{"slug": "darius-the-great", "label": "Darius the Great", "wikipedia": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darius_the_Great", "wikidata": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q44387", "qid": "Q44387", "description": "The fourth and greatest Achaemenid emperor (522–486 BC)", "entries": 18, "years": 16, "span": [-548, 620], "span_label": ["549 BCE", "620 CE"], "topics": [{"title": "Exploration & Expansion", "count": 5}, {"title": "Technology & Infrastructure", "count": 4}, {"title": "Conflict & Security", "count": 3}, {"title": "Geopolitics & Diplomacy", "count": 2}, {"title": "Deaths", "count": 2}, {"title": "Births", "count": 1}, {"title": "Culture & Society", "count": 1}], "also_known_as": ["Darius I", "Darius I of Persia"], "related": [{"slug": "xerxes-i", "label": "Xerxes I", "shared": 5}, {"slug": "achaemenid-empire", "label": "Achaemenid Empire", "shared": 5}, {"slug": "persepolis", "label": "Persepolis", "shared": 3}, {"slug": "athens", "label": "Athens", "shared": 2}, {"slug": "iran", "label": "Iran", "shared": 2}, {"slug": "ancient-greece", "label": "Ancient Greece", "shared": 2}, {"slug": "libya", "label": "Libya", "shared": 2}, {"slug": "byzantine-empire", "label": "Byzantine Empire", "shared": 1}, {"slug": "anatolia", "label": "Anatolia", "shared": 1}, {"slug": "sasanian-empire", "label": "Sasanian Empire", "shared": 1}, {"slug": "palestine-region", "label": "Palestine (region)", "shared": 1}, {"slug": "khosrow-ii", "label": "Khosrow II", "shared": 1}], "items": [{"year": -548, "year_label": "549 BCE", "section": "Births", "date": null, "text": "Darius I, king of Persia (approximate date)", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1346605699#Births", "title": "549 BC", "revid": 1346605699, "section": "Births"}}, {"year": -521, "year_label": "522 BCE", "section": "Geopolitics & Diplomacy", "date": "December", "text": "December – Darius I succeeds Bardiya as ruler of Persia. He is the son of a government official.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1365841400#Persian_Empire", "title": "522 BC", "revid": 1365841400, "section": "Events › By place › Persian Empire"}}, {"year": -517, "year_label": "518 BCE", "section": "Technology & Infrastructure", "date": null, "text": "Darius I begins constructing Persepolis, a new capital for the Persian Empire (approximate date).", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1342658453#Architecture", "title": "518 BC", "revid": 1342658453, "section": "Events › By topic › Architecture"}}, {"year": -515, "year_label": "516 BCE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "The Persian king Darius I occupies Punjab (approximate date).", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1340379939#India", "title": "516 BC", "revid": 1340379939, "section": "Events › By place › India"}}, {"year": -512, "year_label": "513 BCE", "section": "Technology & Infrastructure", "date": null, "text": "Darius the Great subdues the Getae and east Thrace in his war against the Scythians. To accomplish this, he builds a massive pontoon bridge across the Bosphorus Strait.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1350129130#Asia", "title": "513 BC", "revid": 1350129130, "section": "Events › By place › Asia"}}, {"year": -509, "year_label": "510 BCE", "section": "Deaths", "date": null, "text": "Aryandes, Persian satrap of Egypt (executed by the Persian king Darius I)", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1350129120#Deaths", "title": "510 BC", "revid": 1350129120, "section": "Deaths"}}, {"year": -499, "year_label": "500 BCE", "section": "Geopolitics & Diplomacy", "date": null, "text": "Darius I of Persia proclaims that Aramaic will be the official language of the western half of his empire.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1363151372#Middle_East", "title": "500 BC", "revid": 1363151372, "section": "Events › By place › Middle East"}}, {"year": -491, "year_label": "492 BCE", "section": "Exploration & Expansion", "date": null, "text": "The first expedition of King Darius I of Persia against Greece commences under the leadership of his son-in-law and general, Mardonius. Darius sends Mardonius to succeed his satrap (governor) in Ionia, Artaphernes, with a special commission to attack Athens and Eretria.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1354172499#Greece", "title": "492 BC", "revid": 1354172499, "section": "Events › By place › Greece"}}, {"year": -490, "year_label": "491 BCE", "section": "Exploration & Expansion", "date": null, "text": "Darius I sends envoys to all Greek cities, demanding \"earth and water for vassalage\" which Athens and Sparta refuse.