Darius I and The Greatest Lie in History
Вставка
- Опубліковано 22 тра 2024
- In our new animated historical documentary we will talk about the king of the Achaemenid Empire Darius I and his ascension to the throne. Assassination, intrigue and cover-ups, what more could we want in a story about Imperial succession? The First Persian Empire was one of the greatest and most labyrinthine empires that ever existed. An expertly organised economy, a relatively tolerant and lenient provincial system, along with other groundbreaking advances in human civilisation was combined with some of the most scandalous and bloody court politics in the history of the world. Much of ancient Persia’s prominence and prosperity was made possible by one man, perhaps the most competent ruler Persia ever produced - Darius I, or ‘the Great’. How this figure came to power is not a well known story, but it is one of the most obscure and colourful tales we can gather from the ancient sources. Welcome to our video on Darius the Great and how he rose to become the King of Kings.
You can listen to our new podcast here: kingsandgenerals.libsyn.com/4-...
Support us on Patreon: / kingsandgenerals or Paypal: paypal.me/kingsandgenerals
We are grateful to our patrons and sponsors, who made this video possible: drive.google.com/open?id=1Jlq...
The video was made by our friend Cogito bit.ly/2CFCouA while the script was researched and written by Matt Hollis
This video was narrated by Officially Devin ( / @offydgg & / @gameworldnarratives )
✔ Merch store ► teespring.com/stores/kingsand...
✔ Patreon ► / kingsandgenerals
✔ Podcast ► kingsandgenerals.libsyn.com/ iTunes: apple.co/2QTuMNG
✔ PayPal ► paypal.me/kingsandgenerals
✔ Twitter ► / kingsgenerals
✔ Facebook ► / kingsgenerals
✔ Instagram ► / kings_generals
Production Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound: www.epidemicsound.com
#Documentary #Darius #Achaemenids
Hey gals and guys, we have a job opening!
- If you are an animator/illustrator and know Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator/After Effect/Premiere better than your neighborhood
- Know and love history
- Want to be a part of a young and dynamic team and show your content to the millions
- Want to earn some money, simultaneously increasing your online presence and exposure, while adding to your portfolio
Send us a letter at info@kingsandgenerals.net along with examples of your art!
I have a good feeling about this video :-)
do a video about the battle of 3 kings in morocco & undo the berber name in north africa they are called amazighs
Please do the battle of Plassey!
I would sign up for the job if my arms were longer and if I had opposable thumbs.
👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 عربي مر من هنا
Here's a very curious bonus fact: Darius mounted a giant monument for himself which is known as The Behistun Inscription. I think the texts appearing in the video are from that monument. In it, he boasts how he's the legitimate king and how he has vanquished his enemies. The importance of that text cannot be overstated, because it was written in ancient Sumerian cuneiform script, but in three languages: Old Persian, Elamite, and Akkadian. Since Old Persian, having descendants, was very well understood, that allowed historians and linguists to gain a deeper knowledge of Akkadian or Elamite. Without those, so much of the information would be lost. The knowledge of Akkadian, a lost Semitic language, in its stead was very useful for gaining the understanding of Sumerian language with Sumer-Akkadian bilingual texts being found. Even a dictionary of those two languages. Without those, The Epic of Gilgamesh, for example, would be perfectly incomprehensible for us. By writing a giant boast-piece, Darius accidentally gave us so much information about antique languages, history and literature.
Similar to the Rosetta Stone, which is a royal proclamation for Pharaoh Ptolemy V in three language, include Greek, which is what Ptolemy would know.
Lol
You are welcome
Hermann Schloffer von Graz that’s hardly indicative of intelligence the Akkadian language was included within the writing simply because Akkadian was a influential language in the Persian empire. It wasn’t an attempt to preserve the Akkadian language just like Ptolemy V Rosetta Stone wasn’t an attempt to preserve the ancient Egyptian language.
@@saeedvazirian it requires the same amount of inteligence as to write any of these comments on English, Spanish and Chinese, for them are pretty much the most influential languages in our time, as those other 3 were the most influential back there for him
Ahhh Varys clones makes his character make so much sense! He wasn’t teleporting or fast traveling, it was his clones dudes!
lmao that meme of varys coughing was used to make the stabbed eunuch picture
It took me a sec to realize why I subconsciously understood that those characters were eunuchs, and then I was like hey! Lol it's amazing how things become iconic in ways we dont notice.
Shawn Moses I thought I was the only one who noticed 😂😂
@@Phelan666 how many do you know?!!!
@@Phelan666 wow, you got some weird eunuch fantasies dude, why are you thinking about this?
I love how Cambyses' eyes go full derp to indicate his mental state.
+++ lmao
@@jakesmith1066 I love how your comment does not add any further knowledge, appreciation, nor critical assessement of this matter. Plse do not post again.
@@hopelessmmd ..OK :D
@@hopelessmmd shut the fuck up.
@@hopelessmmd this comment should be the definition of hypocrisy
*Bardiya was not the impostor*
*(1 impostor remains)*
💀💀💀
“Who is worthy of Cyrus’ daughters than Cyrus’ son?”
“He wanted to marry his sister against Persian tradition”
What?
@@samdumaquis2033 step sister ok
Real sister no bueno
It's Herodotus, who is known to exaggerate.
