Talk:Darius the Great/Archive 1

message: I removed the incorrect part about the origin of the name Darius, which indicated it is from the Old Testament.  The same mistake was also made about the name of Cyrus, which indicated it is from Hebrew (which I corrected and provided the correct etymology on that page). Both names are originally from Persian and "Cyrus and Darius" are the Greek/Latin versions of the original Persian name, which are Khourvash and Darayvash.  In Persian vash is a suffix of similarity or characteristics, which to this day exists and many Persian names and words contain this suffix.  -- Keyvan Partovi
* It is Dārayawauš, not Dārayawuš; from dārayati "he holds, he upholds" (modern Farsi dārad دارد) and wahuš "(the) good" (cf. Farsi beh-tar بهتر).  In Achaemenian Old Persian medial -h- is dropped, so ahura becomes aura, and wahuš becomes wauš.  The h was preserved in Avestan, as in Vohu Manah (Farsi Bahman بهمن), where vohu = wahu (neuter of wahuš). RandomCritic 05:59, 17 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Correction of etymology

message: I performed a clean-up and removed the tag.  The Brittanica article provides a good start, but I think we could still expand it a bit.  But I should be working on my paper instead of worrying about this now ;)  --Jpbrenna 03:35, 18 Apr 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Cleanup 

message: Unfortunatly, the standard font doesn't have Old-Persian characters.
Could you please provide with a Font name that I can download in order to view it correctly?
Thanks,
Boris A
:Code2001, available at . DopefishJustin 04:19, 18 November 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Font 

message: The link for the "Geneology of Darius" at the bottom has no such thing. It has a search function, and when I looked for Darius, it had a few hits in contemporaneous non-Persian king lists. Mdotley 21:17, 24 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  External links 

message: According to several different sites, Darius was connected to a junta that killed large numbers of Magi, and nothing I read, save that spurious anonymous edit, suggested Darius was a Magi.  There is an account of a legend that Darius was one of six or seven candidates for the throne who was chosen b/c his horse neighed first, but nothing solid.  Mdotley 18:16, 8 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Darius and the Magi 

