Darius II

Darius II (Old Persian: 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁 Dārayavaʰuš; Greek: Δαρεῖος Dareios), also known by his given name Ochus (Ὦχος Ochos), was King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire from 423 BC to 405 or 404 BC.

Table Of Contents

Reign
Conflict with Athens
Issue

Reign

Artaxerxes I, who died in 424 BC, was followed by his son Xerxes II. After a month and a half, Xerxes II was murdered by his brother Sogdianus. 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 brother Arsites to imitate his example. Ochus adopted the name Darius (Greek sources often call him Darius Nothos, “Bastard”). Neither the names Xerxes II nor Sogdianus occur in the dates of the numerous Babylonian tablets from Nippur; here, the reign of Darius II follows immediately after that of Artaxerxes I.

Historians know little about Darius II’s reign. Xenophon mentions a rebellion by the Medes in 409 BC. It seems that Darius II depended entirely on his wife, Parysatis. In excerpts from Ctesias, some harem intrigues are recorded, in which he played a disreputable part. The Elephantine papyri mention Darius II as a contemporary of the high priest Johanan of Ezra 10:6.

Conflict with Athens

As long as the power of Athens remained intact, he did not meddle in Greek affairs. When in 413 BC, Athens supported the rebel Amorges in Caria, Darius II would not have responded had not the Athenian power been broken in the same year at Syracuse. As a result of that event, Darius II 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. The Persian satraps allied with Sparta to support the war with Athens. In 408 BC, he sent his son Cyrus to Asia Minor to carry on the war with more incredible energy.

Darius II may have expelled various Greek dynasts who had been ruling cities in Ionia: Pausanias wrote that the sons of Themistocles, which include Archeptolis, Governor of Magnesia, “appear to have returned to Athens”, and that they dedicated a painting of Themistocles in the Parthenon and erected a bronze statue to Artemis Leucophryene, the goddess of Magnesia, on the Acropolis. They may have returned from Asia Minor in old age, after 412 BC, when the Achaemenids took control of the Greek cities of Asia again. They may have been expelled by the Achaemenid satrap Tissaphernes sometime between 412 and 399 BC. In effect, from 414 BC, Darius II had started to resent increasing Athenian power in the Aegean and had Tissaphernes enter into an alliance with Sparta against Athens, which in 412 BC led to the Persian conquest of the more significant part of Ionia.

Darius is said to have received the visit of Greek athlete and Olympic champion Polydamas of Skotoussa, who demonstrated his strength by killing three Immortals in front of the Persian ruler. A sculpture representing the scene is visible in the Museum of the History of the Olympic Games of antiquity.

Darius II died in 404 BC, in the nineteenth year of his reign, and was followed as Persian king by Artaxerxes II.

Issue

Before his accession, Darius II was married to the daughter of Gobryas. With the daughter of Gobryas, Darius II had four sons, one of whom fathered Artabazanes, who served as King of Media Atropatene in the second half of the 3rd century BC.

By Parysatis