By Fr. Dmitry Yurevich
Darius
[Old Persian – preserving good; Hebrew: ; Greek: Ϫαρεῖος], the name of three Persian kings of the Achaemenid dynasty, as well as a Mede mentioned in the Book of Daniel.
Darius I the Great
(550-486 BC; Ezra 4:5, 24; 5:5-7; 6:1, 12-15; Hag 1:1, 15; 2:10; Zechariah 1:1, 7; 7:1), a non-direct descendant of the Persian Achaemenid dynasty, son of Hystaspes. In 522 BC, Darius succeeded Cambyses, son of Cyrus, as king, suppressing a major political rebellion against official power. He defeated the usurper Gaumata the Magian, who, proclaiming himself Bardiya (the second son of Cyrus), organized a rebellion supported by all the central Persian provinces. Having suppressed numerous rebellions, within a year Darius was able to regain control over the main territory of the empire (except Asia Minor and Egypt). By 517 BC, he had expanded the empire’s borders to include territories from Libya to India. Thus, as a result of Darius’s reign, the borders of the Achaemenid Empire stretched from the Indus River in the east to the Aegean Sea in the west, from Armenia in the north to the First Cataract of the Nile in the south. In 519 BC, Darius began implementing administrative and financial reforms. He divided the empire into satrapies. Under Darius, satraps were typically appointed to the position of Persians, whose functions were delineated from those of military commanders. Under Darius, a central administrative apparatus for the empire was established, with a unified chancery. He codified and standardized local laws, instituted a new system of state taxes with fixed amounts (on the severity of Persian taxes during the Darian era, see Nehemiah 5:3-5), streamlined tax collection, and increased the military contingent. Darius introduced a single gold coin, which formed the basis of the Achaemenid monetary system. Under Darius, Aramaic acquired official status not only in the western but also in the eastern satrapies. Accounts of Darius’s accession to the throne and his deeds are recorded in the Behistun Inscription, which, like the inscription on Darius’s tomb at Naqsh-i-Rustam (near Persepolis, Iran), provides information on Persian religious beliefs of this period. The worship of Ahura Mazda became the primary cult during Darius’s reign, and Zoroastrianism became the official religion, though the worship of other gods was also permitted. His attempt to conquer Greece during the so-called Greco-Persian Wars ended in defeat at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC. In 486 BC, a rebellion against Persian rule broke out in Egypt. Darius died without having time to suppress it. The political catastrophe that accompanied Darius’s rise to power revived messianic expectations among the Jews who had returned to Jerusalem from exile and led to the rise of the prophetic movement. The prophets Haggai and Zechariah called for the acceleration of the work on the restoration of the Temple after the Jews refused the Samaritans’ offer to participate in this work. The work was led by Zerubbabel, a descendant of the Davidic dynasty, whom the Persian authorities appointed as the royal governor in Judea, and the high priest Joshua (Hag 1:1; 2:4). The prophets saw the construction of the Temple as the first step towards the restoration of the Kingdom of Judah and foretold its complete deliverance from the foreign yoke: particular hopes were placed on the “branch” from the House of David, which they understood to be Zerubbabel (Hag 2:23; Zechariah 3:8; 6:12). In the second year of Darius’s reign, the state A copy of a decree issued by the Persian king Cyrus in 538 BC was found in an archive in Ecbatana (now Hamadan, western Iran). In it, he permitted the Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the destroyed temple (Ezra 6:1-5). On this basis, Cyrus permitted the resumption of construction, thwarting attempts at opposition by the Samaritans, and in the sixth year of his reign (c. 516 BC), construction of the temple was completed—approximately 70 years after its destruction (Ezra 6:15). It is likely that during Cyrus’s reign, disagreements arose between Zerubbabel and the high priest Joshua regarding the division of power. As a result, Zerubbabel was no longer mentioned in messianic texts.
