R. M. Boyd.
DARA, jrrj 1 Ch 2«, Adpa AB ; but codd. Heb., Luc. AapaS^, Pesb., Targ. presuppose »T1^ Darda (which see).
DARDA (vni, AapaXi B, Aopad A, Aaplai Luc.)— Mentioned with Ethan the Ezrahite, lleman, and Calcol as a son of Mahol, and a proverbial type of
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DARIC
DARIUS
wisdom, but yet surpassed by Solomon (1 K 4^'). ]n 1 Ch 2' apparently the same four (l)ara is prob- ably an error for Darda. See Daka) are men- tioned with Zimri as sons of Zerah, the son of Judah by Tamar (Gn ;!830). So Targ. in 1 K 4^1 interprets ' the Ezraliite ' as mi id ' the son of Zerah.' This statement of Ch need not conflict with that of K, 'sons of Mahul,' since Zerah, as is suii^ested by the title 'the Ezrahite,' may have been the remoter ancestor, Mahol the immediate father. See Maiiol. C. F. Bukney.
DARIC— See Monet.
"DARIUS (^^iV^, Aaperos)— 1. Darius, the son of HystasjH'S (Vistashpa), written Darayavaush in Old I'ersian, was the true founder of the Persian empire. The usurpation of the crown by the Marian Gaumata, who pretended to be Smerdis the brother of Cambyses, had thoroughly shaken the empire of Cyrus, and the murder of the usurper by Darius and six others (H.c. 521) caused it to break up. The nations of which it was composed revolted under different pretenders, and had to be reeijnquered and reorganized by Darius. The history of all this is given in the trilingual inscrip- tion he caused to be engraved on the rock of Behistun (Bagistana). First Susiana rebelled under Atrina, then Babylon under Nidiuta-Bel, who pretended to be Nebuchadrezzar, son of Nabo- nidus. Contract-tablets show that the latter pre- tender reigned from i_)ctober li.c 521 to August B.C. 520, when Babylon was taken and Nidinta-Bel himself put to death. Xext came the revolts of Martiya in Susiana ; of Phraortes in Media, who sailed himself liiishathrita, descendant of Uvakh- shatara ; of the Armenians ; of Chitrantakhma in Sagartia, who said he was a descendant of Uvakh- shatara ; of Phraortes in Parthia and Hyrcania, where Hystaspes was satrap ; of Friida in Margiana ; of a second false Smerdis in Persia itself ; and of the Armenian Arakha, son of Khaldita, in Babylon, who professed to be Nebuchadrezzar, the son of Nabonidus. Rut the revolts were all suppressed and the leaders impaled, though many months of hard fighting were needed for the work. D. ascribes all his successes to the help of Ahuramazda (Oriuazd), the supreme god of the Zoroastrian faith.
Ill' now set about the organization of the empire, which he placed under a bureaucracy centralized in himself. The provinces were governed by satraps appointed by the king, and each province was re(|uired to furnish the royal treasury with a fixed amount of annual tribute. .Tustice was adminis- tered by royal judges who went on circuit.
The second revolt of Babylon probably took jilace in n.c. 514, iis no Bab. contract-tablets have been found dated in the seventh year of Darius, and after its suppression a part of the walls of the city were pulled down. Soon afterwards Darius over- came Iskuuka the Sakian or Scyth, and hencefor- ward the Sakians formed part of the Persian army. The expedition against the Scyths of Europe was still later. Darius crossed the Danube near Ismail by a bridge constructed by the lonians, who had already performed the same service in the case of the Bosphorus, and, leaving it in charge of the Ionian ' tyrants,' he marched eastward to the Don. Eight fortresses were built on the banks of the Oarus (probably the Volga), and Darius then returned through a desert country to the Danube, harassed by the Scyths. Histiieus of Miletus .saved his army by dissuading the Greeks from destroying the bridge. Uisti;ens was afterwanis tlie indirect cause of the Ionian revolt, which led to the burning of Sardis by the Athenians, and the determination of Darius to punish Athens and aimex Greece. Thrace and Macedonia had already submitted.
•• CopyTight. 1698, hy
Mardonius, the son of Gobryas, was sent against Attica; but his ships were wrecked ofl Mount Athos, and he was compelled to return. Another army was despatched accordingly the following year. Eretria was pillaged ; but the Persian host was utterly defeatetl by the Athenians at Marathon (B.C. 491), and compelled to retreat. Darius now fitted out another expedition on a larger scale, but just as it was ready to start Egypt revolted.
D. had already explored the Indian Ocean. Skylax of Karyandria sailed down the Indus, and, after a voyage of thirty months, reached Suez. One of the results of the expedition was the sub- jugation of the Indians.
The Egyptian revolt was followed by the death of the king, B.t'. 48'!. He had married the daughter of Gobryas in early life, and Artobarzanes, his eldest son by her, was not allowed to succeed him, as lie had been born w'hile Darius was still a private citizen. After his accession he married Atossa, the daughter of Cyrus and wife of Camby.ses and of the pseudo-Smerdis, as well as Parmys the daughter of Smerdis, and Phfedyma the daughter of Otanes. Xerxes, his son by Atossa, was hia successor to the crown.
It was in the reign of Darius that the second temple of Jerusalem was finished. The work had languished till the second year of his reign, when Haggai and Zechariah excited Zerubbabel, ' the governor of Judah,' and the high priest Joshua to undertake it afresh (Ezr S'f-). This made Tattenai, the Persian governor of Syria, inquire by what authority they acted (v.'*'-). On being told that it was a decree of Cyrus, he wrote to Darius, who had search made for the decree, which was found in the palace of Ecbatana. Darius caused it to be pub- lished, and added that money for the building should be given out of the reveiuie of the province, as well as cattle and other things for the temple services, ' tliat they may offer sacrifice . . . and pray for the life of the king and of his sons.' Accordingly, the temple was completed on the 3rd of Adar, in the sixth year of Darius (6'-i*).