Born ca. 550 BCE

Called the "wild ass" he was Great King of Persia, 420-439.

Sources:

1.  Stuart, R.W. "Royalty for Commoners" line 408.

In 525 BCE the Persian emperor Cambyses II, son of Cyrus the Great, who h ad
already named his son as king of Babylon though Cambyses II resigned th at
position after only one year, invaded Egypt and successfully overthr ew the
native Egyptian pharaoh, Psamtek III, last ruler of Egypt's 26th Dy nasty to
become the first ruler of Egypt's 27th Persian Dynasty. His fath er had
earlier attempted an invasion of Egypt against Psamtek III's predec essor,
Amasis, but Cyrus' death in 529 BCE put a halt to that expedition.

After capturing Egypt, Cambyses took the Throne name Mesut-i-re (Mesuti-Ra ),
meaning "Offspring of Re". Though the Persians would rule Egypt for t he next
193 years until Alexander the Great defeated Darius III and conque red Egypt
in 332 BCE, Cambyses II's victory would bring to an end (for t he most part)
Egyptians truly ruling Egyptians until the mid 20th centur y, when Egypt
finally shrugged off colonial rule.

We know very little about Cambyses II through contemporary texts, but h is
reputation as a mad tyrannical despot has come down to us in the writin gs of
the Greek historian Herodotus (440 BC) and a Jewish document from 4 07 BCE
known as 'The Demotic Chronicle' which speaks of the Persian king d estroying
all the temples of the Egyptian gods. However, it must be repeat edly noted
that the Greeks shared no love for the Persians. Herodotus info rms us that
Cambyses II was a monster of cruelty and impiety.

Herodotus gives us three tales as to why the Persians invaded Egypt. In on e,
Cambyses II had requested an Egyptian princess for a wife, or actual ly a
concubine, and was angered when he found that he had been sent a la dy of
second rate standing. In another, it turns out that he was the basta rd son of
Nitetis, daughter of the Saite (from Sais) king Apries, and ther efore half
Egyptian anyway, whereas the third story provides that Cambys es II, at the
age of ten, made a promise to his mother (who is now Cassand ane) that he
would "turn Egypt upside down" to avenge a slight paid to he r. However,
Ctesias of Cnidus states that his mother was Amytis, the daugh ter of the last
king of independent Media so we are really unsure of th at side of his
parentage. While even Herodotus doubts all of these storie s, and given the
fact that his father had already planned one invasi on of Egypt, the stories
do in fact reflect the later Greek bias towards h is Persian dynasty.

Regardless of Cambyses II's reason for his invasion of Egypt, Herodotus no tes
how the Persians easily entered Egypt across the desert. They were adv ised by
the defecting mercenary general, Phanes of Halicarnassus, to empl oy the
Bedouins as guides. However, Phanes had left his two sons in Egyp t. We are
told that for his treachery, as the armies of the Persians and t he mercenary
army of the Egyptians met, his sons were bought out in fro nt of the Egyptian
army where they could be seen by their father, and the re throats were slit
over a large bowl. Afterwards, Herodotus tells us th at water and wine were
added to the contents of the bowl and drunk by eve ry man in the Egyptian
force.

This did not stop the ensuing battle at Pelusium, Greek pelos, which was t he
gateway to Egypt. Its location on Egypt's eastern boundary, meant th at it was
an important trading post was well and also of immense strateg ic importance.
It was the starting point for Egyptian expeditions to As ia and an entry point
for foreign invaders.

Here, the Egyptian forces were routed in the battle and fled back to Memph is.
Apparently Psamtek III managed to escape the ensuing besiege of the Eg yptian
capital, only to be captured a short time afterwards and was carri ed off to
Susa in chains.  Herodotus goes on to tell us of all the outrag es that
Cambyses II then inflicted on the Egyptians, not only including t he stabbing
of a sacred Apis bull and his subsequent burial at the Serape um in Saqqara,
but also the desecration and deliberate burning of the emba lmed body of
Amasis (a story that has been partly evidenced by destructi on of some of
Amasis' inscriptions) and the banishment of other Egyptian o pponents.

The story of Cambyses II's fit of jealousy towards the Apis bull, wheth er
true or simply Greek propaganda, was intended to reflect his personal f
ailures as a monarch and military leader. In the three short years of h is
rule over Egypt he personally led a disastrous campaign up the River Ni le
into Ethiopia. There, we are told, his ill-prepared mercenary army w as so
meagerly supplied with food that they were forced to eat the fle sh of their
own colleagues as their supplies ran out in the Nubian deser t. The Persian
army returned northwards in abject humiliation having fail ed even to
encounter their enemy in battle.

Then, of course, there is also the mystery of his lost army, some fifty th
ousand strong, that vanished in the Western Desert on their way to the Si wa
Oasis along with all their weapons and other equipment, never to be hea rd of
again. Cambyses II had also planned a military campaign against Cart hage, but
this too was aborted because, on this occasion, the king's Phoen ician sea
captains refused to attack their kinfolk who had founded the Car thagian
colony towards the end of the 8th century BC. In fact, the conque st of Egypt
was Cambyses' only spectacular military success in his seven y ears of
troubled rule over the Persian empire.

However, we are told that when the Persians at home received news of Camby
ses' several military disasters, some of the most influential nobles revol
ted, swearing allegiance to the king's younger brother Bardiya. With the ir
support, the pretender to the great throne of Cyrus seized power in Ju ly 522
BC as Cambyses II was returning home.

