This is the History of the World Podcast with me Chris Hasler

And you're listening to volume three, the classical world

episode two

the Aquamanid Empire, part 2. Oh, So, The The Rice's origins are hazy. It seems that he was the eldest of five children and it seems that his father held a high office,

although we're not completely sure where this was.

His father's name was Hispas, and he appears to have served in Cyrus the Great's Army.

Darius himself had served in Cambysse's the Second's army.

Darius the First's reign over the Akh eveni Persian Empire was absolutely

considerable. If it wasn't already enough to talk of the achievements of

Cyrus the Great, then there is a lot to talk about when it comes to Darius the Great.

Now I don't want to go into too much detail about Darius Rice's ascent to the throne of Akeminid Persia.

Purely because the original sources have differences in their accounts and many historians seem to tell the story

which entertains them the most. There is suggestion that Cambys' brother was

not actually his brother and some accounts state that Bardia was

killed by Cambyses and others state by Darius.

There are also claims that the new king was chosen by the man whose horse nayed first in the morning and that the rice manipulated the situation so

that his own horse would nay first. For me this has to be rubbish. Maybe we should just stick to what

we know and what seems logical.

Cambys died without an air, and Darius, the son of a noble, seized the throne either by impressing

the empire's elite enough to be chosen or by killing his rivals.

It does appear that Cambyses was returning from Egypt to deal with revolts from factions within his empire.

It seems that the revolts continued into the reign of Darius the first and that dealing with

...