During his reign, the administrative structure of Judea was finally formalized, which was preserved throughout the next 200 years of Persian rule. Under Darius, Judea was called Yahud in Aramaic ( ) and was one of the independent provinces in the satrapy of Trans-River, with its administrative center in Jerusalem and governed by a governor. It bordered the province of Samaria to the north and the Philistine province of Ashdod to the southwest. Whether Trans-Jordan was part of it is unknown. Under Darius, Judea was granted broad internal autonomy. Its governance was based on the civic-temple community of Jerusalem, led by the high priest and the heads of influential families. According to his decree, local authorities allocated funds for the construction of the temple, as well as livestock and everything necessary for regular sacrifices in the temple according to the Law of Moses. Moreover, the decree mentions the king’s wish that the priests “pray for the life of the king and his sons” (Ezra 6:8-10), which testifies to the custom of that time to pray for supreme authority. This custom was observed in the afterlife (excluding the Hasmonean period) and symbolized Judea’s dependence on the Persian, and later Greek and Roman, rulers. The reign of Darius was a peaceful period for Judea, favorable for the economy. The Jews participated in international trade, supported by the Persian authorities. The census of Yahud during Darius’s time mentions not only cities in the territories of Judah and Benjamin, but also Bethel in Ephraim and villages in the northern coastal region. In total, the census listed approximately 40,000 subjects.
Darius II, originally named Ochus, also known by the nickname Notus (Greek: notos – illegitimate child; c. 442-404 BC), was the son of Artaxerxes I by a Babylonian concubine. He ruled the western part of the empire from 423 to 404 BC. His reign was unstable and was characterized by the further weakening of the state, including rebellions in Media, Lydia, Syria, and Egypt. Numerous papyri from Elephantine date to his reign. One papyrus from the fifth year of his reign (419 BC), ordering the Jews of Elephantine to observe Passover, was issued in his name (the so-called Easter Letter – ANET, N 491). The Temple at Elephantine was destroyed in the 14th year of his reign. It is believed that Darius is mentioned in Nehemiah 12:22 as “Darius the Persian,” which allows for the dating of the list of Levites there. During Darius’ reign, the Jewish High Priest was Jadduaus II.
Darius III Codomanus
(c. 380-330 BC), son of Arsames, brother of Artaxerxes II, the last king of the Achaemenid dynasty. He was enthroned by Bagoas, who poisoned Artaxerxes III in 338 and his son Arses in 336. He was defeated by Alexander the Great at the battles of Issus (333) and Gaugamela (331), and fled to Bactria, where he was killed by his relative Bessus. His defeat is mentioned in 1 Macc. 1:1.
Darius the Mede
(Aramaic, ), a Persian king mentioned only in the Book of Daniel (Daniel 5:31; 6:1, 6:9, 25, 28; 9:1; 11:1), for whom there are no direct parallels in extra-biblical sources. For this reason, some scholars question the historical reliability of the biblical evidence (Koch). According to Daniel 5:28-6:2, at the age of 62, he captured the Babylonian kingdom (after the death of Belshazzar) and carried out administrative reforms, dividing the country into 120 satrapies. The prophet Daniel, having been slandered by the satraps and princes, was thrown into the lions’ den by order of the king (Dan 6:14-17). After his release, Daniel “prospered both in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian” (Dan 6:28). In the first year of the reign of “Darius the son of Assyria, of the seed of the Medes, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans” (Dan 9:1), Daniel was given the revelation of the “70 weeks” (Dan 9). Thus, the Book of the Prophet Daniel speaks of the reign of Daniel between the reigns of Belshazzar and Cyrus I of Persia. Both Greek and Babylonian sources clearly indicate that it was Cyrus I of Persia, and not Darius, who conquered Babylon and became the true successor of the Babylonian kings (cf. 2 Chronicles 36:20). There is no historical