Darius I and The Greatest Lie in History

[Music] assassination conspiracy and cover-ups what more could we want in a story about Imperial succession the first Persian Empire was one of the greatest that ever existed an expertly organized economy a relatively tolerant and lenient provincial system along with other groundbreaking advances in human civilization was combined with some of the most scandalous and bloody court politics in the history of the world much of ancient Persia as prominence and prosperity was made possible by one man perhaps the most competent ruler that Persia ever produced derailleurs the first the great welcome to our video on derailleurs the great and the story of how he rose to become the king of kings the neo-assyrian empire had dominated the ancient Near East for 300 years but its final destruction in 612 BC prompted the emergence of a multipolar geopolitical situation in the region for major powers jostled for the remnants of Assyrian glory Babylon Egypt Lydia and the median Empire which they would all soon be eclipsed by another figure from the east of the Zagros Mountains the grandson of stds king of media whose name was Cyrus razed the province of an Shan in revolt against his overlord three years later in 550 BC Cyrus managed to decisively defeat Astaire gaze and brought the Medes into his rising Persian Empire marching his conquering army west Cyrus who was soon to be called Cyrus the Great then defeated the Lydian King Croesus after capturing sadhus in 547 finally the Mesopotamian power of Babylon was crushed and the city itself was captured in 539 due to his peaceful and humane conduct during the city seizure Cyrus has been revered ever by Iranians as the inventor of human rights after spending the following period administering his new empire this king of the universe as he was now known passed away around five-30 be see how this monumental figure in world history died is variable in the sources Herodotus states that the king was killed in battle with the ancient Scythian queen thomas while Xenophon believed he died in his sleep the following is what was done by me after I became King a son of Cyrus named kanva sees one of our dynasty was King before me that canvases had a brother Bardia by name of the same mother and the same father as canvases afterwards canvases slew this body when canvases slew Bardia it was not known unto the people that Vardy was slain before his death Cyrus had taken measures to mitigate the traditional dangers of succession in monarchy in order to secure his dynasty the first King of Kings fathered three daughters and more crucially two sons his elder son canvases was appointed the Crown Prince to inherit the newly won Empire after Cyrus's death the younger son Bardia was appointed governor of Bactria the largest and most important of the eastern satrapies moreover he was granted additional privileges compared to a regular non royal satrapy being exempt from the payment of taxation or tribute to the central authority these measures were clearly taken with the intention of neutralizing any insurrectionist ambition from bardia but they could equally have intensified such an urge Cyrus's plans for the world of the future were clear to all campuses would sit on the throne while bardia would be his loyal lieutenant in the eastern satrapies to hammer the point home even further campuses was married to two of his own sisters after all as historian Tom Holland States in his book Persian fire who is worthy of Cyrus's daughters than Cyrus his son nevertheless after the great Kings corpse was interred in a sarcophagus of gold at posaga de bardia set to establishing himself in the east while the incumbent King canvasses marched on the fourth and final great regional power egypt using an attempted deception by the pharaoh amesys the second as chaos belly he had attempted to send another girl to him in place of his daughter who campus's wished to be his mistress the Persian king advanced into Egypt via a combined land and sea attack this was a stunning success and the Persians decisively defeated amesys his son salmon itís at Pelusium in 525 after subjugating the Egyptians can be seized marched south into Nubia while attempting to subdue the African kingdoms there his army was gradually destroyed by a lack of provisions and the hostile desert conditions weakened as it was this lost army of Cambyses was buried in the desert by sandstorms where it supposedly remains to this day this failure strained the Persian Kings mind to breaking point and he began to descend into paranoia and madness mattis became even worse when campus's entered Memphis to the jubileus celebrations of local people and their rulers who were performing a religious festival in honor of the god Atlas seeing the revelry the half-mad Persian King was furious believing the celebrations were actually prompted by his Army's misfortunes in the southern desert with this in mind canvasses ordered the sacred APIs bull brought to him and then stabbed it in the thigh killing the creature which was revered as a representation of APIs in the Egyptian religion to top his actions off he also executed the leaders of Memphis who had or so he thought instigated such joy at his expense there was a certain man a major gal matter by name who raised a rebellion in pyxi Avada in mountain caldera Kendra's on the 14th day of the month VX anna did he rebel he lied to the people saying i embody a-- the son of cyrus the brother of Cambyses