The story is told that, on hearing of this revolt, and in haste to mount h is
horse to swiftly finish the journey home, Cambyses II managed to stab h imself
in the thigh with his own dagger. At that moment, he began to reca ll an
Egyptian prophecy told to him by the priests of Buto in which it w as
predicted that the king would die in Ecbatana. Cambyses II had thoug ht that
the Persian summer capital of Ecbatana had been meant and th at he would
therefore die in old age. But now he realized that the prophe cy had been
fulfilled in a very different way here in Syrian Ecbatana.

Still enveloped in his dark and disturbed mood, Cambyses II decided that h is
fate had been sealed and simply lay down to await his end. The wound so on
became gangrenous and the king died in early August of 522 BCE. Howeve r, it
should be noted that other references tell us that Cambyses II had h is
brother murdered even prior to his expedition to Egypt, but apparent ly if it
was not Bardiya (though there is speculation that Cambyses II's s ervants
perhaps did not kill his brother as ordered), there seems to ha ve definitely
been an usurper to the throne, perhaps claiming to be his br other, who we are
told was killed secretly.

Modern Egyptologists believe that many of these accounts are rather biase d,
and that Cambyses II's rule was perhaps not nearly so traumatic as Hero dotus,
who wrote his history only about 75 years after Cambyses II's demis e, would
have us believe. In reality, the Saite dynasty had all but comple tely
collapsed, and it is likely that with Psamtek III's (Psammetichus II I)
capture by the Persians, Cambyses II simply took charge of the countr y. The
Egyptians were particularly isolated at this time in their histor y, having
seen there Greek allies defect, including not only Phanes, but P olycrates of
Samos. In addition, many of Egypt's minorities,  such as t he Jewish community
at Elephantine and even certain elements within the Eg yptian aristocracy,
seem to have even welcomed Cambyses II's rule.

The Egyptian evidence that we do have depicts a ruler anxious to avoid off
ending Egyptian susceptibilities who at least presented himself as an Egyp
tian king in all respects. It is even possible that the pillaging of Egypt ian
towns told to us by Greek sources never occurred at all. In an inscrip tion on
the statue of Udjadhorresnet, a Saite priest and doctor, as we ll as a former
naval officer, we learn that Cambyses II was prepared to wo rk with and
promote native Egyptians to assist in government, and th at he showed at least
some respect for Egyptian religion. For example, reg ardless of the death of
the Apris Bull, it should be noted that the animal 's burial was held with
proper pomp, ceremony and respect. Udjahorresnet a lso tells us that:

"I let His Majesty know the greatness of Sais, that it is the seat of Neit
h-the-Great, mother who bore Re and inaugurated birth when birth had not y et
been...I made a petition to the majesty of the King of Upper and Low er Egypt,
Cambyses, about all the foreigners who dwelled in the temp le of Neith, in
order to have them expelled from it., so as to let the tem ple of Neith be in
all its splendor, as it had been before.  His Majesty c ommanded to expel all
the foreigners who dwelled in the temple of Neit h, to demolish all their
houses and all their unclean things that we re in the temple.

When they had carried all their personal belongings outside the wall of t he
temple, His Majesty commanded to cleanse the temple of Neith and to ret urn
all its personnel to it...and the hour-priests of the temple. His Maje sty
commanded to give divine offerings to Neith-the-Great, the mother of g od, and
to the great gods of Sais, as it had been before.  His Majesty kn ew the
greatness of Sais, that it is a city of all the gods, who dwell the re on
their seats forever."

Indeed, Cambyses II continued Egyptian policy regarding sanctuaries and na
tional cults, confirmed by his building work in the Wadi Hammamat a nd at a
few other Egyptian temples.

Udjadhorresnet goes on to say in his autobiography written on a naophoro us
statue now in the Vatican collection at Rome, that he introduced Cambys es II
to Egyptian culture so that he might take on the appearance of a tra ditional
Egyptian Pharaoh.

However, even though Cambyses II had his name written in a kingly Egypti an
cartouche, he did remained very Persian, and was buried at Takht-i-Rust am
near Persepolis (Iran). It has been suggested that Cambyses II may ha ve
originally followed a traditional Persian policy of reconciliation in t he
footsteps of their conquests. In deed, it may be that Cambyses II's ru le
began well enough, but with the his defeats and losses, his mood may ve ry
well have turned darker with time, along with his actions.

We do know that there was a short lived revolt which broke out in Egypt af ter
Cambyses II died in 522 BC, but the independence was lost almost immed iately
to his successor, a distant relative and an officer in Cambyses II 's army,
named Darius. The dynasty of Persian rulers who then ruled Egy pt did so as
absentee landlords from afar.

The Lost Army of Cambyses II
Within recent years all manner of artifacts and monuments have been discov
ered in Egypt's Western Desert. Here and there, new discoveries of templ es
and tombs turn up, even in relatively inhabited areas where more mode rn
structures are often difficult to distinguish from ancient ruin s. It is a
place where the shifting sands can uncover whole new archaeolog ical worlds,
and so vast that no more than very small regions are ever inv estigated
systematically by Egyptologists. In fact, most discoveries if n ot almost all
are made by accident, so Egypt antiquity officials must rema in ever alert to
those who bring them an inscribed stone unearthed benea th a house, or a
textile fragment found in the sand.

Lately, there has been considerable petroleum excavation in the Western De
sert. Anyone traveling the main route between the near oasis will see th is
activity, but the exploration for oil stretched much deeper into the We stern
Desert. It is not surprising that they have come upon a few archaeol ogical
finds, and it is not unlikely that they will come across others. Ve ry
recently, when a geological team from the Helwan University geologis ts found
themselves walking through dunes littered with fragments of texti les,
daggers, arrow-heads, and the bleached bones of the men to whom all t hese
trappings belonged, they reported the discovery to the antiquity serv ice.

