Who was Gaumata in Darius I’s account of his rise to power?
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Darius I
This chromolithograph of a frieze at Susa depicts attendants serving Darius I.
In the official account provided by Darius I on the Bisotun inscription, Gaumata was a magus who usurped the Persian throne by impersonating Bardiya, a son of Cyrus the Great.12
Darius claimed that the real Bardiya had been secretly murdered by his brother, Cambyses II, prior to Gaumata’s rise. By framing the ruler as an imposter, Darius justified his own seizure of power as a righteous act to restore the throne to the legitimate Achaemenid house. However, many modern historians suggest that the story of Gaumata may have been a fabrication by Darius to legitimize his own accession, and that the individual he killed was indeed the true son of Cyrus.21