message: The following part, that I erased, needs to be contextualized:
The Stone Tablets of Darius the Great 
The Persian Rosetta Stone 
Seal of Darius the Great 
The empire then reached its greatest extent under Darius I. He led conquering armies into the Indus River valley and into Thrace in Europe. His invasion of Greece was halted at the Battle of Marathon. 
Darius I, who ascended the throne in 521 BC, pushed the Persian borders as far eastward as the Indus River, had a canal constructed from the Nile to the Red Sea, and reorganized the entire empire, earning the title 'Darius the Great.' 
Darius (Greek form Dareios) is a classicized form of the Old Persian Daraya-Vohumanah, Darayavahush or Darayavaush, which was the name of three kings of the Achaemenid Dynasty of Persia: Darius I (the Great), ruled 522-486 BCE, Darius II (Ochos), ruled 423-405/4 BCE, and Darius III (Kodomannos), ruled 336-330 BCE. In addition to these, the oldest son of Xerxes I was named Darius, but he was murdered before he ever came to the throne, and Darius, the son of Artaxerxes II, was executed for treason against his own father. 
According to A. T. Olmstead's book History of the Persian Empire, Darius the Great's father Vishtaspa (Hystaspes) and mother Hutaosa (Atossa) knew the prophet Zarathustra (Zoroaster) personally and were converted by him to the new religion he preached, Zoroastrianism. 
The empire of Darius the Great extended from Egypt in the west to the Indus River in the east. The major satrapies or provinces of his Empire were connected to the center at Persepolis, in the Fars Province of present-day Iran. The Royal Road connected 111 stations to each other. Messengers riding swift horses informed the king within days of turmoil brewing in lands as distant as Egypt and Sughdiana. 
One of the most awe-inspiring monuments of the ancient world, Persepolis was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenian empire. It was built during the reign of Darius I, known as Darius the Great (522-485 BC), and developed further by successive kings. The various temples and monuments are located upon a vast platform, some 450 metres by 300 metres and 20 metres in height. At the head of the ceremonial staircase leading to the terrace is the 'Gateway of All Nations' built by Xerxes I and guarded by two colossal bull-like figures. 
Darius was the greatest of all the Persian kings. He extended the empires borders into India and Europe. He also fought two wars with the Greeks which were disastrous. 
Darius established a government which became a model for many future governments: 
Established a tax-collection system; 
* Allowed locals to keep customs and religions; 
*Divided his empire into districts known as Satrapies; 
*Built a system of roads still used today; 
*Established a complex postal system; 
*Established a network of spies he called the "Eyes and Ears of the King." 
*Built two new capital cities, one at Susa and one at Persepolis.
                                           The Persian Wars 
In the 5th century BC the vast Persian Empire attempted to conquer Greece. If the Persians had succeeded, they would have set up local tyrants, called 'satraps', to rule Greece and would have crushed the first stirrings of democracy in Europe. The survival of Greek culture and political ideals depended on the ability of the small, disunited Greek city-states to band together and defend themselves against Persia's overwhelming strength. The struggle, known in Western history as the Persian Wars, or Greco-Persian Wars, lasted 20 years -- from 499 to 479 BC. 
Persia already numbered among its conquests the Greek cities of Ionia in Asia Minor, where Greek civilization first flourished. The Persian Wars began when some of these cities revolted against Darius I, Persia's king, in 499 BC. 
Athens sent 20 ships to aid the Ionians. Before the Persians crushed the revolt, the Greeks burned Sardis, capital of Lydia. Angered, Darius determined to conquer Athens and extend his empire westward beyond the Aegean Sea. 
In 492 BC Darius gathered together a great military force and sent 600 ships across the Hellespont. A sudden storm wrecked half his fleet when it was rounding rocky Mount Athos on the Macedonian coast. 
Two years later Darius dispatched a new battle fleet of 600 triremes. This time his powerful galleys crossed the Aegean Sea without mishap and arrived safely off Attica, the part of Greece that surrounds the city of Athens. 
The Persians landed on the plain of Marathon, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from Athens. When the Athenians learned of their arrival, they sent a swift runner, Pheidippides, to ask Sparta for aid, but the Spartans, who were conducting a religious festival, could not march until the moon was full. Meanwhile the small Athenian army encamped in the foothills on the edge of the Marathon Plain. 
The Athenian general Miltiades ordered his small force to advance. He had arranged his men so as to have the greatest strength in the wings. As he expected, his center was driven back. The two wings then united behind the enemy. Thus hemmed in, the Persians' bows and arrows were of little use. The stout Greek spears spread death and terror. The invaders rushed in panic to their ships. The Greek historian Herodotus says the Persians lost 6,400 men against only 192 on the Greek side. Thus ended the battle of Marathon (490 BC), one of the decisive battles of the world. 
Darius planned another expedition, but he died before preparations were completed. This gave the Greeks a ten-year period to prepare for the next battles. Athens built up its naval supremacy in the Aegean under the guidance of Themistocles. 
In 480 BC the Persians returned, led by King Xerxes, the son of Darius. To avoid another shipwreck off Mount Athos, Xerxes had a canal dug behind the promontory. Across the Hellespont he had the Phoenicians and Egyptians place two bridges of ships, held together by cables of flax and papyrus. A storm destroyed the bridges, but Xerxes ordered the workers to replace them. For seven days and nights his soldiers marched across the bridges. 
On the way to Athens, Xerxes found a small force of Greek soldiers holding the narrow pass of Thermopylae, which guarded the way to central Greece. The force was led by Leonidas, king of Sparta. Xerxes sent a message ordering the Greeks to deliver their arms. "Come and take them," replied Leonidas. 
For two days the Greeks' long spears held the pass. Then a Greek traitor told Xerxes of a roundabout path over the mountains. When Leonidas saw the enemy approaching from the rear, he dismissed his men except the 300 Spartans, who were bound, like himself, to conquer or die. Leonidas was one of the first to fall. Around their leader's body the gallant Spartans fought first with their swords, then with their hands, until they were slain to the last man. 
The Persians moved on to Attica and found it deserted. They set fire to Athens with flaming arrows. Xerxes' fleet held the Athenian ships bottled up between the coast of Attica and the island of Salamis. His ships outnumbered the Greek ships three to one. The Persians had expected an easy victory, but one after another their ships were sunk or crippled. 
Crowded into the narrow strait, the heavy Persian vessels moved with difficulty. The lighter Greek ships rowed out from a circular formation and rammed their prows into the clumsy enemy vessels. Two hundred Persian ships were sunk, others were captured, and the rest fled. Xerxes and his forces hastened back to Persia. 
Soon after, the rest of the Persian army was scattered at Plataea (479 BC). In the same year Xerxes' fleet was defeated at Mycale. Although a treaty was not signed until 30 years later, the threat of Persian domination was ended. 
Darius was killed in a coup led by other family members. At the time, he was preparing a new expedition against the Greeks. His son and successor, Xerxes I, attempted to fulfill his plan. 
Enthroned in Peresepolis, the magnificent city that he built, Darius I firmly grasps the royal scepter in his right hand. In the left, he is holding a lotus blossom with two buds, the symbol of royalty.
--Amizzoni 22:46, 11 November 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: The account of the Greek campaign that you so cavalierly deleted ought to have been made into a linked subpage instead.  It represents a lot of editing work and is pertinent.  You have also deleted other information (building two new capitals, establishing a postal system and an espionage network, etc.) that belongs in this article and calls for an expansion, if anything.  Since you seem to be a competent enough historian to enumerate all the man's offspring, why do you not expand on these topics, rather than deleting them for no good reason?  Freederick 18:08, 10 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Context

message: AFAIK, Darius's rise to power has been somewhat irregular and interesting.  The article, however, begins in medias res, without making any mention of these events -- a major shortcoming, IMO.  As a matter of fact, there is no chronology of Darius's reign and campaigns; the information given is a static summary of achievements, no events of Darius's reign are mentioned, and the only campaigns addressed (out of context), are the European ones. Freederick 18:08, 10 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Rise to power