Mohammed al-Saghir of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) now believ es
that this accidental find may very well be at least remnants of the mys
terious Lost Army of Cambyses II, and he is now organizing a mission to in
vestigate the site more thoroughly. If he is successful and the discove ry is
that of Cambyses II's 50,000 strong lost army, than it will not on ly answer
some ancient mysteries, but will probably also provide us wi th a rich source
of information on the Persian military of that time, a nd maybe even expand
our knowledge of Cambyses II himself. The Persian arm ed forces consisted of
many elements, including companies of foreign merce naries such as Greeks,
Phoenicians, Carians, Cilicians, Medes and Syrian s. Hence, if this is not
another false lead, we may expect excellent prese rvation of helmets, leather
corselets, cloth garments, spears, bows, swor ds and daggers – a veritable
treasure trove of military memorabilia. The r ations and support equipment
will all be there, ready for detailed analysi s.

However, it should be noted that some Egyptologists question the very exis
tence of such an army, rather believing that the whole affair was simp ly a
fable told by a very prejudiced Greek.

Yet if true, Cambyses II probably sent his army to Siwa Oasis in the Weste rn
Desert  to seek (or seize) legitimization of his rule from the orac le of
Amun, much as Alexander the Great would do in the 4th century BC. Ho wever,
the army was overtaken by a sandstorm and buried. For centuries adv enturers
and archaeologists have tried to find the lost army, and at time s,
tantalizing, though usually false glues have been discovered.

Legitimizing his rule does not fully explain the need for taking such a la rge
army to the Siwa Oasis. Accounts and other resources provide that t he priests
of the oracle were perhaps posing a danger to Cambyses II's rul e, probably
encouraging revolt among the native Egyptians. Perhaps the pri ests felt
slighted that Cambyses II had not immediately sought their appro val as
Alexander the Great would do almost upon his arrival in Egypt. Ther efore, it
is likely that Cambyses II intended to forces their legitimizati on of his
rule. In fact, some sources believe that his intent was to simp ly destroy the
Oasis completely for their treachery, while it is also kn ow that the army was
to continue on after Siwa in order to attack the Liby ans.

Yet the Siwa Oasis, the western most of Egypt's Oasis, is much deeper in to
the desert than others, such as Bahariya, and apparently, like ma ny of
Cambyses II's military operations, this one too was ill conceived. W hy he so
easily entered Egypt with the help of the Bedouins, and than se nt such a
large force into the desert only to be lost is a mystery.

We know that the army was dispatched from the holy city of Thebes, support ed
by a great train of pack animals. After a seven day march, it reached t he
Kharga Oasis and moved on to the last of the near Oasis, the Bahariy a, before
turning towards the 325 kilometers of desert that separated it f rom the Siwa
Oasis. It would have been a 30 day march through burning he at with no
additional sources of water or shade.

According to Herodotus (as later reported to him by the inhabitants of Siw a),
after many days of struggle through the soft sand, the troops were res ting
one morning when calamity struck without warning. "As they were at th eir
breakfast, a wind arose from the south, strong and deadly, bringing wi th it
vast columns of whirling sand, which buried the troops and caused th em
utterly to disappear." Overwhelmed by the powerful sandstorm, men and a nimals
alike were asphyxiated as they huddled together, gradually being en veloped in
a sea of drift-sand.

It was after learning of the loss of his army that, having witnessed the r
everence with which the Egyptians regarded the sacred Apis bull of Memph is in
a ceremony and believing he was being mocked, he fell into a rage, d rew his
dagger and plunged it into the bull-calf. However, it seems th at he must have
latter regretted this action, for the Bull was buried wi th due reverence.

References:
Chronicle of the Pharaohs (The Reign-By-Reign Record of the Rulers and Dyn
asties of Ancient Egypt) Clayton, Peter A. 1994 Thames and Hudson Ltd IS BN
0-500-05074-0
Egypt in Late Antiquity Bagnall, Roger S. 1993 Princeton University Pre ss
ISBN 0-691-1096-x
History of Ancient Egypt, A Grimal, Nicolas 1988 Blackwell None Stated
Monarchs of the Nile Dodson, Aidan 1995 Rubicon Press ISBN 0-948695-20-x
Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, The Shaw, Ian 2000 Oxford University Pre ss
ISBN 0-19-815034-2

Darius II had to contend with a revolt by the Medes which he put down a nd
palace intrigues that included a eunuch who tried to make himself ki ng but
failed. In Egypt a revolt was motivated by the desire to destroy t he Jewish
temple at Elephantine that was offensive because of its animal s acrifices. In
409 BCE the Athenians invaded Asia and burned the grain in L ydia. The queen
got her 16-year-old son Cyrus appointed commander of the P ersian forces in
Asia Minor, and he began paying Sparta what had been prom ised; but he kept
the Spartan general Callicratidas waiting two days whi le he drank. Cyrus also
had two sons of the king's sister executed for sho wing their hands in his
presence. Recalled to his ill father, Cyrus turn ed his money over to Lysander
which enabled the Spartans to win the batt le at Aegospotami and cut off grain
supplies from Russia, starving Athe ns into surrender in 404 BCE.

By the time Darius II had died in 404 BCE Egypt had revolted and was lo st to
the Persian empire. Artaxerxes II began his rule by cruelly executi ng
Udiastes for having assassinated Teriteuchmes. Cyrus was caught plotti ng to
murder the new king at his coronation; but their mother pleaded f or her
favorite, and Cyrus was allowed to return to his satrapy. Cyrus w as able to
win over the Ionian cities abandoned by the Spartans except f or Miletus,
which was held by Tissaphernes after they banished their arist ocrats. The
exiles were received by Pharnabazus, giving Cyrus a reas on to gather an army
that included 13,000 Greek mercenaries to besiege Mil etus. As Cyrus and his
army headed east, the mercenaries demanded more mon ey. At Cunaxa near Babylon
Cyrus met the Persian army that might otherwi se have been used to reconquer
Egypt. Cyrus wounded Artaxerxes but was th en killed. The next year the
queen-mother Parysatis poisoned Queen Statei ra and was banished to her native
Babylon, but later the forgiving Artaxer xes recalled his mother. Tissaphernes
succeeded Cyrus as margrave of Anato lia.