I believe Cyrus had 2 wifes, therefore it would have been his half sister they were talking about.
That is very common in ancient time. Ever watch GOT?
@@yourmajesty1361 wait, what? I never heard about that before.
Lord of the Persias: The Fellowship of the Crown
Great !!!!
Ahahah ah what a spin off it would be😂😂
Darius: Great, where are we going?
@@ObligedUniformInsert Merry's confused face.
Hydarnes: You have my bow!
Megabyzuz: And my spear!
Intaphrenes: AND MY AXE!!
What an amazing HBO series this story would make!!! They could make millions...
Daniel DeVicente It'll make some great historical drama, especially since it's not clear who's lying.
Agreed! Although HBO did change Rome's timeline and mess with some of the characters the show itself was pretty good. I'd love to see a similar take on this storyline. War, politics, cults, sex...history has it all
For many years, Americans boycott Iranian history and culture, for a reason we all already know.
@Itachi Uchiha I agree with you 100 percent
@Aryan Empires GoT is based on every bit of history, no matter its origin just to fit in their so called scenario... A big soup with everything in it, thus tasting awfully.
The narrator's pronunciation is a work of art. Powerful and commanding. A beauty.
The music at the beginning just gave me PTSD flashbacks to Cyrus destroying me in Civ 6...
Liberated you*
Abin Jaimon LMAO
What difficulty did you play?Its very easy scenario since Alexndara army is so much better
He wasn’t destroying you he freed your people 😂 that’s exactly what I do in civ when I nuke the whole world
In my mother's hometown (Hamedan) in Iran, there are two cuneiform inscriptions from Darius and his son Xerxes. The site is called Ganjnameh. It says
"A great God is Ahuramazda, who created this earth, who created yonder heaven, who created men, who created happiness for man, who made Darius king. One king for many, one lord for all.
I am Darius, the great king, king of kings, king of countries containing all kinds of men, king in this great earth far and wide, son of Hystaspes, an Achaemenid."
It still sends shivers down my spine every time I read it. You can feel the greatness when you are standing in front of the inscription, a truly humbling experience.
Xerxes are there still a lot of relic sites of the Achaemenid empire surviving today in Iran? I thought most of them were gone. Iraq certainly has very little traces of antiquity. Whatever they did have saddam didn’t care much.
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away."
@@bronzedisease yes almost in all provinces and most towns you can find Achaemenid , Sassanid archeological remains .( tho Pasargad and Persepolis are most famous )
There are Achaemenid castles and remains found in Egypt , Russia,Armenia, Anatolia and many parts in the world .
Ben McKean these inscriptions were written in Cuneiform which the muslims couldn’t decipher
That's Behistun inscription. Behistun inscription starts with what you mentioned. After that, Darius starts stating how he became king.
Some parts of Behistun inscription is mentioned in the video.
Me halfway thru this video: Wow you can't make this stuff up
Darius I: We'll see about that
Bitch he my King
Know facts u better read
@@esthermanning3361 He's your king? I got some bad news for you, he's sort of retired
@@ophidahlia1464 better watch ur mouth im sure the country that ur living at has no history
Man, people really in these comments getting offended about a guy that's been dead for 2,500 years
In my opinion, one cannot doubt Darius the Great because he really spoke fairly and truthfully in his inscription and it cannot be a lie.
_Hits blunt_
Yo, you're like... So right, mannnnnn...
Thanks K&G! As an Iranian and a history enthusiast, this was just excellent! The story of "Fake Bardiya" is very famous. We even have it in our school books. But even I didn't know this much about that story. Maybe it is really made up by Darius!
P.S.: The background music in the first 3 minutes of the video is so Persian that I wanna make saffron ice cream with pistachios right now.
Glad you enjoyed it! :-)
Does the safran add any flavour to ice cream?
This video is very weak actually.
First of all, the whole "mad Cambyses who got stabbed in the thigh" narrative was made up either by Herodotus to promote his usual propaganda or by his biased informants, namely Egyptians who hated Cambyses for conquering Egypt and Persians who favored Bardiya over his brother. This is further proven by the fact that the Apis Bull was not actually slain by the Great King; it was just fairy tale.
Second, the claims that Cambyses "went mad" are actually from Greek sources rather than the inscription of Darius the Great, which means that the Apis Bull being alive is irrelevant to Darius and his narrative.
Third, Bardiya was more popular than Cambyses among the Persians, which was the main reason why he got assassinated by his brother, and it was also why many impostors appeared claiming his identity and why many revolts sprung up after Darius killed the fake Bardiya. People these days who claim Darius was a "liar" often dismiss the impostor's deception as being unrealistic, but there's actually nothing unusual or unrealistic about it in history. For example, the death of Artaxerxes II was kept a secret for a year, and after the death of Emperor Nero a lot of impostors appeared in the Roman Empire claiming to be the dead Emperor due to his popularity. So Cambyses murdering his brother and keeping it a secret is not something extraordinary.
Fourth, the claims by Herodotus that other Magi were slain by Darius and his group is quite absurd, since the Persians were Zoroastrians and they would never impose collective punishment on their own priests just because of a single impostor priest.
Overall, this revisionist theory of Darius the Great being a conspirator is quite senseless and is nothing but anti-Persian character assassination dressed up as scholarship.
