The forgotten king who survived a poisoner only to fall to his own people
In short: Before Alexander the Great dismantled the Achaemenid Empire, Darius III faced a more intimate threat. After forcing his would-be assassin to drink lethal poison, the Persian King of Kings found himself hunted not by Macedonians, but by his own trusted satraps in a desperate bid for power.
Darius III, the thirteenth Achaemenid King of Kings, ascended the throne in 336 BC following a period of intense court intrigue. His predecessor, Artaxerxes IV Arses, had been poisoned by the eunuch Bagoas, who then installed his own puppet, Arses, on the throne. Darius, a distant relative of the dynasty, eventually rose to power after the assassination of Arses. His reign was marked by a legendary act of retribution: upon discovering Bagoable's plot to poison him, Darius forced the eunuch to drink the very toxin intended for the king.
The empire's collapse was accelerated by the invasion of Alexander the Great in 334 BC. While Greek sources often portray Darius as a coward fleeing battles like Issus and Gaugamela, modern historians suggest his retreats were calculated tactical decisions to preserve the empire's resistance. At the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC, despite having favorable terrain for his scythed chariots and a massive army, the Persian lines broke, and Darius fled toward Ecbatana.
The end came not from a Macedonian blade, but from internal betrayal. In the mountains of Bactria, the satrap Bessus led a coup, binding Darius and transporting him in an ox-cart. The conspirators eventually abandoned the king to Alexander's advancing forces. Though Alexander provided Darius with a magnificent royal funeral at Persepolis, historians view this as a political masterstroke to legitimize his own rule and present himself as the rightful successor to the Achaemenid crown.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Darius III
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