Darius I 548-486BC
King of Persia

An Achaemenid, he ascended the Persian throne in 521BC, after putting to death the Magian Gaum�ta, who pretended to be Cambyses II's brother. There were revolts throughout his kingdom during his reign. He reorganized the administration and finances of the Persian Empire, making Susa the capital, while achieving conquests as far as the Caucasus and the Indus. His expedition against the Scythians (c.515) took him as far as the Volga, and enabled him to subdue Thrace and Macedonia. His expedition against the Athenians to punish them for supporting the Ionian revolt (499-994) was decisively defeated at Marathon (490). He died before the Egyptian revolt (487) had been quelled, and was succeeded by Xerxes I. Darius was a Persian by birth, and of the Zoroastrian faith, which under him became the state religion. He was also a great architect, and founded a new royal residence at Persepolis.

Bibliography: Albert ten Eyck Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire (1948)