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1364322520#Greece", "title": "491 BC", "revid": 1364322520, "section": "Events › By place › Greece"}}, {"year": -490, "year_label": "491 BCE", "section": "Culture & Society", "date": null, "text": "The construction of a relief begins in the Apadana, a ceremonial complex at Persepolis. The relief pictures Darius I and Xerxes I receiving tribute and is now displayed in the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1364322520#Art", "title": "491 BC", "revid": 1364322520, "section": "Events › By topic › Art"}}, {"year": -489, "year_label": "490 BCE", "section": "Exploration & Expansion", "date": null, "text": "Darius I sends an expedition, under Artaphernes and Datis the Mede, across the Aegean to attack the Athenians and the Eretrians. Hippias, the aged ex-tyrant of Athens, is on one of the Persian ships in the hope of being restored to power in Athens.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1350129378#Greece", "title": "490 BC", "revid": 1350129378, "section": "Events › By place › Greece"}}, {"year": -485, "year_label": "486 BCE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Egypt revolts against Persian rule upon the death of king Darius I. The revolts, probably led by Libyans of the western Delta, are crushed the next year by Xerxes, who reduces Egypt to the status of a conquered province.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1360598378#Persian_Empire", "title": "486 BC", "revid": 1360598378, "section": "Events › By place › Persian Empire"}}, {"year": -485, "year_label": "486 BCE", "section": "Deaths", "date": null, "text": "Darius I, king of the Persian Achaemenid Empire (b. 550 BCE)", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1360598378#Deaths", "title": "486 BC", "revid": 1360598378, "section": "Deaths"}}, {"year": -484, "year_label": "485 BCE", "section": "Exploration & Expansion", "date": null, "text": "Xerxes I is just beginning his reign after the death of his father Darius the Great in 486 BC. During this time the Persian empire extends as far west as Macedonia and Libya and as far east as the Hyphasis (Beas) River; it stretches to the Caucasus Mountains and the Aral Sea in the north and to the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Desert in the south.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1360598373#Persian_Empire", "title": "485 BC", "revid": 1360598373, "section": "Events › By place › Persian Empire"}}, {"year": -482, "year_label": "483 BCE", "section": "Exploration & Expansion", "date": null, "text": "Xerxes I of Persia is encouraged by his cousin and brother-in-law, Mardonius, supported by a strong party of exiled Greeks, to take revenge for the defeat that Darius I suffered at the hands of the Greeks at Marathon in 490 BC. In response, Xerxes prepares for a major expedition to crush the Greeks. To avoid a repeat of the significant losses to the Persian fleet that occurred in 492 BC, Xerxes has a canal cut through the promontory of Mount Athos.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1342607703#Persian_empire", "title": "483 BC", "revid": 1342607703, "section": "Events › By place › Persian empire"}}, {"year": -459, "year_label": "460 BCE", "section": "Technology & Infrastructure", "date": null, "text": "The construction of the ceremonial complex of Apadana (the audience hall of Darius I and Xerxes I) in Persepolis is completed.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1354173290#Persian_Empire", "title": "460 BC", "revid": 1354173290, "section": "Events › By place › Persian Empire"}}, {"year": -282, "year_label": "283 BCE", "section": "Technology & Infrastructure", "date": null, "text": "The canal from the Nile River to the Red Sea, initially started but not completed by the Egyptian pharaoh Necho II and repaired by the Persian king Darius I, is again repaired and made operational by Ptolemy II.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1354173238#Egypt", "title": "283 BC", "revid": 1354173238, "section": "Events › By place › Egypt"}}, {"year": 620, "year_label": "620 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Byzantine–Sassanid War: King Khosrau II captures Ancyra, an important Byzantine military base in central Anatolia. After the conquest of Egypt and Palestine, he restores the Persian Empire as it existed in 490 BC under Darius I.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1364749611#Byzantine_Empire", "title": "620", "revid": 1364749611, "section": "Events › By place › Byzantine Empire"}}]}