@@ashk244
watching the video and reading the theories, what most agree is:
- Cambyses died due to not natural causes
- in the following power struggle the (or a) loser side was led by someone who claimed to be Bardiya, and who was supported by some magis
- the eventually winning side of the power struggle was led by Darius
and everything else is debated. it is even possible that Cambyses was assassinated by his brother who was popular due to the support of the magis, and what Darius did was the revenge of the Cambyses-party. but this is just another theory to the others.
but in any case, I don't see how it is propaganda to debate what the people living two and a half thousand years ago did. them being good or bad is more about lessons of the human nature, not about specific nations, and even less about contemporary politics.
Cambyses is gay
“Hey man do you know whatever happened to Bardiya?”
“Who?”
“Bardiya, the King’s brother, the number 2 man in the empire? It seems he just vanished into thin air!”
“Never heard of him”
"he was just a covefee boy"
@@tl8211 But this wasn't a palace dynasty rather a warrior dynasty who kept commanding armies on the ground including even ''mad'' Cambyses so i have no idea how the heck Persian army couldn't realize the difference between real and fake Bardiya? Perhaps they realized it but fake Bardiya bought them?? But if he really bought Persian army how 7 men entered the castle and assassinated him very publicly??? I guess Darius was lying indeed due it makes a lot more sense that Darius somehow convinced or bought Persian army who let them enter the castle and stayed idle while Darius was killing real Bardiya then after the king was killed the army slaughtered the Magi as planned..
@@ggoddkkiller1342 there was a crisis of leadership and the Order of the Magi took power of the throne. The Magi/brother Bardiya/Gaumata became Siddhartha Gautama aka the Buddha.
@@dosran5786 You are the moron here as the video itself is saying they led the armies themselves while you are somehow claiming otherwise, LMAO!!
@@mpgallogly So you are saying Persian military never really liked them and that's why they let Darius to kill him regardless if he was fake or real Bardiya?
I thought this was incredible but the ending left me speechless... So clever of Darius! Such an interesting history, a shame we only learn the western side, in school. I hope one day we can learn history from all sides, so we get to know of these incredible happenings
Did you just call a liar clever?
@@hawkenfox Yes because he is
@@hawkenfoxshut up please, this is only one video, I'm an Iranian nationalist history student, he was not a liar
@@aminwkc9323according to him, and who else? We all know the original story or at least many fans of history do, why blindly accept it when others sources contradict it?
If it sounds convenient, contrived and far fetched - it just might be. Doesn’t make him any less of a great king.
That is literally one of the greatest stories in history and I just learned of it. Thanks so much
The history of Persia is far more interesting and Game of Thrones like than I thought
Game of thrones was influenced by real life struggles for thrones. Reality is much worse than what depicted in the show.
Yes
History is usually way messier and way more batshit than the tidy stories we write - even GoT.
Wow, this is way better than Game of Thrones Season 8.
Almost everything is
@@longclaw22-72 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Derek It’s not hard to be better than season 8.
It's hard for almost any movie not to surpass GoT S8 in quality
Its better than Game of thrones as a whole
The crazy thing is for years I always wondered where the pronunciation of my name came from! My dad sent this to me and I was shocked because i thought my name was never heard of or rare 😂😂😂 amazing history behind this historic story.
I am Persian, Your correct spelling name is Dariush, sh not s
Darius (pronounced as Dariush (داریوش) in Persian) is a common Persian name in Iran. Cyrus too( Kourosh in Persian)
Darius was the first empire of the world so be proud of your name
Hahah good brother
@@beny1366 Sargon of Babylon was the first known emperor.
Greetings to all Iranian People from Greece 🇬🇷✌️
@King Waffi what about the sin curse?
The Greek people are the best and kindest people I have ever seen in Europe. 🇬🇷❤️Best greeting for Great greek people🌹🌹🌹
Salute to the great Persian and Greek people from an heir of the Mongols :) no one did it better than the Ancient greats.
Fred Smith loser the Persians kicked the ass of Greeks until Alexander the barbarian murdered people of persipolis
Canuck Crusader as intellectual as the Greeks who had death sentences on Anaximander Themestucles and Socrates because the barbarians coulda not digest philosophy so they produced a third rate philosopher Aristotle who. was wring about almost everything
I have a soft spot for the Persian Empire, especially for Cyrus and Darius (the Greats). Great video! Shows really the complexity and a certain amorality a ruler needs to maintain such a large, polyglot empire such as the Persians have.
I've recently re-read Toby Wilkinson's "The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt". There, Cambyses was not portrayed as a mad king, but a rather sane one. Apparently, the records state that Cambyses took pains portraying himself as a rightful pharaoh in order to help bed-in the Egyptians to Persian rule. There were no mention of either the Apis bull incident or the attack on the Siwa oasis that resulted in the loss of his army. Whatever the truth of the matter is we'll never know, as Darius would've made it in his best interest to make sure Cambyses' name will pale in comparison to his.
The tale about the Apis bull is often suspected to be an invention by some later greek historians (who are almost the only accounts we have about the achaemenid kings), along with many other tales that are a bit more...out there. Like the way Darius supposedly ended up becoming king, for example.
