Darius I (ca. 550–486 BCE)

Darius (Old Persian Dârayavaush) was the most successful ruler of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, and was responsible for the establishment of administrative and economic institutions that would stay in place for a century and a half after his death. After a violent seizure of power, Darius built the imperial capitals at Susa and Persepolis, commissioned the creation of an Old Persian script to record his decrees, and extended Persian control from the Indus Valley in the East to Macedonia in the West. From the Greek point of view, Darius is best known for the suppression of the Ionian Revolt and Persia's defeat by Athens at the Battle of Marathon. These localized problems on the northwest frontier, despite their prominence in the western historiographical tradition, do not seem to have undermined the overall stability of Darius' imperial system. Keywords: ancient near east history; greek history