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Historical person

Darius I

c. 550–486 BCE

Darius I was the Achaemenid king who consolidated and greatly organised the Persian Empire. He suppressed rebellions, developed imperial administration and communications, campaigned in Scythia and launched the expedition that ended in Persian defeat at Marathon.

Darius I also held the offices or ranks of King of Kings, Great King, Pharaoh, and King of the Lands. Darius I belonged to the Achaemenid dynasty and operated within Achaemenid Empire.

Gore Vidal’s Creation follows Cyrus Spitama, a Persian diplomat and the fictional grandson of Zoroaster, as he travels across the major civilizations of the 6th–5th centuries BCE. Serving under Darius I, he is sent on diplomatic missions that take him through India, where he meets Buddha and Mahavira, and then to China, where he encounters Confucius and Lao Tzu. In Christian Cameron’s Marathon, after slavery and exile, Arimnestos returns to a Greece threatened by the expedition sent by Darius I to punish Athens and its allies. Further fictional perspectives on Darius I can be found in Georg Ebers’ An Egyptian Princess, Christian Cameron’s Killer of Men, and Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound and Other Plays. For broader historical treatment of Darius I, see Herodotus’ The Histories.

Periods

Periods linked to Darius I

Greco-Persian Wars499–449 BCE

Series

Historical novels and book series featuring Darius I (3 series)

Penguin Classics: Ancient World in Order

by various authors 32 books 4.6(13,212)

Penguin Classics: Ancient World brings together foundational works of literature, history, philosophy, drama and poetry from the earliest civilisations through classical Greece and Rome. The wider Penguin Classics series began in 1946 with E. V. Rieu’s translation of Homer’s Odyssey, reflecting its original aim of making important texts…

All books in this series

The Long War in Order

by Christian Cameron 7 books 4.6(9,721)

The Long War follows Arimnestos of Plataea from the Ionian Revolt and slavery to the battles that decide the Persian invasions of Greece. Farmer, bronzesmith, hoplite, sailor and captain, he moves through Marathon, Salamis and Plataea while Greek cities struggle to cooperate against the Achaemenid Empire. The sequence…

All books in this series

Standalone books

Standalone books featuring Darius I (1 book)

Non Fiction

Non Fiction featuring Darius I (1 book)

Biographies, histories and other non-fiction are listed separately from the historical novels above.