Dareios (son of Artaxerxes II.)

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Darius ( old Persian Dārayavauš ; * before 400 BC; † between 365 and 360 BC) was a member of the Persian Achaemenid dynasty in the 4th century BC. He was the eldest of the three legitimately born sons and thus potential heir to the throne of the Great King Artaxerxes II and Stateira († 400 BC), daughter of Hydarnes . His full brothers were Ariaspes and Ochos (later Artaxerxes III. ).

According to Justin , Darius was raised to the rank of fellow king while the father was still alive and contrary to the customs of the Persians. Darius had asked his father for the hand of Aspasia, the former concubine of his uncle Cyrus and now his father's concubine. Artaxerxes II initially followed his son's request and gave him Aspasia to wife. But presumably under the influence of Atossa , daughter-wife of Artaxerxes and sister of Darius, the father had kidnapped Aspasia shortly afterwards and appointed Artemis priestess in Ekbatana . Dareios took this as an opportunity to ally himself with the noble Tiribazos , who had also been betrayed by the great king of the hand of a princess, Amastris . Furthermore, fifty of his brothers are said to have joined him. Tiribazos encouraged Darius to carry out an attack against his father, especially since his younger brother Ochos had grown in his favor. The plot against the father was betrayed by a eunuch, whereupon Dareios was sentenced to death and beheaded. In an alternative tradition, he was personally killed with a sword by his father.

The truth of the fateful love of Prince Dareios for Aspasia seems very untrustworthy, since she was the former lover of Cyrus the Younger († 401 BC) in the middle of the 4th century BC. Must have already stood in an old age. Presumably he simply had to die in order to enable Ochos, who is in the favor of his father, to succeed to the throne.

literature

  • Carsten Binder: Plutarch's Vita des Artaxerxes: A historical commentary. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2008.

Remarks

  1. Plutarch , Artoxerxes , 26.
  2. Justin 10, 1, 1.
  3. According to Justin (10, 2) Artaxerxes II is supposed to have married Aspasia.
  4. Plutarch, Artoxerxes , 27.
  5. Plutarch, Artoxerxes , 28.
  6. Plutarch, Artoxerxes , 28.
  7. See Carsten Binder: Plutarchs Vita des Artaxerxes: A historical commentary. Berlin 2008, p. 340.