@@sherlocksmuuug6692 Herodotus was "intelectual" for his time. Indeed, he "made=up" some stories, based on what he has been told from locals (Persians, Egyptians etc). I am tourguide in Greece and specialized in the Greco-Persian wars : look toourtripgreece.gr
@@athanasiosbairlis5563 did Spartans try to stop Persia xerces
@@IsmailTekin1 looks like the equivalent of the twitch sub badge, instead its the youtube channels members badge for K&G
Well if you believe that a cow is "sacred" you wouldn't dare to write about it getting sacrificed
I really hated how pop culture portrayed The Persian Empire
Agreed, the movie 300 pisses me off due to that
Deborah watch 300 or even the game god of war, persians are seen as conquerors or enslavers but halted by the liberating greeks yet we all know greeks were enslavers and warmongers more so. As least Iran gave more equality than the big two Athens and Sparta
To be fair, 300 only portrayed the Persian Empire as such because the story is told from the perspective of a Spartan storyteller, who, as we know, like the storytellers at the time, would often embellish on details and such.
Though, the failure of the movie to clarify all that has given this false image of the Persian Empire, so I don't blame you guys for hating 300.
Yeah I nearly had a stroke when I saw how they portrayed Xerxes. I know it was pro-Spartan porn at the height of the War on Terror but it was still embarrassingly unfair to Persia.
That is pop culture he referred to
I still can't get over old maps of this area - basically how the Aral Sea still existed... The Aral Sea is stuck really deep in my mind because when I was really young, I think I read a National Geographic or a book from probably the late 80s on how the Aral Sea was shrinking. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems like I remember seeing pictures of fairly big boats sitting basically in the desert where the sea used to be. It's just so trippy that basically an entire sea, that used to be pretty huge and I'm sure was majorly important to people in that area for thousands of years, has basically shrunk down to a murky little pond. Also, is it just me or is there something extremely unique and interesting about the culture, bureaucracy, administration and religion (Zoroastrianism) of this area? It all seems almost wholly unique to this small slice of time and area.
I'm from Uzbekistan and yes now Aral is almost drought. fun and sad fact is for thousands of years people were using it and keeping it. But it was only the matter of 70 years of USSR presence in the area that shrunk the 4th largest sea into a pond.
I think they should make a series or a movie about Darius the Great
Cyrus the Great: "I have established a great empire under humane rule. What can possibly go wrong?"
Cambyses II: observe
*this meme is paid for by the Royal Court of Darius the Great"
Or more accurately:
Darius: observe
@AZAR OGLY Your life is so insignificant that your existence can be considered as nothing . Zeros .
@@dosran5786 That is the unrealistic historical events by Herodutos. Even if it were true, he would not have been killed directly by Tomyris as she did not take part in the battle itself.
Awesome, man
How's that a meme? You're just regurgitating somebody else's joke.
To whoever decided not to read the kings and generals comment, they're hiring
If only I had such skills
Penis
Bon appetite
Ahh finally. An audio-visual dichotomy on the political intrigues of eastern empires 💜 Love this channel.
"-I'm king"
"-I'm king of kings"
"-I'm emperor"
"-I'M KING OF THE UNIVERSE"
"-I'm a GOD"
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE
"I'm Cambyses, hold my beers..."
Darius
Cyrus/Alexander
Cesar
Khan
They did great job and they bring rules by such a greatest military and army logistics in that time .. they did made those militarily systems or ranking and charts for first time ..thanks to Persians militarization system..now we were marching like animal in the battle field if wasn't because of them..
Tom Holland's "Persian Fire" is one of the best history books I have ever read. It gives a thorough description of both the ancient Persian and Greek civilizations and shows why conflict between them was utterly inevitable. A must for anyone who likes history.
Well done on another excellent video Kings and Generals!
His book is a zionist propaganda book.
@@ashvazdanghe Shahram you're so ignorant, Holland is a historian of the classical era.
There are better and more creditable books on the matter which tell us the history from a more objective view. Specially since we have always read Achamenid history through ancient Greek lenses, I prefer to focus on works of Iranologists, and exeperts in Achamenid Empire history. But if you're more interested in captivating battle scenes and epic stories, sure that's the book for you.
@@nilooglam you can inform and not be a dick
Zionist
The explanation at the end was a little lacking in detail. What methods were used to determine that Darius’s story was a lie, and what might the true, and full, story sound like?
You can stab the right person in the dark if hes wearing clothes that feels very different than everyone elses. Eg jewellery sewn on the clothes + real gold silk vs ordinary silk clothes.
I believe he must have been referring to Udjahorresnet, the royal admiral of the Egyptian navy, who some historians believe defected when Cambyses invaded Egypt. This guy's autobiography survived the ravages of time because he inscribed it on stone, and it describes Cambyses in a totally different way from how Herodotus described him (and Herodotus was following the official version that was established after Darius became king).
Another one is that a monument that depicts Cambyses worshiping the sacred Apis bull (the same one that the official story claims Cambyses killed) survived to the modern day, but it was discovered in such a bad shape that a lot of the text on it is unintelligible. But one thing that is clear from the monument was that the Apis bull indeed died and the monument was built after the death, but we are not sure how it died. But historians argue that it is likely that Herodutus' version about the bull is probably wrong because it makes no sense why Cambyses will allow a monument depicting himself venerating the dead bull when he too was the one that killed it (unless of course he was truly mad lol).