message: Wouldn't it make more sense to refer to "the Dualistic religion Zoroastrianism" rather than "the Dualistic religion of Zoroaster" in the second paragraph? The latter makes it sound like Zoroaster is the name of the religion, and besides, we never refer to anyone as being a believer in "the religion of Christ". Nani 03:23, 6 February 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Well, in fact there isn't agreement if the religion of the Achaemenids can be called Zoroastrianism. --Amizzoni 03:32, 6 February 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Zoroaster vs. Zoroastrianism 

message: The articles on Xerxes and Darius each have pictures of the very sam relief from Persepolis, (note the damage) and each article attributes the portrait to its eponymous king.  Is it a relief of Xerxes?  Of Darius?  Is this question disputed?  In any case, the image from the article on Darius is of much better quality, so it should be used once we've established a reasonable caption.  75.71.66.105 21:37, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I found it!, here. It was originally placed in the eastern stairs of the Apadana, which were built by Darius, so it's agreed that the depicted king is him. A twin relief (we have it here and here too; see also this page) was originally placed in the northern stairs of the Apadana, which were built by Xerxes, so some think the depicted king is him, but it is disputed (in fact, Xerxes only finished the Apadana what his father had begun). In any case, there is no doubt about our relief: the king is Darius. Both reliefs were later removed from the Apadana and placed in the Treasury. Our relief is now in the Teheran Museum, but its twin remains in Persepolis. So I'll replace the "Xerxes" image with this one, making it clear that it is not agreed whether the king is Xerxes or Darius. Amizzoni 23:34, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: One Relief, Two Kings

message: I'm not sure how the article got so thoroughly vandalized, but I just spent a good twenty minutes removing snippets from all over the article. That vandalism persisted through numerous legitimate edits, so I'm asking everyone to please take a minute to read over the entire section you're editing before you leave the page. Some of the vandalism was almost a month old. Thanks! Spectheintro 14:02, 29 June 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I almost spent one hour just to make everything right, and to make my report about Darius. But, there are many errors that I saw in the whole article! This makes the article very "disgusting" to read, but what important is that everything about Darius is corrected. ("Maybe, Darius will be very happy to make everything right about him and everything will be corrected through the cooperation of everybody!") Bubbles16 22 15:39 15 August 2009  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bubbles16 22 (talk • contribs) 07:34, 15 August 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Vandalism Edits

message: The current title is out of line with other Persian monarchs and is redundant (there is no other Darius who is the Great except one of the ones who is also of Persia). I prefer Darius the Great, but seeing as it failed as "no consensus"... Srnec (talk) 23:44, 22 February 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: There's also Darius III Codomannus. Notice this search and how the first hit is "Darius the Great". The only other Persian king to make the first page is also "Darius the Great". All other "Darius" mentions are to companies or modern figures. Srnec (talk) 05:56, 23 February 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: By the way, did anyone notice that the move from Darius I of Persia to Darius the Great of Persia was carried through with essentially no discussion?  The mover said he wanted to move to "Darius the Great," got no response, and then moved it to Darius the Great of Persia.  There was never any consensus for the current title. john k (talk) 16:14, 27 February 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Requested move

message: —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.151.173.120 (talk) 01:05, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: No.  See this article's archive for the correct origin of "Darius" as the common English name for this king as derived from the Persian. HammerFilmFan (talk) 14:18, 12 September 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  ethymology 

message: ::Hi User Xashaiar 
Please ref to your removal of category  Category:Pre-Islamic heritage of Iran
In this edit  of yours 
 darius does not belong to that category (according to description of the category  
The reason you sited for removal does not seem valid because the very first  criteria listed  in the description of this category it clearly states 
“People from Iran or their descendants of ethnic Zoroastrian/Aryan descent” 
Please do not delete this category .
Cheers
Intothefire (talk) 03:54, 3 April 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: Darius the Great was a person, so although I think Achaemenid empire should go in that category, but "people of Achaemenid Iran" seem to me belong to subcategories. If that category should stay there I think there should be subcategories. And why the category "History of Iran" is not enough?--Xashaiar (talk) 07:59, 3 April 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: Hi User Xashaiar 
I havent been able to understand the meaning of your post please specificaly explain ....and do not delete before discussing your reasons ,<BR>
Intothefire (talk) 11:27, 3 April 2009 (UTC)

text: Would you please explain what is the point of your :Category:Pre-Islamic heritage of Iran? Because we have the category :Category:History of Iran and :Category:Achaemenid_people. Have a look at them please. Please delete your category.--Xashaiar (talk) 12:06, 3 April 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Removal of Category:Pre-Islamic heritage of Iran 

message: "HistoryofIran" has written a biased article, with sentences that are at best historically biased (Briant quite clearly cautions to accept neither version of the Gautama story, and the article presents other anti-Bardiya sentiment as has already been mentioned above) and at worst completely biased ("Darius loved Atossa the most", "he was a good king who quelled many rebellions" - things uncritically lifted from 40 year old monographs or the primary sources themselves). . Samuel D Rowe (talk) 19:34, 27 April 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  The POV of the article is not neutral.