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Darius the Great

The fourth and greatest Achaemenid emperor (522–486 BC)

18 dated entries naming Darius the Great, drawn from 16 separate years between 549 BCE and 620 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

Also written as Darius I, Darius I of Persia in the source articles; Wikipedia redirects those to the same subject, so their entries are on this page.

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6th century BC

  • 549 BCEDarius I, king of Persia (approximate date)source
  • 522 BCEDecember – Darius I succeeds Bardiya as ruler of Persia. He is the son of a government official.source
  • 518 BCEDarius I begins constructing Persepolis, a new capital for the Persian Empire (approximate date).source
  • 516 BCEThe Persian king Darius I occupies Punjab (approximate date).source
  • 513 BCEDarius 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.source
  • 510 BCEAryandes, Persian satrap of Egypt (executed by the Persian king Darius I)source

5th century BC

  • 500 BCEDarius I of Persia proclaims that Aramaic will be the official language of the western half of his empire.source
  • 492 BCEThe 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.source
  • 491 BCEDarius I sends envoys to all Greek cities, demanding "earth and water for vassalage" which Athens and Sparta refuse.source
  • 491 BCEThe 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.source
  • 490 BCEDarius 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.source
  • 486 BCEEgypt 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.source
  • 486 BCEDarius I, king of the Persian Achaemenid Empire (b. 550 BCE)source
  • 485 BCEXerxes 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.source
  • 483 BCEXerxes 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.source
  • 460 BCEThe construction of the ceremonial complex of Apadana (the audience hall of Darius I and Xerxes I) in Persepolis is completed.source

3rd century BC

  • 283 BCEThe 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.source

7th century

  • 620Byzantine–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.source

Named in the same entries