Maximum extent of the Persian empire, ca. 490 BC.
Darius (Dareios)
When, after the suicide of Cambyses II (March 522 BC), the usurper Gaumata ruled undisturbed over the whole Persian empire under the name Smerdis, son of Cyrus, no one dared to gainsay him. None, that is, except Darius. Darius attempted to regain the kingdom for the royal family. His father Hystaspes was still alive, but evidently had not the courage to urge his claims. He succeeded in surprising and killing the usurper in a Median fortress (October 521 BC), and gained the crown. He also married Atossa, the widow of the false Smerdis and daughter of King Cyrus the Great. This sudden change in the central authority was perceived by the rulers of the eastern provinces as an opportunity to regain their independence. In Susiana, Babylon, Media, Sagartia, and Margiana, usurpers arose, pretending to be of the old royal race, and gathered large armies around them. Darius, with only a small army of Persians and Medes and some trustworthy generals, overcame all these difficulties. By 520 BC all the rebellions were put down. Even Babylon, and Susiana, both submitted, and the authority of Darius was established throughout the empire.
Darius was also a great statesman and organizer. He thoroughly revised the Persian system of administration and legal code. His revisions of the legal code revolved around laws of evidence, slave sales, deposits, bribery, and assault. Darius also continued the process of religious tolerance to his subjects. Also, like many other Persian Kings, he maintained a no-slave policy; for example, all workers at the Persepolis site and other sites made for him were paid, which was revolutionary at the time. His human rights policies were also common to his ancestors and future Persian kings, continuing the legacy of the first human rights document ever made.
The time of conquests had come to an end; the wars which Darius undertook, like those of Augustus, only served the purpose of gaining strong natural frontiers for the empire and keeping down the barbarous tribes on its borders. Thus Darius subjugated the wild nations of the Pontic and Armenian mountains, and extended the Persian dominion to the Caucasus; for the same reasons he fought against the Saka and other Iranian steppe tribes, as well as the mysterious Turanians from beyond the Oxus. In the process of these campaigns he made military reforms such as introducing conscription, pay for soldiers, military training and he also made changes in the army and navy. But by the organization which he gave to the empire he became the true successor of the great Cyrus.
Many building projects were initiated during the reign of Darius, with the largest being the building of the new capital of Persepolis. Pasargadae was too well associated with the previous dynasty of Cyrus and Cambyses and so Darius sought a new capital. The city would have walls sixty feet high and thirty-three feet thick and would be an enormous engineering undertaking. Darius’ tomb was cut into a rock face not far from the city. He dug a canal from the Nile to Suez, and, as the fragments of a hieroglyphic inscription found there show, his ships sailed from the Nile through the Red Sea by Saba to Persia. Darius also commissioned the extensive road network that was built all over the country.
