In 522 BCE, the Persian Empire stretched from Libya to India — the biggest the world had ever seen. Its king, Bardiya, son of Cyrus the Great, had just waived taxes across the empire. People loved him. Then one night, seven noblemen broke into his fortress. In the dark, one wrestled the king while Darius held back, afraid of stabbing his own ally. The man pinning him screamed: "Strike, even if you hit us both!" Darius drove his blade home. They cut off the king's head and showed it to the crowd.
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Crowns & Conquests·1/6·1′
The place
Persepolis
The King Who Conquered the Lie
The man who made Truth his empire's supreme principle may have built that empire on history's most successful lie
522–518 BCE (Darius's rise); 1835–1847 (decipherment of Behistun)Persepolis
Moral of the Story
“The man who made 'Truth' the supreme principle of his empire may have built that empire on history's most successful lie — and the civilization he founded on that paradox endured for two centuries, built roads that connected continents, paid its workers fairly, and produced art of transcendent beauty. Sometimes the greatest truths are born from the most audacious fictions.”
Characters
D
Darius I (the Great)G
Gaumata / Bardiya (the disputed king)O
Otanes, Gobryas, and the six co-conspiratorsA
Atossa (daughter of Cyrus the Great)H
Henry Rawlinson (decipherer)Source
The Behistun Inscription (DB), Old Persian text translated in Kent, R.G., Old Persian: Grammar, Texts, Lexicon (1953); Herodotus, Histories III.61-88; Briant, Pierre, From Cyrus to Alexander (2002); Waters, Matt, Ancient Persia: A Concise History (2014); Hallock, R.T., Persepolis Fortification Tablets (1969)