descending ever further into paranoia and violence camba sees now ordered that his brother bardia be executed why the King had a dream in which he saw Bardia sitting on the throne and so he feared an attempt at usurpation after sending representatives to do the deed in secret the younger of Cyrus his sons was killed either on a hunting trip or by drowning in the Red Sea an almost comical series of typically insane actions followed this assassination the King wished to marry his sister against Persian tradition but then personally killed her for sympathizing with the dead body then after this Mad King subsequently had some of the most prominent Persian officials buried alive process the former king of Lydia and now an advisor to the great kings chided him for it getting angry at this backchat campus's then tried to kill Croesus with a bow and arrow but Krause has managed to escape after sending assassins to do the job for him who actually ended up protecting the August Croesus campus's changed his mind and ordered that his advisor be spared he was happy that the Act had not been carried out nevertheless he executed those men who had delayed it is at this point as the great Persian King descended further into madness in Egypt that two major brothers rebelled against the throne in Persia proper one of whom was said to look like the dead Bardia the insurrection of this look-alike majors known as girl matter began on March 11th 5:22 and Babylonian tablets began to be dated to the reign of the false King Harold's were sent from the new pretender King across the empire proclaiming a new reign and informing the provinces that tribute and levies would not be extracted for three years under badia the people who did not know of the real body as death at the hands of the insane canvases began to pledge their loyalty to the man whom they believed was Cyrus his surviving son one of gal Mathers emissaries made his way to Egypt appearing before the army commanded by canvases this man boldly told the soldiers that they must not obey embassies anymore but Bardia instead the army did not heed his command but the king learned from this Herald that it was not Bardia himself who gave the order but instead a man named patters I seize the second majors and one who had been left in charge of the royal household while campus's was in Egypt realizing he now had a revolt to quell the king hastily jumped on his horse to lead the army home however as canvases mounted his steed the scabbard slipped from a sword on his lap and the sharp blade consequently wounded him in a karmic twist he was wounded in the same place that he had stamped the APIs bull in the thigh the wound quickly became infected and rotten and canvases realized that he was going to die only now did the Mad King realize that his dream of body a seizure of the throne had been true but only of the imposter major scale matter instead realizing that he had killed his brother for no reason the king wept and urged his highborn Persian attendants to take back the Empire in an emotional scene during which he seemed to have regained some sanity after this he died having reigned for eight years during these final hours one man who had notably been at the Kings side was his Lance Bearer Darius for eight months after camber sees his untimely death Hamato ruled as a pretender King and it seemed as though he would get away with it on the eighth month however the major sister Sepp shion's were discovered a Persian aristocrat known as was of high standing and extremely wealthy a member of the Empire's ruling class his daughter Pheidon a had married canvases and was now wed to gal mater along with the majority of canvases his former wives suspecting that this king Bardia was not who he said bata knees asked his daughter to check the ears of her husband when she occupied the royal bed again this was because he knew that canvases had removed the ears of gal mater years before and this would still be the case even if he looks like bardia in other ways when attorneys received confirmation that the man's ears had indeed been cut he decided to act he could not do so alone and so he approached two other highborn Persians whom he felt comfortable trusting these were asked atthenes and gob rias realizing they would need additional help the three conspirators each recruited their most trusted acquaintance into the fellowship ah Tania's brought in taffy knees God Priya's called upon mega business and as petha knees trusted in hidden ease finally a seventh man entered the conspiracy seemingly out of the blue the aforementioned de Reyes he was trusted due to his lofty status as canvases the second Lance bearer and the fact that his father kissed aspies was a well-regarded satrapy of Persia the conspiracy of the seven was now in motion there were none who dared to act against ghoul matter the majors until I came then I prayed to a her a Mazda her master brought me help on the tenth day of the month Maggie Addis I with a few men slew that count mater the mages and the chief men who were his followers [Music] during the first meeting of the seven a debate broke out between attorneys and de Reyes regarding what path to take in the execution of their plan to remove the magi from power attorneys argued for restraint and to wait until more information emerged and until the group had more allies in contrast Darius urged immediate action arguing that only evil was come of delay and that for monetary gain somebody would probably betray