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Darius I: Quick Facts

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Facts

Also Known As Darius the Great • Darayavaush
Born 550 BCE
Died 486 BCE
Title / Office king (522BC-486BC), Egypt • king (522BC-486BC), Persia
Founder Persepolis
House / Dynasty Achaemenid Empire • Persian Egypt
Notable Family Members father Hystaspes • son Xerxes I
Role In Greco-Persian Wars

Photos

Darius the Great
Rock relief and inscription at Behistun, Iran, showing figures in profile and ancient script carved into a cliff.
Bas-relief detail showing Xerxes I standing and Darius I seated, both with beards and elaborate robes, from the treasury at Persepolis, now in the Archaeological Museum in Tehran.
Winged lion from Susa
Darius I
Ruins of the royal residence (looking south) at Persepolis, Iran, begun by Darius I and completed during the reigns of Xerxes I and Artaxerxes I, Achaemenian period, late 6th–4th century bc.
Darius I seated before two incense burners, detail of a bas-relief of the north courtyard in the Treasury at Persepolis, late 6th–early 5th century bc; in the Archaeological Museum, Tehrān
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