DARIO. – Name of three Persian kings belonging to a cadet branch of the Achaemenids (v.).
D. I. — King of Persia from 522 to 485 B.C., after Cyrus
and Cambyses, son of Hystaspes. He consolidated the Empire through internal reforms, the most important of which was the division
of the entire domain, especially for fiscal purposes, into
20 districts, autonomous in civil and military matters
(“satrapies”). To secure the frontiers through new
conquests, especially in the West, he undertook the expedition against the Scythians (516–515), which was practically fruitless
because of the enemy’s elusiveness; he then carried out
various actions to suppress revolts in Ionia (499 and
494) and the first Greco-Persian War (492–90),
which ended in the disaster of Marathon.
In the second year of his reign, the Jews who had returned to their homeland, moved by the exhortations of the prophets Haggai and
Zechariah, undertook the rebuilding of the Temple of
Jerusalem: the difficulties that arose against the undertaking, owing
to the hostility of the Samaritans, were overcome
following the discovery of Cyrus’s decree, which
allowed the Jews to rebuild their Temple
(Esd. 6, 3 sgg.). D. too expressed his support for the continuation of the work and indeed had
a contribution sent, both for the construction then under way
and for worship (Esd. 6, 8-10).
D. II NOTUS (424-405 B.C.). — Illegitimate son
(Nóbos) of Artaxerxes I (465-424), whom he succeeded on the throne
of Persia, after his brothers Xerxes II (424: 1 month) and Sogdianus (6 months). A weak man, he left the affairs
of the kingdom in the hands of his extremely ambitious and intriguing wife Parisatis,
who worked especially to bring her younger son Cyrus
to the throne.
The most important of the papyri of the Jewish garrison, Elephantine (v.) on behalf of Persia, are dated to the years of the reign of D. II, as is approximately half of the
cuneiform tablets documenting the activity of the
great Jewish commercial house “sons of Muralsi,”
based in Nippur.
D. III CODOMANNUS (335-330). — The last king of Persia,
placed on its throne by the powerful eunuch Bagoas.
He does not appear to have been lacking in ability; but the changed historical circumstances rendered ineffective his attempts to defend the
old empire against the aggression of Alexander the Macedonian, which in a rapid series of defeats was
subjugated. D. III was killed by his satrap Bessus, while the invading army was spreading through the heart of Persia.
In the Bible he is mentioned precisely as the last “king of the
Persians and Medes” (I Mach. 1,1).