them to the majors King if too many learned of their plan acquiescing tutor iose his point of view ah tonie's asks him how the group would gain entry into the fortress so that they could assail the two major darius argued that due to the sevens lofty status as the very highest aristocrats and leaders of the Persian Empire the guards would not dare to refuse them entry partly through reverence and partly through fear moreover Duryodhan formed them of a letter he had been instructed to give from his illustrious father to the king this plan persuaded the conspirators that they would succeed and they all came over to de rias's point of view with their confidence raised b7 set off for the fortress of SiC avout ish from which the majors ruled when the group approached the fortress gate to rias's plan came into effect immediately the gate guards out of respect for the chief men of Persia and lacking knowledge as to their purpose allowed the mentoring stage one of the plan was complete without a hitch upon entering the courtyard the conspirators were approached by a gathering of royal eunuchs who asks the oligarchs why they had come and chided the gate guards for allowing them in it was at that moment that the seven aristocrats drew their daggers and attacked the eunuchs quickly stabbing those men who barred their paths and progressing into the apartments where the major pretenders go matter and Patti's eye sees was at Talking inside the two men had heard the commotion with the eunuchs and armed themselves Kamata with a bow and patters I seized with his spear during the ensuing fight Yamato was immediately on the back foot due to only having a bow in close combat however his companion struck as petha knees in the thigh and stabbed in tephra knees in the eye resisting fiercely nevertheless gum at have began to flee from the fight and went to close the door on his pursuers but to rious and co prius barreled after him into the darkened chamber go Prius tackled the false bar dear to the ground and the two men began grappling together in the darkness of the room Jiraiya stood idle with blade in hand to which go prius asks why he did not strike the rious replied for fear of stabbing you his companion told to rise to strike anyway and so he did the false King was killed while Cobb rias was uninjured the conspiracy of the seven had been a stunning success I restored that which had been taken away as it was in the days of old this I did by the grace of a Haru master I'll a bit until I had established our dynasty in its place as in the days of old I labored by the grace of a Haru Mazda so that gal mater the majors did not dispossessed our house when the Persians heard what had been done inside the fortress at sick about ish and how the mage I had tricked them they followed to rias's example and slew all the mage I they could find five days after the Act had been done a council was held between the conspirators to discuss the future of the state attorneys argued for a democracy make abysus for oligarchy and darius for the continuation of monarchy when all the arguments were given four of the seven were persuaded by the rioters point of view and in the subsequent contest for who would become the Great King Darius gained victory by a trick of his own he was crowned to rise the first King of Kings and all was well in the world once again or so Darius would have us all believed since the very beginning of this tale only the words of Darius himself have been heard his version of events for almost two millennia this story was accepted without question but modern times have given us new sources and new methods you these it is possible to tell that de Reyes that Persian who supposedly hated lies above all else might just have perpetuated one of the greatest deceptions in all history consider for a moment the possibility that canvases was not insane and that he did not kill the APIs bull as newly released records show he did not in addition consider that campuses did not kill his brother and it too was a lie if bardia had not perished at the hands of his elder brother just how did he die finally consider the fate of ghoul matter the majors and entertained the idea that maybe instead of being a fake Bardia that he was in fact the real bardia it seems increasingly likely that it was bardia the rightful heir to the throne that the conspirators killed that day in sick avout ish new videos on Iranian history are on the way so make sure you are subscribed to our Channel and have pressed the bell button we would like to express our gratitude to our patreon supporters and channel members who make the creation of our videos possible now you can also support us by buying our merchandise 5e link in the description this is the kings and Generals Channel and we will catch you on the next one [Music]

Channel: Kings and Generals

Views: 1,190,301

Rating: 4.8689156 out of 5

Keywords: alexander the great, ancient history, ancient greece, macedonian empire, king of persia, persian empire, ancient greeks, kings and generals, documentary film, military history, full documentary, history lesson, animated documentary, world history, decisive battles, historia civilis, history channel, roman empire, animated historical documentary, history documentary, ancient rome, darius, xerxes, iran, persia, king of kings, intrigue

Id: KIh1v7MiyVM

Length: 18min 6sec (1086 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 04 2019

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