Seven Against Mage: Darius and His Co-Conspirators

Abstract

In this article, we will focus on the turbulent year 522 BC, when Darius the Great became the King of the Achaemenid Empire. His ascension to the throne was not a simple hereditary matter, as he had to depose the impostor King, false Bardiya, and face many rebellions across the Empire. Darius eventually prevailed, but he was not alone in the rebellion, as he received help from six other Persian noblemen. We will study three sources that describe these events: the Behistun inscription by Darius, Herodotus’ Histories, and Ctesias’ Persica. The core of the story does not change much, but each one of the sources brings new details to the narrative. Our main goal will be to compare the lists of the nobles who helped Darius and how their roles (or even the conspirators themselves) changed throughout the sources.