Born 660 BCE

Destroyed Babylonian Empire

Born/Died ca. 590-August, 529 BCE

Cyrus (580-529 BC) was the first Achaemenian Emperor. He founded Pers ia by
uniting the two original Iranian Tribes- the Medes and the Persian s. Although
he was known to be a great conqueror, who at one point control led one of the
greatest Empires ever seen, he is best remembered for his u nprecedented
tolerance and magnanimous attitude towards those he defeated.

Upon his victory over the Medes, he founded a government for his new kingd om,
incorporating both Median and Persian nobles as civilian officials. T he
conquest of Asia Minor completed, he led his armies to the eastern fron tiers.
Hyrcania and Parthia were already part of the Median Kingdom. Furth er east,
he conquered Drangiana, Arachosia, Margiana and Bactria. After cr ossing the
Oxus, he reached the Jaxartes, where he built fortified towns w ith the object
of defending the farthest frontier of his kingdom against n omadic tribes of
Central Asia. The victories to the east led him aga in to the west and sounded
the hour for attack on Babylon and Egypt. Wh en he conquered Babylon, he did
so to cheers from the Jewish Community, w ho welcomed him as a liberator- he
allowed the Jews to return to the promi sed Land. He showed great forbearance
and respect towards the religious be liefs and cultural traditions of other
races. These qualities earned him t he respect and homage of all the people
over whom he ruled.

As Prof. Richard Frye of Harvard said (in The Heritage of Persia, p10-151) :

  "In the victories of the Persians... what was different was the new poli cy
of reconciliation and together with this was the prime aim of Cyr us to
establish a pax Achaemenica..... If one were to assess the achieveme nts of
the Achaemenid Persians, surely the concept of One World, .... t he fusion of
peoples and cultures in one 'Oecumen' was one of their import ant legacies"

The victory over Babylonia expressed all the facets of the policy of conci
liation which Cyrus had followed until then. He presented himself n ot as a
conqueror, but a liberator and the legitimate successor to the cro wn. He took
the title of "King of Babylon_ King of the Land". Cyrus h ad no thought of
forcing conquered people into a single mould, and had t he wisdom to leave
unchanged the institution of each kingdom he attach ed to the Persian Crown.
In 537 BC he allowed more than 40,000 Jews to lea ve Babylon and return to
Palestine. This step was in line with his poli cy to bring peace to Mankind. A
new wind was blowing from the east, carryi ng away the cries and humility of
defeated and murdered victims, extinguis hing the fires of sacked cities, and
liberating nations from slavery.

Cyrus was upright, a great leader of men, generous and benelovent. The Hel
lenes, whom he conquered regarded him as 'Law-giver' and the Jews as 't he
annointed of the Lord'.

Prior to his death, he founded a new capital city at Pasargade in Fars. a nd
had established a government for his Empire. He appointed a governor (s atrap)
to represent him in each province, however the administration, legi stlation,
and cultural activities of each province was the responsibili ty of the
Satraps. Accoding to Xenophon Cyrus is also reputed to have devi sed the first
postal system, (Achaemenide achievements).

His doctrines were adopted by the future emperors of the Achaemenian dynas ty.
Darius I (521-486 BC) brought together skills and craftsmen from all o ver the
empire in building the city of Persepolis.

Born/Died ca. 550-486 BCE

The ruler who succeeded Cambyses in the vast empire of Persia was the ab le
and honored Darius I. Cambyses left no heirs, and Darius, one of his ge
nerals, fought his way to sovereignty against many rivals. At one ti me he had
eight revolts upon his hands at once. The native Persians wer e, however, his
supporters throughout; and in the days of his establish ed sovereignty he
claimed to be of the royal family of Cyrus and to have b een chosen by the
Persian god of all good, Ormuzd, as the ruler of the emp ire.

Darius governed the world wisely, and, for the most part, peacefully. He e
stablished post-roads everywhere, and a postal service. He had office rs of
justice in every land, a police force, and a regular system of taxat ion. He
was also a great builder, the founder of the Persian capital, Pers epolis; and
his tomb near Persepolis is, perhaps, the most impressive rema ining monument
of Persian civilization. The face of a frowning precipice h as been smoothed
in the form of a cross, with the entrance to the to mb in the centre. All
around this, the rock face has been carved with insc riptions and sculptures,
the chief of which give Darius' own idea of his c rowning by Ormuzd, the
welcome given him by the true Persians, and his tri umph over all the other
pretenders to the throne.

Darius founded the line of emperors who ruled Persia until its conque st by
Alexander the Great.

Additional Information:
Darius I was the second ruler of the Twenty-seventh Dynasty. He was s on of
Hystaspes and a member of the Cyrus family. He was in Egypt while Ca mbyses
ruled and Darius treated the Egyptians with respect and goodwill. D uring his
reign he undertook the completion of the canal that extended fr om the Nile to
the Red Sea. He also expanded the Serapeum at Saqqara as we ll as erected a
large temple of Amun in el-Kharga, a southwestern oasis. D uring his reign
there was the defeat of the Persians in the battle of Mara thon. This showed
that the great empire was not invincible and a revo lt in Egypt followed.