Of course Darius' story is utter cack. Bardiya had his own massive territory to rule, that was his job. He must have had a network of officials, a court of his own in the region, who all knew him and answered to him and would expect promotion if he ascended to King. But it was possible to keep his death a secret from them? Who was with him when Bardiya was killed, none of his loyal men? You think it's also possible that an imposter, WITH NO EARS I MIGHT ADD, could take his place? The funniest part was the story of the wife being told to check his ears, like she wouldn't have noticed missing ears otherwise. The official Darius story sounds like a Blackadder episode, it's ridiculous.
In fairness I should point out that most of what you recount has absurdities in the story of the false Bardiya come from Herodotus and not Darius' inscription. A lot of reads like popular gossip and myth. Although I do agree those details make the story even sillier than it already is.
@@boredfartless4221 according to a buzzfeed video i watched on the topic (the most credible source of them all) this alleged false bardiya always wore a turban which covered where his ears would have been. i have no idea what the fashion was back then so i have no clue if this is plausible.
Ty as always for your hard work to produce this amazing video. Once again the passion of the team shows through!
This is one of the best episodes I've seen. Keep the good work up! I really love your channel!
Amazing video. Really enjoyed this and learned a fair bit I didn’t know about the Achaemenids. Thanks very much!
Love your channel!
همش دروغه
The Persian music at the beginning was absolutely sublime. Thank you : )
First video of this channel I ever saw and I must say Im really impressed!! You guys just earned a subscriber and a fan!
Welcome aboard! :-)
You guys keep delivering! Loved the video! I'm gonna shamelessly put in a request for a video on Cyrus the Great.
A cross-eyed Cambyses II was way funnier than it should be.
Hilarious
Very CK2
I like how they switch it back when he becomes sane again lol
Especially with a bow and arrow.
So true
You had me in the first half, not gonna lie. The whole time I was thinking, " are these guys really going to spout this Darius story as if it was the facts?"
It's good to see people acknowledge the dangers of believing the only source they have.
I thought that most of what we knew of the Roman civil war was written by Caesar himself.
@luigi mario Drama documentaries are a dead giveaway
@@JonatasAdoM It's an easier, and often a more sensible way though. It's very hard to deduce what actually happened in a long gone past if the sources are limited. I guess most people(interested in history anyway) would agree that the sources might be questionable, but still should be considered legit.
@@mshin291 I agree, much of what we know is thanks to it.
Know facts
Relevant tolerant? I think the Persian empire was the most tolerant empire considering other rulers back then
Very true
Yes, though China was also relitevly tolerant.
@@EcclesiastesLiker-py5ts during this particular era or when exactly? I have read that the Han empire forcefully assimilated other peoples to the point that now the majority in modern day China is Han. Is it true?
The first persian empire and even the greeks were more tolerant towards other religions and cultures than any Asian or European powers after them, even into moderns times.
A very well done job ,thanks for sharing .the video was amazing !!!!
Actually I am from Kermanshah and time to time I go and visit Behistun Inscription. I remember after quite a time there was a big question in my mind. How could have not the elites and nobles in court recognized Gaumata and distinguished him from Bardia? Are you kidding me!? It was more like a coup especially the way Herodotus narrates it.
Actually this topic is quite new in today Iran and a lot of people who know the history don't know about this saving-more-like-a-coup event.
However, Darius turned out to be one of the greatest kings in Iranian History. His counterparts in other eras in Iran are Khosrow I of Sassanid dynasty, Malikshah I of Seljuq dynasty and Abbas I of Safavad dynasty.
Again, well done guys.
Thank you!
This is a false reinvention of history. Darius was of Achaemenid lineage and he killed usurper Magi, Gaumata.
@@KingsandGenerals
Of course if we assume that the supposed usurper was a kosher Achaemenid it raises the question why his chief nobles would assassinate him.
What had he done to offend them?
داداش دارع تاریخ تحریف میکنه 🤦♂️
Beautifully made. We from Norway never learn about the eastern realms
Dude we know nothing about Scandinavia too except the viking golden age 😂
Not long ago all Europeans were required to read the Cyropaedia and learn about the Persian empire , European historians have contributed a lot to our knowledge of the Persian history due to their interest in their Aryan (IE) origin .
you should, Cause I know everything about Midgard and Thor Loki Odin Freega Jaients and So on ;)
I f you do not know history of eastern realms , so do not know history of western realms
It's also pretty interesting the way Darius was chosen to be the next monarch. The six men one morning gathered outside the palace and decided to name King the man whose horse neighed first in recognition of the rising sun. Darius had a slave, who rubbed his hand secretly in his horse's nostrils. When the sun rose, the slave touched the horse's nostrils who in excitement neighed forcing Darius's competetors to dismount and kneel before him since they considered him to have divine providence.
This, as the cut-off-ears thing was most likely invented by Heroditus or other greek authors. The motive of the horse judgement was well-known, but there is no evidence for it.
Silliest things ever, relied on animal gesture for choosing a leader. thanks for the extra story
@@panther7748 Yeah, it really doesn't make sense to assume that Gaumata went around as the king and nobody noticed that he doesn't have ears.
