used in such a time as this. Born in another time but with a definite purpose,…

of the most powerful empires in history. Even though Cyrus had founded this vast empire, Darius I was the most significant ruler of its history. Darius I came into rule in (approximately) 522 BC. He continued to rule the Persian Empire for nearly 40 years, and established many different ideas that no other leader had thought of. The wide range of innovations and policies created and established by Darius I impacted the economic and geographic growth of the Persian Empire by a significant…

In his play, “Persians,” Aeschylus depicts the Persian defeat at the Battle of Salamis as a result of the Persians’ confidence in their own numbers that caused them to underestimate the Greeks and their military skills and the hubris of Xerxes that arises from viewing himself equal to a god, which contributes to the Persian god bringing about the downfall of the army at the Battle of Salamis. Herodotus also shows the superiority of Persian military numbers and how the overconfidence in those…

Josef Weisehofer. Ancient Persia. London, UK: I.B. Tauris, 1996. This book discusses the progression of Persian culture through three different reigning families. The main point of the book is to address the ways that these periods are currently taught and remembered, and to point out inaccuracies in the popular western descriptions, or to reaffirm the ideas via critical analysis and comparison to primary sources such as relics. Weisehofer accomplishes this by dividing the book into 3 main…

committees. While citizens were able to vote, ten archons regulated the polis and handled all military and legal controversies. To secure themselves from Persian Empire, Athens formed the Delian League (477 B.C.E.). Since there was no danger of Persia after the Greco-Persian war, the collaboration between the two dominant Greek city-states came to an end. Conflicts between Athens and Sparta continued to arise during Athens’ Age of Pericles. Pericles was an Athenian aristocrat that was…

Many city-states submitted, but the two major powers, Athens and Sparta, threw the envoys down a hole in response. This created an anti-Persian alliance between Sparta and Athens ending a period of conflict between the two cities. In 490 B.C.E., Darius sent an army led by Datis the Mede and Artaphernes the Younger across the Aegean Sea to Eretria. The Persians plundered the city and took its citizens as prisoners. Flushed with victory, the Persian expedition landed on the coast of Attica near…

Cyrus, the “great king of persia”, to Xerxes, the feared ruler of Persia you can see lots of similarities and differences between these ruler’s tactics. One example of how the Persian ruler’s tactics were similar were between the first ruler, Cyrus, and one of the later rulers, Darius. When it comes to Cyrus, he made sure that people loved him, but make them know to stay on his good side. Cyrus showed many acts of love when he conquered new lands. When adding new land to Persia, Cyrus would…

The Reign of Xerxes I and the Greco-Persian Wars Xerxes I was born in 519 BC to King Darius and Queen Atossa of the Persia Empire, the strongest and most feared empire in all the land at that point. Due to the Persian kings always being greatly involved in the wars, the king was to appoint an heir to succeed him in case he dies in battle. Questions immediately arose about who would be the next king of the Persia. Two candidates, Artobazanes and Xerxes, both being half brothers, attested that…

of Iran. As he did this, he established himself as the ruler of Persia. Attempting attack, Persia sent ships over to Greece, but during the storm, the ships sunk, not making it to Greece, and the plan failed Rebellion started against Persia in Greece. King Darius , being worried, sent over some troops to control the rebellion. After a while, the rebellion kept going, but in the end, Persia regained control over Greece. King Darius decided to make sure that rebellion never happened again,…