By Bernard Suzanne:
Darius, a member of the Achemenides family, raised to the throne of the ki
ngdom of Persia by taking part, in 522, in a plot to assassinate Smerdi s, who
had assumed the kingship that same year at the death of his broth er Cambyses
on his way back from Egypt. Both Cambyses and Smerdis were so ns of Cyrus the
Great, the founder of the Persian Empire. Darius, on the o ther hand, was a
remote cousin of them. The story of the plot of Darius a nd six other
high-ranking Persians to assassinate Smerdis, who, they prete nded, was not
the son of Cyrus by that name, but an impostor, a Medean mag us posing for
Cyrus's son, who, by their account, had been murdered earli er at the request
of his own brother Cambyses, is told by Herodotus in h is Histories
(Histories, III, 61-88). It offers him an opportunity to p ut in the mouth of
three of the conspirators, when time comes to decide h ow tu rule the empire,
three speeches, one in favor of democracy (Historie s, III, 80), one in favor
of aristocratic oligarchy, the rule by a small g roup of persons chosen among
the best citizens (Histories, III, 81), and t he last one, by Darius himself,
who eventually prevails, in favor of monar chy, supposed to be the very best
of all three regimes, each taken at i ts best (Histories, III, 82). Plato
alludes to the story of the plot of "t he Seven" when, at Laws, III, 695c, he
has the Athenian stranger analyse p ast history to try and draw lessons from
it, and also in the VIIth Lette r, at 331e-332b, to compare Dionysius, the
Sicilian tyrant of Syracuse la ck of trusted friends to Darius reliance upon
his coconspirators.

If Cyrus and Cambyses built the Persian empire by conquering a terrrito ry
spanning from the Ionian coast west to India east, and from Scythia, Ca ucasus
and the southern shores of the Black and Caspian Seas north to Lybi a, Egypt
and the shores of the Persian Gulf south, it is Darius who organi zed its
administration. He moved his residence to the Elamite city of Sus a, which
became the administrative capital of his empire and where he h ad a gigantic
palace built for himself. He divided his vast empire into sa trapies (20
according to Herodotus, who describes their composition at His tories, III,
89-94) headed by Satraps and submitted to an annual tribut e, and built roads
across the empire to ease the communications requir ed to administer such a
huge territory (Herodotus in his Histories (V, 52- 54) gives a description of
the road leading from Sardis, the capital of Ly dia, along the Ionian coast,
which had become the siege of a satrapy, to S usa). He also directed the
building, in his native country of Persia, of a nother palace at Persepolis
(the "Persian city" by Greek etymology).
But Darius was not merely an administrator and, after curbing several rebe
llions in various parts of the empire during his first year in power, he a lso
continued the politic of expansion of his ancestors, toward the ea st in
India, as well as toward the west and Europe, starting with Thraci a. In 499,
some Ionian Greek cities of the satrapy of Lydia, under the lea dership of
Aristagoras of Miletus, rebelled against the Persians and set f ire to Sardis.
It was not until 494, with the naval victory of the Persi an fleet at Lade,
off the shores of Miletus, and the recapture of Miletu s, that the rebellion
was completely curbed. Having thus subdued the Ioni an Greeks, Darius set out
to conquer the rest of Greece, which led to t he first Persian War. But his
troops were stopped by the Athenians at t he battle of Marathon in 490
(Herodotus' Histories (VI, 102-120). It was l eft to his son Xerxes to lead a
second attempt in 480, with no more succe ss (2nd Persian War).
Darius' reign marks the apogee of the Persian Empire, which started to cru
mble by the mere fact of its size after his death, until it was conquer ed by
Alexander the Great (who entered Susa in 331).

The reign of Darius spans most of the period covered by Herodotus' Histori es,
a part going from the middle of book III (III, 67) to the beginni ng of book
VII (VII, 1-4)

In the Phædrus, Plato cites Darius at the side of Solon and Lycurgus, t he
half legendary lawgiver of Sparta, as examples of successfull lawmake rs
(Phaedrus, 258c). And in the Laws, the Athenian stranger praises Dari us for
the way he ruled his country, but reproaches him not to have learn ed from
Cyrus' mistakes in raising his children, and to have done the sa me mistakes
with his son Xerxes, that is, to let him have a pampered child hood he himself
didn't have, not being the son of a king (Laws, III, 695c- e). In the
Menexenus, faithful to the rules of the funeral oration he is c aricaturing,
he exalts the power of Darius only to give more luster to t he Athenian
victory at Marathon (Menexenus, 239d-240e).

Born/Died 475-Spring 404 BCE

Darius II was the fifth king of the Twenty-seventh Dynasty. During his rei gn,
he did some work on the temple of Amun is the Kharga oasis. There we re also
many foreigners in Egypt during this time, mostly Greeks and Jews.

Additional Information:
Darius II had to contend with a revolt by the Medes which he put down a nd
palace intrigues that included a eunuch who tried to make himself ki ng but
failed. In Egypt a revolt was motivated by the desire to destroy t he Jewish
temple at Elephantine that was offensive because of its animal s acrifices. In
409 BCE the Athenians invaded Asia and burned the grain in L ydia. The queen
got her 16-year-old son Cyrus appointed commander of the P ersian forces in
Asia Minor, and he began paying Sparta what had been prom ised; but he kept
the Spartan general Callicratidas waiting two days whi le he drank. Cyrus also
had two sons of the king's sister executed for sho wing their hands in his
presence. Recalled to his ill father, Cyrus turn ed his money over to Lysander
which enabled the Spartans to win the batt le at Aegospotami and cut off grain
supplies from Russia, starving Athe ns into surrender in 404 BCE. By the time
Darius II had died in 404 BCE Eg ypt had revolted and was lost to the Persian
empire.

He was Great King of Persia, 459-484.

