Darius II was named Ochus (^Oxoc), but on his accession he was distinguished by the epithet Nothus (No3oc), from his being one of the seventeen illegiti- mate sons of Artaxerxes I or Longimanus, who made him satrap of H3rrcania. He rebelled against Sogdia- nus, another brother, who had murdered tiieir father, and, with the aid of several of the provincial satraps, succeeded in gaining supreme power, putting the usurper to death. He was a weak prince, completely under the control of his favorites, and especially of his wife Parysatis; and his reign was distinguished by continual insurrections, particularly that of the Egyp- tians, who succeeded in gaining for a while their inde- pendence (B.C. 414). Darius died in B.C. 405-4, and was succeeded by his oldest son Artaxerxes II (Ctesi- as, Ptrs. xliv-lvi ; Diod. Sic. xii, 71 ; xiU, 86, 70, 108 ; Xenoph. HeO, i, 2, 19 ; ii, 1, 8; Anab. i, 1, 1).
Darkemon. See Dario.
Darkness (properly ?j^n, eho'shek; (ncoroc), the absence of light; the state of chaos as represented by the sacred writer in Genesis i, 2. See Creation.
The pUgue of darkness in Egypt (Exod. x, 21) was one so thick and intense as to seem almost palpable. The "palpable obscure" of Milton appears to express the idea in a forcible manner. The Tamnl translation gives " darkness which causeth to feel," or so dark that a man is obliged to feel his way, and untO he shall have so felt he cannot proceed. Some exposi- tors are disposed to contend for the literal palpableness of this darkness by supposing that the agency em- ployed was a wind, densely fiUing the air with parti- cles of dust and sand. Such winds are not unknown in the Eastern deserts, and they are alwa3rs very ap-
palUng and deitmctive in their effsota. OOsn t^ that a dense fog was spread over the land ; boiain ness consisting of thick clammy fogs and eThshtiw, so condensed as to be perceived by the organs of iMt{ might have extinguished animiil life in a few k Whether the darkness was exhibited in these or m other forms, the miracle must hjtTe struck the !§*> tians with astonishment and hocror, as the sn «i one of their principal deides, and wma sapfnsodiifai the source of life and the soul of the woiM, sadfM the moon to rule all things. S«e Pl.aoub8 or Eem In the Qospels of Matthew (xxrfi, 45) and Lril (xxiii, 44) we read that, while Jeeaa hung apss 4 cross, ** firom the sixth hour there was darkneai 9^4 all the land unto the ninth hoar." Host of tk « cient commentators believed thmt this darknesi oi tended to the whole world. Bat their aigniuli ai now seldom regarded as satis&ctory, and then' fmk even less so. Of the lattw the Btrwageat is the bs» tion of an eclipse of the sun, whi^ is refoned li dfe time by Phlegon Trallianus, and, after him, ly M lus (ap. Africanum). But even an eclipse of tin K could not be visible to the whole world; MadnaaiiBi these writers names the place of the edipse. S<ai think it was Rome ; but it is impcesible that aa edft could have happened from the sixth to the nioCk ba# both at Rome and Jerusalem. It is, theretee, Uf^ probable that the statement of Pldi^oa, which ii til course of time has come to be qpioted as indepea^ authority, was taken from the relation of the C^ tians or from the Scriptures. That the darknssi eed not have proceeded f^m an eclipee of the sub ii to ther placed beyond all doubt by the fiact that, it kit then the time of the Passover, the nooon was at ill f nlL This darkness nu^ therefbre be ascribed to A extraordinary and preternatural ofteoaration cf ii solar light, which might precede and acoompsaj dt earthquake that took plaos on the same occasioB; fa it has been noticed that often before aa eartfaqiaki such a mist arises Anom sulphnreona vapors as to sets' sion a darkness almost noctamal (see the anthon asii in Kuin6l ad Matt, xxiv, 29, and compare Joel m.i: Rev. vi, 12 sq.). See Earthquake. Such a dvt- ness might extend over Judssa, or that division of Pil- eetine in which Jerusalem stooid, to whidi the bsit ^ thorities agree that here, as in some other phoes, it ii necessary to limit the phrase TrwTKxv r^ yijv, readend '*alltheLmd." In the "Acts of Pilate" (q.v.Xvtti have been quoted by Justin Martyr and TertoUiaaT *< find the following document, in which tiiis pulam* nral darkness is referred to. See Eclzpsb.
" Pilate to TIberioB, etc.
^^ I have m length been forced to oonaent lo tte cradftd* of Jesus Christ, to prevent a tamolt among the Jevi, A<3b^ it was very mach against my wUI. For the worid nenr Bt<. and probably never irill see, a man of such extraordiauy piV and uprightness. But the high-priesits and Sanhedxta U- flUed in it the oracles of their prophets and of oar ri^ While he hung on the cross, a horrid darkneas, wUd coreirf the earth, seemed to threaten its final end. His foOsv^^ who profess to hare seen him rise fnotn the dead and teeoi into h«iven, and adcnowledge him for their God. do stii <s^ sist, and, by their excellent uvea, show themsctres Iha wtr^ disciples of so extraordinary a manter. I did all I omU ^ save him from the malice of ttie Jews, but the foar of a tia> iuBurreotion made me sacrifice him to the peaee asd i^ax* of your empire,*' etc