Thank you for doing these videos, love ancient history.
Amazing!
Dan Carlin's "King of Kings" podcast is another great source of information on Darius I and the Acheimanid Persian Empire's other great rulers.
@@aidanmagill6769 hahah almost.
Love Persia (Iran) from Greece 🇬🇷
Χρήστος Α.
Love Greece from iran🇮🇷🐱
Always fascinated with Greece and Greek people, hopefully, one day I can visit.
how is greece? both of our countries are in a shit economic hole now.
Persia and greece are best enemies
they hated each other but they kinda loved one another as well
Love both of my Ancient neighbors from Armenia 🇦🇲🇮🇷🇬🇷♥️
After thousands years of many Persian empires and many battles and difficult times , still Iran is standing strong and powerful within itself and world wide .Iranian culture and system will not change or being changed by out side force for thousands of years to come .Simply the best and most successful Empires of all time in every aspect ! Great video and Great job !
Your animation gives me nostalgic Vibes
Even if Darius was a usurper he was a great leader and ruled Persia at it's golden age. He is still one of my favorite rulers of all time.
@@dosran5786 Xerxes saw the domise of the empire not Darius
@@dosran5786 he also started paper currency, modern credit banking, international highways, pony express style communication, etc. He was most certainly a usurper but he was most likely successful because of his administrative genius.
Same man. His usurpation lead to something greater. So its all good, morality be damned. But I'm still more of a Cyrus fan. He has that heroic spirit that comes once in a thousand years to quell the chaos in the land.
@@someorclad9738
Dude Cyrus is my favorite ruler in history. My opinion. He is the coolest "world conqueror" ever.
@@HVLLOWS1999 Damn right man. Plus, he was a pretty chill dude, a rare thing when you consider the MO of world conquerors is usually mass extermination and wanton destruction of everything and everyone. Don't get me wrong, Cyrus did some bloodshed, as any conqueror would, but at least he took some restraints, and he was overall pretty humane. Also, his empire is truly a wonderful entity, and unlike Alexander's empire, actually built to last and benefit everyone.
Sorry for the wall of text.
cambyses really got the short end of the historical stick. not only did he have to follow in his father's huge shoes but then he gets the worst possible PR recorded for all time by Herodotus. tough scene.
@@dosran5786 History really is written by the victors
@@dosran5786 9
@@saeedvazirian
I see no "you people", just one guy making a misattribution.
@@saeedvazirian Herodotus was the western world's first historian. Of course he got a lot of stuff wrong. He also tried to write history with whatever sources were available to him, complete with the biases of the sources, and his own inherent bias. A modern scholar has much more material to work with, and he got a lot of stuff right.
@@saeedvazirian Josephus got a lot of things wrong too, and probably Xenophon also. Even if Herodotus had travelled to Persia, could he have undercut what Darius said of himself? The 'descendant' of Darius was still on the throne. Given the number of murders in that family (darius II was also an illegitimate son, who killed the rightful heir), this would have just been viewed as a conspiracy theory at the time.
You really are doing great documentaries. Awesome videos nicely explained appreciate your talent and time ✌👍🔥👏👏👏👏👏👏✍👨🏫😉
I didn’t read Darius the first and the title went for me on fast eye like Darius…I…and the greatest lie in history.
Great idea for a tv show.
Think I will call Netflix 😂
That is one epic tale, with a great punchline. Ta muchly all involved.
I'm a simple man: I see Persian history I click video.
I came for the conspiracy theories
Dude same
Meme status: Over-done. Please think of original content and resubmit your comment.
An amazing job as always!
BRILLIANT
Wisdom Shared Knowledge Gained. Thank You.
This framing of Darius makes him come across a bit like Basil the Macedonian, another usurper who smeared his predecessor, and also went on to be one of the greatest rulers his state (the Byzantine Empire) ever had.
Basil II the Bulgarslayer of the Macedonian dynasty
@@christermi Basil II was great and all, but he was no usurper, rather he was the exact opposite, and was a legitimate heir who fought off would-be usurpers. I'm talking about his great-great-grandfather, Basil I.
@@olefredrikskjegstad5972 I would not call him one of the greatest rulers his state ever had. His son was greater, his grandson, his great grandson, the adoptive fathers of his great grandson that raised that Bulgarslayer and where amazing generals also and emperors. All emperors after Basil I until after Basil II where greater then him.
@@olefredrikskjegstad5972 Basil I ruled byzantium for 19 years and was the founder of the Macedonian dynasty . Nevertheless no great achievement is registered to his name .
@@christermi If you call someone that hires another monarch's army to invade your arch enemy and do your dirty deeds great. The Magyurs started raiding Thrace so let's blame the Bulgars. The Byzantine empire's history is full of great rulers. Fucking weasels! Don't help when your neighbor needs it. But when they are down on their luck hire the Kievans. That is how you brought the Turks in Europe. As mercenaries!
Awesome, but should have been nicer to see or told how that new evidence of Darius' lies were found. Anyway, love Persian history!
@Leonikos Aniketos And there's zero evidence of what you said being true either. You know why? Because it was the most useless sentence that I've come across on this video. You can't just say he got it wrong and then provide no argument for what you are saying.
Aliens exist.
See what I did there?
