Darius (548–486 BCE), the Greek form of the old Persian name Daryavahvsh, won the throne of Persia by a mixture of trickery and force. In 521 BCE he helped to murder the magus, or high priest, Gaumata, who had pretended to be the true king of Persia. In his first years as king, Darius had to crush several revolts throughout the empire. Unlike Cyrus the Great, however, Darius dealt severely with his rebellious subjects. When he recaptured Babylon after a long siege, three thousand leading Babylonians were impaled to show that Darius was again master of the city.
One Empire
Darius wanted to unite his far-flung lands into one effective empire. He divided his territories into twenty provinces, each under a Persian satrap, or governor. To check the power of the satraps, the army in each province was led by men who were totally loyal to Darius. Other royal officials, such as messengers and tax collectors, acted as the king’s ears. They reported back each year to the king’s advisers at the royal city of Susa. Unlike Cyrus, who apparently allowed his subjects to worship their own local gods, Darius may have set up a new state religion. Ahura Mazda was now the supreme god and "wise lord" of Persia.
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DARIUS KNEW THAT HIS RULE DEPENDED ON THE LOYALTY OF THE NOBLES AT HIS COURT. THE GREEK HISTORIAN HERODOTUS DESCRIBES HOW DARIUS ONCE COMPLIMENTED AN ARMY OFFICER NAMED MEGABAZUS: Wishing to eat some pomegranates, Darius had just opened the first of them when his brother Artabanus asked him which of his possessions he would like to be multiplied to a number as great as the seeds in a pomegranate. Darius’s answer was "Megabazus." He would rather have such a number of men like Megabazus than be master of Greece. HERODOTUS, THE HISTORIES
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Darius needed to know what was going on in the distant satrapies. He also needed to be able to send troops quickly to any part of the empire. He therefore built a road that ran for 1,680 miles (2,704 km) from Susa to distant Sardis, near the Aegean coast. Fresh horses were stabled at over 110 relay stations along the route. Darius also built two canals in Egypt to link the Nile delta and the Mediterranean with the Red Sea.
Wars with the Scythians and Greeks
Sometime between 520 and 513 BCE, Darius conquered the Punjab region of India, and by 517 he controlled the Ionian Islands in the Aegean. Around 515 Darius set out to defeat the Scythian tribes who lived in southeastern Europe. He transported his men across the Bosporus, the sea strait between Europe and Asia, on a bridge of boats tied together. On this campaign Darius reached deep into Europe, marching to the banks of the Danube and the Volga and adding Thrace and Macedon to his empire.
In the 490s his Greek subjects in Ionia rebelled against him. The rebels were helped by the Greek city of Athens. In 490 BCE Darius sent a huge army and fleet to punish the Athenians. However, the Athenians and their allies from the city of Plataea launched a surprise attack on the Persians while their ships lay in the bay of Marathon. Over 6,400 Persians were killed, while the Greeks lost fewer than 200 men. Darius was to die before he could launch another expedition against the troublesome Greeks.
