Darius I, called The Great (558?-486 bc), king of Persia (522-486 bc), son of the Persian noble Hystaspes, and a member of a royal Persian family, the Achaemenids. In 522 bc, on the death of King Cambyses II, a group of Magian priests tried to give the throne to one of their number, the usurper Gaumata; he pretended to be Smerdis (died about 523 bc), the murdered brother of Cambyses II.
Darius, a member of the Achemenides family, raised to the throne of the kingdom of Persia by taking part, in 522, in a plot to assassinate Smerdis, who had assumed the kingship that same year at the death of his brother Cambyses on his way back from Egypt. Both Cambyses and Smerdis were sons of Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Persian Empire.

The first two years of his reign were occupied with suppressing rebellions, the most important of which occurred in Babylonia. Thereafter he devoted himself to reforming the internal organization of Persia and making its outer borders secure. He reorganized the vast empire into 20 satrapies, built highways, organized a postal system, reformed the currency, encouraged commerce, and won the goodwill of large portions of the heterogeneous population. Because he respected their religions, he was honored by the Jews, whom he permitted to complete the rebuilding of the Temple at Jerusalem in 516; by the Egyptians, whose high priest he consulted; and by the Greeks of Asia Minor, whose oracles supported him during the revolt of the Greek cities.
In protecting the borders of the empire, Darius conquered new territories along the Indus River in the east and in the Caucasus Mountains in the northeast, but his expedition in 516 against the tribes of the Danube River failed. In 499 a revolt broke out among the Ionian Greek cities of Asia Minor, partly encouraged by some of the Greek cities on the mainland. The revolt was suppressed by 494, and Darius prepared to punish the mainland Greeks for their intervention. In 492 an army under Mardonius, the son-in-law of Darius, crossed the Bosporus into Thrace but was unable to reach Greece because the supply ships were wrecked off Mount Athos. Two years later, a strong Persian force under the joint command of Artaphernes (flourished 5th century bc), a nephew of Darius, and the Mede commander Datis (flourished 5th century bc) invaded Greece from the north but was defeated at Marathon. A third expedition was being prepared when Darius died. He left a detailed account of his reign, inscribed in three languages on a towering rock. This Behistun Inscription, the first English transcription of which was complete in 1849, confirms many details of the life of Darius.

Darius the Great is seated on his throne in his reception chamber while an audience of delegates from provinces around his mighty empire approaches him to bring him tribute. This particular dignitary is raising one hand to his mouth as a token of respect and honor and with the other hand he holds his staff of office showing that he was a commander and prime minister of the Medes, as seen by his round cap and uniform. Behind him are two Persian attendants holding a spear and a container of incense. Notice Darius the Great is holding his scepter of authority in his right hand and a budding flower in his left. Behind Darius stands the crown-prince Xerxes. This relief of king Darius I Seated is an important discovery in Biblical Archaeology and confirms what the Bible says regarding Darius and the Persian Empire.