Daruis was a zoroastrian and lie is greatest sin in zoroastrianism. He also declared in behistun inscription : may ahura Mazda protect this land from lie، drought and enemy
@@immortal5563 داداش زمان داریوش و حتی خشایارشا هم زردتشتی مهم بود هم میتراعیسم و هم ادیان دیگه .تمام نقش های روی تخت جمشید (پارسه)اثراتی هست از آوردن هدیه گاو و اسب برای قربانی از طرف اقوام دیگه که اینها همه برای خدایه میترا قربانی میشده .من امسال که رفتم تخت جمشید اطلاعات جدیدی که پیدا کردن همین بوده که هخامنشیان یک دین تنها نداشتن و به همه ادیان احترام میذاشتن و دین اصلی اونها حتی در زمان کوروش میتراعیسم بوده ولی بعدا زرتشت از داریوش به بعد شروع میشه و به فراگیر شدن .حتی ساسانیان هم در نقشه رجب و بی شاپور اثراتی که به جایه گذاشتن از تصویر دو خدایه میترا و اهورا مزداست .قربانی کردن های اسب مال میتراعیسم هست نه زرتشت .کلا زیاد رویه یک دین متعصب نبودن و به ادیان مختلف احترام میذاشتن .راستی همین الانش مگه اعضای دولت ما که مسلمان هستن دروغی نمیگن؟😂😂😂خب اون زمان هم احتمال اینکه نقشه این داستان ها از گور خود داریوش بوده بعید نیست و یکی از احتمالات هست .چون خودش آمده داستان رو توضیح داده ولی مدارک دیگه ای پیدا کردن که میگن شاید کار خودش بوده .پس ربطی به اینکه زرتشتی بوده یا نبوده نیست
@@immortal5563
ویکیپدیا :
مِهرپرستی یا آیین مهر آیینی بود که بر پایه پرستش «میترا» (در پارسی میانه «مهر») ایزد ایران باستان، جنگاوری، پاکی و نا آلودگی، در دوران پیش از آیین زرتشتبنیان نهاده شد
پیش از زرتشت پیامبر باستانی ایران، ایرانیان دینی چندایزدی داشتند و میترا گرانقدرترین ایزد آنان محسوب میشد. او خدای پیمان و تعهد و سرسپردگی متقابل بود. در لوحی به خط میخی متعلق به پانزده قرن پیش از میلاد که شامل پیماننامهای بین هیتیها و میتانیها میباشد، به میترا سوگند یاد شدهاست.
از دوران داریوش بزرگ هخامنشی به بعد، آیین زرتشت، دین رسمی ایران بودهاست. با اینحال، داریوش و جانشینانش قصد نداشتند شرایط سیاسی سختگیرانهای ایجاد کنند تا باورهای قدیمی را که همچنان نزد بسیاری از نجیبزادگان محبوب بود، از میان بردارند. بدینسان آیین زرتشت، رفتهرفته با عناصر آیین چند ایزدی قدیم در هم آمیخت و یَشتهایی در ستایش ایزدان کهن سروده شد. یشتی در اوستا به نام مهریَشت به مهر یا میترا اختصاص داده شدهاست که در آن مهر، ایزدی نظارهگر بر همه چیز، روشنایی آسمانی، نگاهبان پیمانها، محافظ نیکوکاران در این گیتی و در آخرت و بالاتر از هر چیز، دشمن بزرگ اهریمن و تاریکی و خداوند نبرد و پیروزیها تصویر شدهاست.
در آیین مختلط دوران پایانی سلسله هخامنشیان، جنبه زرتشتی به وضوح بر جنبه چندخدایی پیشین آن چیرگی یافته و دیگر از قربانیکردن، که پیروان زرتشت از آن نفرت داشتند، یادی نمیشود
@@immortal5563 nice!
Always AWESOME content
🌐
This is by far the most entertaining history channel on youtube, watched this one several times now, thanks K&G.
I'm gonna argue for Darius the Great's story here.
First, in the old days, you didn't need to be insane to kill members of the royal family, as it happened countless times later on.
Second, It wasn't just Darius himself but in the old Persian culture telling a lie would be considered the worst of all, they thought of it as the murdering of the truth, so it seems very unlikely that Darius commits such a big lie and all the other high born Persians get on board with it.
i really like that this channel does so much Persian history its quiet refreshing and often overlooked :)
Incredible video! This is not the sort of video I normally enjoy, preferring your battle videos, but I am glad I watch all of your videos anyway because this was educational, well-paced, and very entertaining.
Greatly done! Thanks 🙏🏼 Could you also do one on the Sassaian king Khosrau I? And one on Safavid king Shah Abbas?
any chance for a video on the magi and zoroastrianism as it pertains to the region? i know its slightly off topic but the context would be awesome for better understanding of the region in general.
As Always You Guys Always Produce Something That We Barely Even Heard Of In History Lesson . Keep Up Your Work .
This should be made into a netflix tv show!
And what? White Americans will play the characters of Persian Kings??? Lol
@@juanitopelaez7630 A bunch of olive skin actors with black hair and brown eyes will do 😂
Imagine a show about Persia for once
@@juanitopelaez7630 ah yes the Black Persians
Show, yes. Netflix? No. It should be like the show Rome or Vikings.
this channel is a pure gem
Thanks!