evidence of a Median invasion of Babylon or Median dominance in this area. Attempts to resolve the problem of Darius’s historical identification date back to the first century BC, when in the Greek translation of Proto-Theodotion, the name Darius in the Book of the Prophet Daniel was replaced by the name of Artaxerxes (which corresponds to the modern identification with Cyrus I). In the first century AD, Josephus Flavius claimed (Ios. Flav. Antiq. X 11:4) that he had another name among the Greeks, and this allows us to identify him with some of the personalities known in history. There is an unlikely identification of him with Nabonidus, who is credited with founding an independent dynasty in Harran that ruled between the last legitimate kings of Babylon and the kings of Elam. However, Harran was in the north and belonged not to Babylon, but to Assyria; it may have been subject to the Medes for some time after 612 BC. Identification with Darius I is also problematic: wherever Darius I is mentioned in the Holy Scriptures, his Persian, rather than Median, origin is emphasized (Ezra 4:5, 24; 6:14), which is confirmed by the Behistun Inscription (1:1-11). In the historical books of the Old Testament, a clear sequence of Persian kings is traced: Cyrus, then D. (Ezra 4:5; 6:14); It is unlikely that the sequence of events in the Book of the Prophet Daniel was described incorrectly or distorted (cf. Dan 6:28). Also unlikely is the identification of Darius the Mede with Cyaxares, king of the Medes, based on Xenophon’s account in the Cyropaedia. According to him, Astyages, the penultimate Median king, had two children – Cyaxares and Mandana. Cyaxares succeeded his father, and Mandana married the Persian king Cambyses and gave birth to the future Persian king Cyrus. After the capture of Babylon, Cyrus installed his uncle Cyaxares as a vassal king over Babylon, receiving in exchange the hand of his daughter. After the death of Cyaxares, Cyrus reigned over the entire east (see Rozhdestvensky). This hypothesis is not consistent with extra-biblical sources. The most likely identification of this Darius with the Persian. by the ruler Gubaru (Gobryas) (Akkadian: Gubaru / Ugbaru; Greek: Γωβρύας), mentioned both in Babylonian sources and by Greek historians. In 535, Cyrus created a single province from Mesopotamia and Transriver. Gubaru was the ruler of Gutium (the Babylonian name for Media), when, already at an advanced age (Xen. Cyrop. IV 6. 1-7), he captured Babylon on behalf of Cyrus, was appointed vice-regent of Mesopotamia and appointed local rulers in the country until his death, which followed 6 months later (Annals of Nabonidus – ANET, N 306-307). His rule was characterized by almost complete independence. It is noteworthy that Berossus (c. 350-280 BC) in his list of Babylonian kings called the old dynasty of Gutium “Median tyrants”, which corresponds to the titles in the Book of the Prophet Daniel. The Old Persian name D. could have been used upon accession to the throne as a special throne name (which corresponded to the customs of that time), which was not recorded in ancient sources due to the short duration of his reign.
Ref.: Bolotov V.V. Belshazzar and Darius the Mede: An attempt to solve the exegetical problem. St. Petersburg, 1896; Rozhdestvensky A.P., Archpriest. Revelation to Daniel about the Seventy Weeks: An attempt to interpret Dan. 9:24-27. St. Petersburg, 1896. pp. 35-38; Rowley H. H. Darius the Mede and the Four World Empires in the Book of Daniel. Cardiff, 1935, 1959; Whitcomb J. C. Darius the Mede: A Study in Hist. Identification. Grand Rapids, 1959; Dandamaev M. A. Iran under the First Achaemenids. Moscow, 1963; id. Political History of the Achaemenid State. Moscow, 1985; Greenfield J. C. Darius // EJud.: CD-ROM Ed., Vers. 1. 0. Jerusalem, 1997; Koch K. Darius the Mede // ABD. Vol. 2. P. 38-39; Kulikan U. Persians and Medes: Subjects of the Achaemenid Empire: Trans. from English. Moscow, 2002. P. 71.
Source in Russian: Fr. Dmitry Yurevich, Achaemenids, Dynasty of Persian Kings. Darius. – Orthodox Encyclopedia, vol. 14, pp. 195-197.
Illustrative Photo by cottonbro studio: https://www.pexels.com/photo/brown-and-black-abstract-painting-5986441/
