The Historians' History of the World 02

Says Darius the King: There are eight of my race who have been kings before me, I am the ninth; for a very long time we have been kings.

Says Darius the King: By the grace of Ormuzd I am (I have become) king; Ormuzd has granted me the empire.

Says Darius the King: These are the countries which have fallen into my hands—by the grace of Ormuzd I have become king of them—Persia, Susiana, Babylonia, Assyria, Arabia, Egypt; those which are of the seas, Sparta and Ionia; Armenia, Cappadocia, Parthia, Zarangia, Aria, Chorasmia, Bactria, Sogdiana, the Sacæ, the Sattagydes, Arachosia, and the Mecians, the total amount being twenty-one (twenty-three?) countries.

Says Darius the King: These are the countries which have come to me; by the grace of Ormuzd they have become subject to me—they have brought tribute to me. That which has been said unto them by me, both by night and by day, it has been performed by them.

Says Darius the King: Within these countries whoever was of the true faith, him have I cherished and protected; whoever was a heretic, him have I rooted out entirely. By the grace of Ormuzd these countries, therefore, being given to me, have rejoiced. As to them it has been said by me, thus has it been done by them.

Says Darius the King: Ormuzd has granted me the empire. Ormuzd has brought help to me until I have gained this empire. By the grace of Ormuzd I hold this empire.d

XERXES I

[484-480 B.C.]

Before coming to the throne Darius had had three children by his first wife, the daughter of Gobyras, and Artabazanes, the eldest, had long been regarded as the heir presumptive, and had probably undertaken the regency during the Scythian campaign. But at the time of the rebellion of Khabbash, when Darius had to name his successor, Atossa (daughter of Cyrus) showed him the advantages of choosing her eldest child Xerxes, who had been born in the purple and had the blood of Cyrus in his veins. As the old king was quite under her influence, Atossa’s advice was followed, and Xerxes ascended the throne without any opposition. He was then thirty-five years of age, and was considered the handsomest man of his time, but he was indolent and weak of character.

He at first wished to give up the idea of the campaigns, but his father’s counsellors showed him that he could not leave the defeat at Marathon unavenged; and he was wise enough to see that he could do nothing in Europe until he had restored Egypt to order.

Khabbash had done his best to prepare a hot reception for him: he had spent two years in fortifying the coast of the Delta, and had placed strongholds at the mouth of the river to prevent any attack by sea. But all these precautions were in vain when the moment of action came, and he was easily conquered by Xerxes. The nomes of the Delta which had taken part in the rebellion were severely punished, the priests were freed, and the temple of Buto deprived of its treasures, and Khabbash disappeared in the midst of the disaster, without anybody knowing what became of him. Achæmenes, the king’s brother, was then appointed satrap, and took measures to prevent a second rising, but again nobody seemed to think of changing the political constitution of the country, and the nomes remained in the hands of the hereditary princes. Xerxes does not appear even to have suspected that in respecting the local dynasties he retained chiefs always ready to take part in future Egyptian revolts. The defeat and disappearance of Khabbash did not give Xerxes full power. Classic tradition reports that he shocked the polemical sentiment of the Chaldeans by ill-judged curiosity, for he entered the tomb of Belus, but, in spite of his efforts, did not succeed in filling the vessel therein with oil. If this strange story be not true, there is no doubt about the rebellion. Megabyzus, the son of Zopyrus, who was satrap of the province by hereditary right, treated the town with unusual severity, the temple of Belus was pillaged, the statue of the god taken away, and its priests massacred, the royal tombs were violated and sacked, and part of the population was reduced to slavery.

[480-464 B.C.]