Sources:

1.  Stuart, R.W. "Royalty for Commoners" line 408.

He was Great King of Persia, 579-590.
Sources: 1.  Stuart, R.W. "Royalty for Commoners" line 408.
Tyrannized the Jews during his reign, forcing many to flee, including t he
leaders of the academies.

He was Great King of Persia, 302-309.

He was Great King of Persia, 498-531.

Sources: 1.  Stuart, R.W. "Royalty for Commoners" line 408.

When Kavadh claimed the throne, he received a large but disorganized Empir e.
He quickly realized that the Empire required two things to be done: t he army
needed to be reorganized and enlarged and the provinces need ed to be brought
further into the Imperial system. Both of these he had ac complished by the
end of his reign. To secure the peace he signed a non-ag gression pact with
the Eastern Roman Empire in 500. He reestablished the I mperial Navy, which
had been allowed to disappear. To this end, he bui lt a new port city of
Kavadh in Fars, beginning its construction in 50 0. He died of natural causes
while with the army overseeing the defens es of the eastern part of the realm.
The Empire was much stronger and secu re because of his rule.

As "Chosroes Parvez" or "Chosroes the Victorious" he was Great
King of Persia, 590-628.

Sources:
1.  Stuart, R.W. "Royalty for Commoners" line 408.

 The Byzantine Emperor Heracleius waged a campaign against Khusraw II Parw iz
and this campaign would be colored in a religious way because of the ca pture
of the Holly Cross by the Sasanian troops in Jerusalem (615). The Pe
rsian-Byzantine war would end in 627 with the defeat of the Persian troop s.
Khusraw II was murdered in 628 and was succeeded by his son Shiroyye.

The last  two decades of the Sasanian era were a real decay for the empir e.
Kings with insufficient and improbable personality to rule lead the emp ire
faster to the destruction. The only exception was Yazdgird III, the la st
Sasanian king who tried to save its state from the destruction. His fin ancial
and military reforms were remarkable but it was too late for Yazdgi rd III to
change the fate. The battle of Nihavad (642) and the last batt le of Qadisiya
(651) were the two events that sealed the end of the Sasani an era.  Islam,
the new religion, would change the fate of Iran and a n ew chapter in the
Iranian history would be writte

Khosrow I (Khosrow Anüshirvan) (khsr´; nshrvän´), d. 579, king of Persia (
531-79), greatest of the Sassanid or Sassanian monarchs. He is also kno wn as
Chosroes I. He succeeded his father, Kavadh I, but before becoming k ing,
Khosrow was responsible for a great massacre (c.528) of the communist ic
Mazdakites. He extended Persian rule E to the Indus River with the capt ure
(560) of Bactria, W across Arabia by establishing (570) at least nomin al rule
over Yemen, and north and northwest by taking part of Armenia a nd Caucasia
from the Byzantine Empire. He fought against Belisarius and t he other
generals of Justinian I and against Justin II. Khosrow is rever ed by the
Persians as a just though despotic ruler who encouraged learnin g, stimulated
commerce, rebuilt cities, and set up a reformed system of ta xation.

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright © 2002 Columbia Univer
sity Press

Additional information
Khusraw I Anushirwan (=Immortal Soul) was the last great Sasanian King. Du
ring his reign (A.D. 531-579) the prosperity of the Sasanian empire reach ed
its height in every part. He fought against Justinian I and manag ed to sign
beneficial for his empire agreements with the Romans. He conque red Yemen
establishing a new era for the commercial power of Persia in t he Red Sea.
Glorious buildings, like the Great palace in Ctesiphon, were c reated. The
first university was established at Gondishapour and the liter ary production
of this period is doubtless (e.g the book Kalila va Damaneh ). He ruled in an
absolute way, being at the same time popular. The influe nce of the clergy
became less by his policy. Doubtless it could be support ed that Khusraw
Anushirwan?s reign was an Iranian renaissance.

However the effort of Khusraw I was only temporary. His predecessors fail ed
to continue the achievements of his reign. On the contrary the civil co
nflicts in the Sasanian empire lead gradually the state to the decline a nd
fall. The reign of Khusraw II Parwiz was a period with many contradicti ons.
Khusraw II wanted to be the first Sasanian king who would conquer a ll those
lands that had been conquered by Darius I Histaspa in the 6th B. C. The lack
of stability in the Byzantine Empire gave the Sasanian King t he chance to
wage a war against the great enemy. Khusraw managed to conqu er Syria,
Palestine, Egypt and a large part of Asia Minor. The dream of t he revival of
the Achaemenid glory was a reality. However, this reality wo uld not last for
long.

Died abt 395 BCE

Shahpuhr I, Ardashir?s son, took advantage of the prosperity brought to t he
empire by his father and decided to wage a war against Rome. In A.D 2 60 he
managed to capture the Roman emperor Valerianus and his son Gallianu s. Both
of them died in captivity. During his reign Mani Khayyan created h is
religious heresy, Manichaeism, which opposed to the official dogma of Z
oroastrianism. The whole empire was shocked by Manichaeism but in the e nd the
followers of this heresy were exiled to the eastern part of the Sas anian
empire near Chinese provinces. During the reign of Vahram I and Vahr am II
(till A.D. 302) the influence of the Zoroastrian clergy was dramatic ally
increased because of the presence of Kartir, the Mubadan-i Mubad (=Gr eat
Priest). The decisions for serious matters related to the empire we re not
taken without Kartir?s opinion. The strength of Zoroastrian religi on became
greater, especially in religious, political and financial matter s.

The reign of Shahpuhr II is widely characterized as the start of the gold en
age for the Sasanian Empire. He was a strict King but also very capab le of
ruling such an enormous empire. He reigned for 70 years (325-379) a nd
remained in history as the greatest military leader in the Sasanian Era .

