The Historians' History of the World 02

Gaumata therefore incited the rebellion in the town of Pasargada at the beginning of March, 522, and after a little hesitation Persia and Media and the body of the empire declared in his favour and solemnly accepted him on the 9th Garmapada (July), 522. Utterly overwhelmed at the turn of affairs, Cambyses took the head of the troops which had remained faithful to him, but he died in a mysterious way. The inscription of Behistun seems to intimate that he lost his life by his own hand in a fit of despair. Herodotus says that as he was mounting his horse his dagger entered his thigh at the same spot as he had stabbed the Apis bull.

“Feeling that his death was at hand, he asked the name of the place where he was, and he was told it was Ecbatana.” Now, some time before he had been told by the oracle of Buto that he would end his days at Ecbatana. He had always thought that Ecbatana was in Syria, so when he heard the name of the place, he recollected the words of the oracle, and said, “It is here that Cambyses, son of Cyrus, is destined to die”; and he expired twenty days later without leaving any posterity, or nominating a successor.g

FOOTNOTES

[29] [Or rather, as the latest authorities hold, of Elam.]

[30] [The exact fortunes of the expedition to Ethiopia have always been a matter of historical dispute. Dr. Prasek has recently made a most critical examination of all the ancient accounts, and concludes: “There seems to be no good reason to doubt that Cambyses reached Napata, and overthrew the old Ethiopian kingdom, which to be sure was later re-established at Meroë. But, returning through the sandy desert in the terrible heat of the summer, the Persian army had to endure the agonies of thirst, and its ranks were decimated.”—Kambyses und die Ueberlieferung des Altertums.]

[31] [See Herodotus, Book III, chap. 35.]

Ruins of Darius’ Palace, Persepolis

CHAPTER IV. THE PERSIAN DYNASTY: DARIUS I TO DARIUS III

The rebellion of Gaumata or Gometes has often been considered a sort of national movement which restored their ancient supremacy to the Medes, and robbed the Persians for a moment of the empire of Asia. But Gaumata was not a Mede; he was born in Persia in the little town of Pasargada near Mount Arakadris. At first he was only accepted by the central and eastern provinces; but on the death of Cambyses, he was acknowledged by the rest of the empire. He claimed to be Bardius (Smerdis), and that was sufficient to gain him the respect and fidelity of the Persians. Moreover, he lost no time in suppressing all those whom he suspected of being better informed, and fear shut the mouths of the rest. “So nobody, amid either Persians, or Medes, or even amid the Achæmenian race, dreamed of disputing his right.” He exempted the conquered people from three years’ taxation and military service, so as to win them over to his side; and he reigned for six months without anybody suspecting the imposture, and was quite regarded as the legitimate heir to the throne, and as the son of the great Cyrus, and the brother of Cambyses.

But the public credulity was at last shaken, for certain circumstances occurred which gave credence to the revelations made by Cambyses shortly before his death, and which had at the time been imputed to hatred of his brother. According to the usual custom, Gaumata had received the harem of his predecessor with the crown; it was known that the women were sequestered, and could not communicate, either with each other, or with the outside world, except by secret messengers, and at the peril of their lives. The report, however, spread from the harem that the pretended Bardius had had his ears cropped, and this fact showed he was not the son of Cyrus. Darius, son of Hystaspes, the satrap of Hyrcania, who claimed relationship with the royal family, joined with six of the boldest of the highest Persian families, and surprised and killed Gaumata in his palace of Sikathahnvati in Media, 521.

DARIUS I

[521-519 B.C.]

It is said that the seven agreed to elect as sovereign the one amongst them whose horse should neigh first at sunrise, and by an artifice of his groom the crown was gained by Darius. Then, after being proclaimed king, Darius purified the temples which his predecessor had defiled, and instituted the Feast of the Magophonia in memory of the murder which had made him king.