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The ‘One Year’ of Darius Re-Examined

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2009

A. Shapur Shahbazi
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Extract

The chronology of Darius' Behistun inscription (= DB) has been the subject of detailed examination especially since 1938 when A. Poebel established the order of the Old Persian months. One problem which has received particular attention is the apparent lack of agreement between the statement of Darius that he gained 19 victories in one year after he became king, and the fact that the time between the first and the last dated events mentioned by him exceeds one year. Furthermore, the recorded battles number 18 instead of 19. The purpose of this note is to study Darius' claim once more, to investigate the previous attempts at tackling the question, and to offer a new explanation for the discrepancies just noted. We start with the order in which the victories of Darius are recorded, for which the following list may be drawn up:

1. Pseudo-Smerdis put to death by Darius in VII, 10 (DB, I, 56).

2. Assina, king of Elam, captured and slain, date not given (DB, I, 81–3).

3. Nidintu-Bel defeated on the Tigris in IX, 26 (DB, I, 88–9).

4. Nidintu-Bel's second defeat in X, 2 (DB, I, 96).

5. Martiya rebelled in Elam, but the Elamites seized and slew him while Darius was in Babylonia (DB, II, 8–13).

6. Fravartiš's army suffered defeat in X, 27 (DB. II, 26).

7. First victory of Dādaršiš over the Armenians in II, 8 (DB, II, 36).

8. Second victory of Dādaršiš over the Armenians in II, 18 (DB, II, 41).

9. Third victory of Dādaršiš over the Armenians in III, 9 (DB, II, 47).

10. Vahumissa overcame the Armenians in X, 15 (DB, II, 56).

11. Second defeat of the Armenians by Vahumissa in II, 30 (DB, II, 61–2).

12. Darius won a decisive victory over Fravartis in I, 25 (DB, II, 69).

13. The Sagartian Čissantaxma captured and slain, date not recorded (DB, II, 78–91).

14. Hystaspes won a victory over the Parthians in XII, 18 (DB, II, 98).

15. Hystaspes routed the Parthians in Patigrabana in IV. 1 (DB, III, 8).

16. Dādaršiš, satrap of Bactria, quelled the revolt of the Margian Frada in IX, 23 (DB, III, 18).

17. Vahyazdata's first defeat in II, 12 (DB, III, 39).

18. Vahyazdata's second defeat in IV, 5 (DB, III, 46–7).

19. Vivana's first victory over the army of Vahyazdata in Arachosia in X, 13 (DB, III, 63).

20. Vivana routed the supporters of Vahyazdata in XII, 7 (DB, III, 68).

21. Araxa rebelled in Babylonia, but was captured and slain in VIII, 22 (DB, III, 88).

Type
Notes and Communications
Information
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 35 , Issue 3 , October 1972 , pp. 609 - 614
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1972

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References

1 Kent, R. G., Old Persian, second ed., New Haven, 1953, 116 ff.Google Scholar

2 Poebel, A., ‘The names and the order of the Old Persian and Elamite months during the Achaemenian period’, AJSL, LV, 2, 1938, 130–1Google Scholar.

3 θätiy Ddrayavauš xšāyaθiya ima tya adam akunavam vaind Ahuramazdāha hamahāyā θarda psāva yaθā xšāyaθiya abavam 19 hamaranā akunavam vašnā Ahnramazdāha adamāiā ajanam ūtā 9 xšdyaθiyā agarbāyum, DB, IV, 2–7; cf. 40–1, 45, 52, 59–60.

4 The problem has already been briefly discussed in my Jahāndārī Dārīyūsh-i buzurg, Shirāz, 1971, 38–40.

5 Poebel, A., ‘Chronology of Darius' first year of reign‘, AJSL, LV, 2, 1938, 142–65Google Scholar: LV, 3. 1938, 285–314.

6 Poebel, ibid., 298 ff.

7 The accession year of Darius (= eighth year of Cambyses) which began with 1 Nisanu corresponding to 27 March 522 B.C., had an intercalated twelfth month; see Parker, R. A. and Dubberstein, W. H., Babylonian chronology 626 B.C.-A.D. 75, Providence, R.I., 1956, 7, 30Google Scholar. This additional month, however, was reckoned as part of the twelfth month of the year in question; it therefore does not affect the calculation stated in the text.

8 Olmstead, A. T., The history of the Persian Empire, Chicago, 1948, 110–16Google Scholar.

9 Kent, , Old Persian, 160–3Google Scholar.

10 Hinz, W., ‘Zur Behistun-Inschrift des Dareios’, ZDMG, xevi, 2, 1942, 326–9Google Scholar.

11 ibid., 329 f.

12 Hallock, R. T., The “one year” of Darius I', JNE8, xix, 1, 1960, 36–9Google Scholar.

13 ibid., 37–8.

14 ibid., 38–9.

15 ibid., 39; cf. Frye, R. N., The heritage of Persia, London, 1962, 91Google Scholar.

16 Gaumata is represented as a prostrate figure under the left foot of Darius and not as a captured man bound together with the other captives by means of a rope.

17 Rawlinson, G., tr. of Herodotus, Historiae, London, 1858, iv, 167Google Scholar.

18 These were Masistes, a full brother of Xerxes I (Herodotus, ix, 113), Hystaspes, son of Xerxes I (Diodorus Siculus, xi, 62, 2), and Bessus a ‘relative of Darius III’ (Arrian, , Anabasis, III, 30, 4Google Scholar; cf. 21, 1–6). The assertion of Ctesias that Cyrus appointed Bardiya satrap of Bactria is not substantiated; see Maspero, G., The passing of the empires, London, 1900, 655Google Scholar. In Xerxes' invasion of Greece, one of his brothers, Hystaspes, commanded the Bactrian contingents (Herodotus, VII, 64). He too may have been satrap of Bactria. We may even be justified in referring to the statements of Plutarch (Morali, 173 B, 488 D–F) that Ariamenes, a brother of Xerxes, raised a Bactrian force to contest the succession, as evidence that he also was governor of Bactria before 486 B.C.

19 Parker, and Dubberstein, , Babylonian chronology, 15Google Scholar.

20 See above, p. 609, n. 3, and cf. imaiy 9 xšāyaθiyā adam agarbāyam antar imā hamaranā, DB, IV, 31–2.

21 cf. Poebel, in AJSL, LV, 3, 1938, 303 ff.Google Scholar