He managed to eliminate all the enemies of Persia in its eastern borders a nd
show a strong face towards the great enemy of Persia, the Roman empir e. His
state was extended from Chinese borders to Mesopotamia and from Cau casus Mts.
to Punjab. The influence of the clergy became less due to the p olicy he
followed. The image of Sasanian empire was improved and its pow er was
approved by the rest of the world. However the predecessors of Shah puhr II
(Ardashir II, Ardashir III, Shahpuhr III) did not achieve anythi ng that could
compare them with Shapuhr II.

He was Great King of Persia, 309-379.

The son of Khosru, he ascended the throne at the age of 15. To protect t he
Empire, he built the massive fortresses of Dur Khosru in As Summan, D ur
Kuwait in Kuwait and Dur Socotra in Socotra. The later was to ser ve as the
main southern naval base for the Empire. Shortly after the fortr esses were
built Arab hordes inflamed by the new religion of Islam invad ed the Empire.
The hordes besieged Dur Khosru for six months during the fa ll of 521 and the
winter of 522. Lord Hormizd, the commander of the fort f inally tried to break
out. His army was annihilated and he was killed in t he battle for As Summan
(21,500 casualties). The horde then moved into Bab ylonia where they were met
by Shapur and the main Sassanid army in Ju ly of 522. The battle for Babylonia
was hard fought but Shapur was forc ed to withdraw into Mesopotamia. Over
67,000 casualties littered the fie ld after the battle. Finally the horde was
defeated and pushed back in t he battle for Mesopotamia (over 45,000
casualties). The horde conquered Ba bylonia and Chaldea during 523-524,
establishing the so-called Shahd om of Abadan. The Islamic horde of Abu Bekr,
knowing that they could not d efeat Persia, agreed to migrate into Syria in
525 but instead invaded Egyp t. Shapur quickly liberated southern Mesopotamia.
Zoroastrian church troop s, along with Prince Yazdegerd, followed the Muslims
and defeated them sou ndly when they were trying to escape from their defeat
in Egypt. He also s igned a peace treaty with the new Islamic states of Oman
and Aden, relinqu ishing Kuwait and As Summan to Oman for gold.

Shapur next decided to punish both the so-called Abadanese and their prote
ctors in Constantinople. To this end he devised a two pronged attack again st
the Eastern Roman Empire. The Zoroastrian church swept through Carh ae in 531
and into Aleppo, militarily converting the populace to Zoroastri anism.
Meanwhile, Shapur led his army into Syria to destroy the Muslims. T hey had
migrated north the previous year, so he attacked and pacified t he region and
sacked Damascus in 532 when it refused to surrender. Shap ur then led part of
his army into Aleppo to aid the Church's troops in tak ing Antioch and the
fortress of Cyrrhos in 533. Meanwhile, Prince Yazdege rd invaded Roman Lebanon
and in a spectacular victory destroyed the enti re eastern Roman army, leaving
over 50,000 Roman dead on the battlefiel d. All of Syria and northern
Mesopotamia were now in Shapur's hands. Cyrrh os was then renamed Dur Shapur
(the Fortress of Shapur).
The Eastern Romans, knowing that they are defeated, signed a severe trea ty
with Shapur. Constantinople turned over Lebanon, Edessa and Armen ia to Persia
and agreed to pay a tribute of 135 gold. The Taurus Mountai ns were now the
new border. After years of war Persia was finally at peac e. Shapur also
transferred the Coptic region of Syria to his ally and frie nd the King of
Egypt.

Shapur's Peace had also given the Persian Empire an outlet to the Mediterr
anean Sea for the first time since Alexander's conquest 870 years ago. Sha pur
immediately ordered the re-building of the port city of Tyre so that P ersia
could establish themselves on the Sea. He also began constructi on on an
Imperial Road system. The later years of Shapur's reign were a di rect
opposite of the chaotic and war- filled earlier years. He was ab le to finally
settle down in the capital and to oversee the developme nt of the Empire.
Various members of the Imperial family were married to f oreign Royalty in an
effort to establish stronger ties with Persia's neigh bors. Shapur did send
his son Cyrus to Europe with a vast armada in 5 57 to assist the Osmani in
their war. Cyrus cleared the Rhine of Cathol ic ships and helped besiege Dijon
during 558 and 559. Persia was a much gr eater Empire because of Shapur's reign

Born/Died 519-465 BCE
Known as Ahasueras in the Bible
Xerxes I,  king of Persia (486-465 BCE), the son of Darius I. After ascend ing
the throne, he subdued a rebellion in Egypt and then prepared a gre at army to
attack the Greeks. In 480 BC he marched with his forces throu gh Thrace,
Thessaly (Thessalia), and Locris and then burned Athens. At t he Battle of
Salamís later that year, however, his fleet was defeat ed by a smaller
contingent of Greek warships commanded by Athenian gener al Themistocles.
Xerxes retired to Asia Minor. He was murdered at Persepol is by Artabanus,
captain of the palace guard.

Additional Information:
Xerxes I was the third ruler of the Twenty-seventh Dynasty. The revolt th at
began during the reign of Darius I, who was Xerxes' father, was final ly laid
to rest during the second year of Xerxes I's reign. It is said th at the
slaves' lives were much harder during the time of Xerxes. It is n ot certain
whether this is true since Xerxes was much more involved elsewh ere and paid
little attention to Egypt.

By Bernard Suzanne:
Xerxes became king of Persia at the death of his father Darius the Gre at in
485, at a time when his father was preparing a new expedition again st Greece
and had to face an uprising in Egypt (Herodotus' Histories, VI I, 1-4).
According to Herodotus, the transition was peaceful this time. Be cause he was
about to leave for Egypt, Darius, following the law of his co untry had been
requested to name his successor and to choose between the e lder of his sons,
born from a first wife before he was in power, and the f irst of his sons born
after he became king, from a second wife, Atossa, Cy rus' daughter, who had
earlier been successively wed to her brothers Camby ses and Smerdis, and which
he had married soon after reaching power in ord er to confirm his legitimacy.
Atossa was said to have much power on Dari us and he chosed her son Xerxes for
successor.

