Darius II Nothus: Achaemenid king of the Persian
Empire
Relatives:
- Father: Artaxerxes I Makrocheir
- Mother: Cosmartidene, a lady from Babylon
(therefore called Nothus, 'bastard')
- Wife: his half-sister Parysatis
- Sons: Arsaces (=Artaxerxes II Mnemon), Cyrus
the Younger, Ostanes (father of Astanes and
Sisygambis, grandfather of Darius III
Codomannus, Statira, Oxyathres)
- Daughter: Amestris
Main deeds:
- Accession between 24 December 424 and 10
January 423; his real name, Ochus, is
replaced by Darius
- 420: Revolt of Pissuthnes, satrap of
Lydia
- Wars against the Cadusians
- 415: Tissaphernes suppresses the revolt
op Pissuthnes; Amorges continues the
rebellion
- 413: Outbreak of the Ionian or Decelean
War between Athens and Sparta; Tissaphernes
tries to use the two Greek city states
against each other
- 412: Treaty with Sparta (text); the
Spartans capture Amorges
- 410: Ethnic riots in Upper Egypt
- 407: Cyrus the Younger made satrap of
Lydia; he unconditionally supports Sparta
against Athens
- Death on 1, 2, or 3 April 404
Darius II, originally called Ochus and often
surnamed Nothus (from Greek νοθος, meaning
'bastard'), was emperor of Persia from 423 BC to 404
BC. Artaxerxes I, who died shortly after December
24, 424 BC, was followed by his son Xerxes II. After
a month and a half Xerxes II was murdered by his
brother Secydianus or Sogdianus (the form of the
name is uncertain). His illegitimate brother, Ochus,
satrap of Hyrcania, rebelled against Sogdianus, and
after a short fight killed him, and suppressed by
treachery the attempt of his own brother Arsites to
imitate his example. Ochus adopted the name Darius
(in the chronicles he is called Nothos, meaning "the
bastard"). Neither Xerxes II nor Secydianus occurs
in the dates of the numerous Babylonian tablets from
Nippur; here the reign of Darius II follows
immediately after that of Artaxerxes I. Of
Darius's reign historians know very little (a
rebellion of the Medes in 409 BC is mentioned by
Xenophon), except that he was quite dependent on his
wife Parysatis. In the excerpts from Ctesias some
harem intrigues are recorded, in which he played a
disreputable part. As long as the power of Athens
remained intact he did not meddle in Greek affairs;
even the support which the Athenians in 413 BC gave
to the rebel Amorges in Caria would not have roused
him, had not the Athenian power been broken in the
same year before Syracuse. He gave orders to his
satraps in Asia Minor, Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus,
to send in the overdue tribute of the Greek towns,
and to begin a war with Athens; for this purpose
they entered into an alliance with Sparta. In 408 BC
he sent his son Cyrus to Asia Minor, to carry on the
war with greater energy. In 404 BC Darius II died
after a reign of nineteen years, and was followed by
Artaxerxes II. |