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Arrogant, powerful, wise, heroic, conqueror, and a superior leader are a few words that describe Darius I reign and the life that he lived. Darius I is one of the greatest leaders of any nation to ever live. Darius was always well dressed; he was clearly distinguishable from others by his gold scepter, long square beard, fancy jewelry, and a high flat-topped tiara. He wore robes of purple embroidered in gold, fine crimson trousers, and boots. He sat underneath a purple canopy all people were to fall or bow to the great king.
His great authority was reflected in his title: Great King, King of Kings, or King of Persia. His conquests are magical his reign is superior. His ability to consolidate power over his great empire is amazing in its self. He ruled for a thirty-six year period providing his empire with a new form of state organization. From the military down to small provinces and courts Darius had left his mark on Persia. His vast accomplishments helped Persia for many years to come.
If it werent for Alexander the Great, Darius I would be a man everyone knows. His great undertakings should not go unnoticed for he propelled Persia into an even greater empire. Darius I great reign was inscribed on a gigantic rock face facing the main caravan route Ecbatana to Babylon. Known as the Bisitun Inscription, the inscription claims that he is the rightful successor as the King of Persia.
The throne was to be given to Gautmata pretending to be Cambyses brother. In 522 B. C. Darius defeated Gautmata and took over as the Great King of Persia. Darius took over as King at the young age of twenty-eight.
The first two years of his reign were spent suppressing rebellions, the most famous in Babylon in 520. After he successfully crushed the rebellion Darius committed himself to reorganizing Persia and securing its outer borders. He reorganized the immense empire into twenty satrapies (like small provinces). He built highways, created a postal system, reformed the currency, encouraged commerce, and was deeply liked by the large portion of his ethnically diverse empire. By reorganizing his empire into twenty satrapies Darius was able to collect taxes from each individual satrapy. The taxes were a fixed annual tax rate or tribute.
The provincial system allowed different ethnicities to practice their own religious preference. The people were pleased with Darius and his decision not to press one religion on his empire. Even though Darius himself was a great worshipper of Ahuramazda. Ahuramazda was said to be the god who invented the earth, man, the sky, and the creator of happiness. Darius allowing his people to retain their customs and religion was the greatest achievement of the Achaemenid Dynasty. Darius allowed the Jews to complete the rebuilding of the Temple at Jerusalem in 516.
This propelled the Achaemenid Dynasty to rule the empire for over two centuries. Satraps ran the satrapies for the King. Satrap is known in the English language as a petty tyrant. The satraps were ordered to command the provincial armed forces, to collect imperial taxes, and of course to enforce the Kings will. Satraps had immense power and money. Unlike provincial German princes in the medieval era Darius was able to put a check and balance system on his satraps.
Darius established a traveling bureaucracy to drop in on his satraps to make sure they were being faithful to the people and to his income. All of his checks were unannounced; if appointments were made satraps could easily cover-up any wrong doing. Darius was able to control his satrapies by his impeccable highways he had built. These great highways were also a great transportation system for trade routes. Darius built the longest road in the world which extended from Elamite to Ephesus on the Aegean coast, cumulating a total over seventeen hundred miles!
His postal system was made possible by these great highways. With vast trade and the ever-growing amount of people on these highways made it safe for travel. Important posts were setup at cities such as Babylon, Memphis, Ecbatana, Pasargrade, and Persepolis. These posts made rapid communication through the empire possible.
The postal system was made up of horses for transportation. Darius found out how far a rider and a horse could travel everyday before needing a rest. Fourteen miles turned out to be the answer, so every fourteen miles a fresh rider and a fresh horse was waiting to continue the delivery. It took only a week for the Kings command to reach the farthest parts of his empire.
With this speedy delivery system if revolts were to break out they could be dealt with quickly. The King would be able to be in contact with his satraps on a weekly basis. The famous phrase of the U. S. Postal Office comes from this time period, Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night will stop the royal messages. Darius also had a great canal built between the Nile and he Red Sea.
Now ships could have direct access to the Mediterranean to the Red Sea without having to use a land route or going all the way around Africa. More importantly the unbroken waterways now connected the eastern and western ends of the empire. Darius canal is now the modern day Suez Canal. The arrogant side of Darius is inscribed on the walls of his canal, found in 1866 by laborers on the Suez Canal. The inscriptions read This canal was dug out as I commanded, and ships went from Egypt through this canal into Persia as was my desire (Achaemenid Map). Now with the connection of the eastern and western empires Darius ruled an area of almost two million square miles including ten million people.
Persia enjoyed a great economic prosperity early in Darius reign. Darius stimulated the economy by promoting agriculture and trade. Agriculture would increase trade would increase revenue in the satrapies and the increased revenue would mean in creased taxes. He also provided a common system of weights and measures while at the same time issuing a gold coinage. The empire used these funds to build better irrigation systems and encourage different manufacturing enterprises. People also used ingots, which was melted down gold or silver used for trade.
Ingots were weighed for trade, the heavier the ingot the more it was worth. Darius gold coins were known as Darics, surely named after himself. The satraps were able to make coins of silver and bronze but the King could issue gold coins. Creating a single coinage made trade easier as well as unifying Persia's commercial empire. Darius the first was able to secure his borders by having a gigantic standing army.
His army was known as the Ten Thousand Immortals, composed mainly of infantrymen. Every time a soldier was killed or could no longer serve in battle a new recruit quickly replaced him. Thus the standing army never shrank. His soldiers were armed with bows, spears, and swords. In battle they had light wicker shields, they wore a cloth headdress and a colorful tunic usually over a metal scale shirt.
The soldiers were well protected in battle but very mobile. A thousand soldiers served as Darius personal bodyguards. Soldiers were allowed to bring concubines and servants with them into battle. This must have made the enemy believe that their army was even larger than it actually was.
Archers overwhelmed enemies by a barrage of arrows. The Persians were great horsemen and did not use their cavalry for just close combat but soldiers would actually fire arrows from horseback. Persians also brought elephants and camels into battles when in need. They often attached slashing blades to the wheels of their chariots and mowed down their enemy. Early in Darius reign he used his great standing army to secure...
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Research essay sample on Darius I The Great Reign