After quelling the revolt of Egypt, Xerxes finally decided to pursue the p
roject of his father to subdue Greece, but made lengthy preparations for t
hat. Among other things, remembering what had happened to Mardonius' exped
ition a few years earlier (his fleet had been destroyed by a tempest in 4 92
while trying to round Mount Athos), he ordered a channel to be opened f or his
fleet north of Mount Athos in Chalcidice. He also had two boat brid ges built
over the Hellespont near Abydus for his troop to cross the strai ts.
The expedition was ready to move in the spring of 480 and Xerxes himself t ook
the lead. Herodotus gives us a colorful description of the Persian ar my that
he evaluates at close to two million men and about twelve hundr ed ships
(Histories, VII, 59-100). Modern historians find these figures ir realistic,
if only for logistical reasons, and suppose the army was at mo st two hundred
thousand men and the fleet no more than a thousand ships, b ut this still
makes an impressive body for the time. Xerxes' expedition mo ved by land and
sea through Thracia, the fleet following the army along t he coast. It didn't
meet resistance until it reached Thessalia, where t he Persian army defeated
the Spartans and their allies at the pass of Ther mopylæ while, on sea,
neither the Persian nor the Athenian fleet could w in the decision in the
battle that took place near Cape Artemisium, alo ng the northern coast of the
island of Euboea. Because of Themistocles' de cision to evacuate Athens,
Xerxes managed to take the city and set fi re to the temples of the Acropolis,
but his fleet was soon after destroy ed by the Athenian fleet of Themistocles
at the battle of Salamis (Herodot us' Histories, VIII, 83-96 ; a vivid
description of the battle of Salam is may also be found in Æschylus' Persians,
272-510).

After this defeat, Xerxes returned to Asia via the Hellespont, leaving pa rt
of his army in Greece under the command of Mardonius. But the followi ng year,
after having taken Athens a second time, the Persian army was def eated, in
September of 479, at Platæa, near Thebes in Boeotia, in a batt le that lasted
13 days, in which Mardonius was killed (Herodotus' Historie s, IX, 25-85)
while, at about the same time, what remained of the Persi an fleet was
destroyed by a Greek fleet under the command of the Spartan g eneral
Leutychides off Cape Mycale, a promontory of the Ionian coast, nor th of
Miletus, facing the island of Samos (Herodotus' Histories, IX, 90-10 6). This
was not the end of the war between Persia and Greece, but it w as the end of
the incursions of the Persian army on mainland Greece. And w ithout a fleet,
Persia had to abandon control of the sea to Athens.

Xerxes died in 465, assassinated probably upon order by one of his sons, A
rtaxerxes, who succeeded him.
In the Laws, Plato compares Xerxes to Cambyses in that, as him, he was vic tim
of his education at the court, unlike his father Darius, who was n ot a son of
king (Laws, III, 695c-e). And he goes on to say that it is alm ost impossible
for someone raised in an extremely rich family to become vi rtuous, and to
explain thus why there was no other great king of Persia af ter Darius. But it
is Xerxes who serves as an example to Callicles in t he Gorgias to show that
the stronger should have a greater share (Gorgia s, 483c-e).

Fled Persia after it was overrun by Arabs in the mid 600's. He was the fin al
ruler of the Persian Sassanid Dynasty.

Additional information
Shortly before the Islamic invasion he was seriously wounded in an assassi
nation attempt. He was then killed in battle against the Muslims. He was s
ucceeded by his brother.

During the reign of Yazdgird I the peace with Roman Empire was the main a im of
the Sasanian King, an aim finally achieved. The diplomatic relatio ns between
Sasanian empire and Constantinople are considered friendly a nd peaceful while
at the same time Yazdgird I followed a liberal policy f or the religious
minorities of his empire. Yazdgird?s son, Bahram V G ur is known more for his
glamorous feasts in his palace than for his battl es against the enemies of
his country. He was a king keen on the literal w ay of life. He lived in an
easygoing way at the top of the golden age of t he Sasanian period.

Piruz I lived in a different way by spending most of his time in the battl e.
He faced the invasions of the White Huns to the North Eastern borde rs of his
empire. In 484 he was slaughtered by the Great Khaghan of the Hu ns. Valash
was the prince chosen from the aristocracy and the clergy to s it on the
throne taking the place of Pirouz. Valash was not a strong chara cter and
aristocrats and the clergy were aware of his weakness. It was a g reat
opportunity for them to strengthen their influence concerning the con trol of
the political power.

However, Kavadh I had a different opinion. In A.D. 488 was crowned Ki ng of
the Sasanian state. He was a supporter of the social-religious se ct of Mazdak
and a persona friend of the leader of the new heresy. The tui tion of
Mazdakism was opposed to the power of the aristocracy and the cler gy. Kavadh
decided to make several reforms, evidently influenced by Mazda k. The Bozorgan
(Aristocrats) and Mubadan (Clergy) waged propaganda again st the Sasanian
King. They forced him to abandon the throne and placed Jam asp, his brother,
on the throne. Kavadh took refuge in the court of the H un King and after
almost 2 years he returned to the throne based on the su pport of the Huns.
This time he knew that he had to change his polic y, he stopped supporting
Mazdak. In this second part of his reign he succe eded in approaching the
clergy and the aristocrats and tried hard to reorg anize his state with
several reforms in order to strengthen it.

Per: David K. Conover