Well done! Keep the series coming. Brings life to this important period of the Persian empire. Indeed archaeological evidence refutes Darius' account that Cambyses slew the Apis bull as he appeared not to have been in Egypt at the time as stated. This is another reason why we have to be careful to ascribe truth to isolated accounts of events. I say that even for Herodotus from whom most of the events of the Greco-Persian Wars are learned and from whom most of our thoughts about Persia come from (note: we also get accounts from Alexander the Great's personal biographers and Xenophon who fought the Persians). While we are indebted to Herodotus as the Father of History, it is telling that he was known in his own lifetime as "The Father of Lies" and "The Storyteller" by some prominent Greeks. He documented some things with accuracy but other events clearly revealed that he had not learned things firsthand. Historians doubt that he, for example, ever went to Egypt or ever went to Persia proper. As such he would not have had any input from the Persian court or the Persian side of the events. He wrote that history more than an ancient lifetime after the events. Where he actually met personages still alive, albeit in their twilight years, stories would have been no doubt infused with bravado much the way old soldiers or athletes today enhance their past achievements (darn internet now makes that harder! Lol). The Greek world was one of mythology surrounding superheroes such as Hercules and Achilles. We have to remember that Herodotus' audience was Greek amphitheaters and an active audience relishing in superhuman feats of Greek soldiers. So much of the dialogue attributed to the Persians would have been made up as he had no way of knowing any of that, especially a lifetime after the events in the ancient world where there were was no microfiche. Hopefully we learn more about this great Empire and civilization of the Persians and the other great civilizations of antiquity in coming years through actual archeological evidence.
4:13 - *"Cambyses was married to his two sisters"*
7:16 - *"The king wished to marry his sister against Persian tradition"*
Uh... what? You mean marrying the *third* sister was suddenly "too much" for Persian tradition? :)
Yeah I'd like clarification on this too.
Incest existed among the aristocracy not among the common people. The same can be said about Chinese and European monarchs and Lords as well.
It may have been a typo on the channels part, or they were sharing the contradiction of sources. It's hard to translate middle eastern history, because it wasnt recorded in a similar manner to the way we are use to in the west.
Assuming that's the case, the contradictions can be (probably) due to interpretations of the avesta. The avesta was interpreted to be not only in favor of incest, but it was preferred if it was honorable or prestigious (xwedodah), but this is a superficial understanding of it. Through xwedodah you could even symbolically marry a dead relative (for honor or to keep wealth), but the meaning and interpretation was always contested. Under the sassanids, it was cousins, not siblings, who were preferred.
The part about being against tradition is Herodotus applying is own logic to is story.
@mrx736able Must have been pretty bold father. I mean, his king recently *invaded Egypt* because, officially, his bedchamber expansion has been denied. And that was merely about a *mistress* . Oh, and was also said to be gradually turning into a Targaryen with a penchant for violence against any perceived opposition.
Still, if your detail about parental consent is accurate, then it would explain the discrepancy pretty well.
Wow!! What a great and fascinating episode from you guys. I need to learn more about the Persian empire
Damn that was awesome, really good video guys!
Thanks!
Such a well made and informative video.🙂
So let's see. A powerful ruling family that had a mad king, bald eunuchs, as well as incest and polygamy going hand in glove. Besides the lack of dragons, I guess this means Cyrus and his family were the original Targaryens.
Nah... Your forgetting the Egyptians
Incest was only acceptable for cousins or half siblings, not parents, children, or siblings.
@@philmstud2k
incest is still acceptable for cousins (not half sibling though)
but back then (before Islam became popular in Iran) incest between siblings (and not between parents) was acceptable
@@eatemadfanaee5954 Marrying cousins is not incest. Every other person is a cousin of the other of one degree or higher.
@@dosran5786 oh boy are you a tough fragile human
that opening cinematic when entering the room SOOO COOL :)
Fascinating! Great job!
One of the major reasons I love watching this channel is the sweet voice of the narrator
holy moly those twists at the end. man this would make a great tv show or an epic movie
Hahahaha man the eyes of the mad king throughout the episode had me laughing too hard 😂 I replayed the video a many times just because of that! Yall's animator(s) did a great job this is one of my favorite channels on UA-cam
Rightly or wrongly, Darius' vanity reminded me of a certain poem:
'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.'
Surely the best channel on UA-cam!
Thanks :-)
I'm in love with this channel for it's wide variety of history but most importantly, it's passion and accuracy about Persian history . It isn't a completely modernized propaganda against the Iranian regime, it's real history !...thank you guys for making this flawlessly!
As an Iranian I remember that even when I spent most of my childhood life in Iran ...they didn't bother to teach that much about the magnificence of the Persians and their policies/administration methods. I have always wanted to know more about my own homeland and you guys made it an accurate reality! ...no washed up lies and inaccurate facts , just real history.
Thank you Kings and Generals !
(Btw if I had some money I would donate to your patreon but I haven't gotten paid yet 😂)
As an Iranian living in Iran... I confirm what you say😅😂
+ side note: the regime doesn't like history or etc only religion authority(first priority)
@@saeedvazirian I don't think you lived in Iran! did you?
And yeah it was a theory not confirmed history
but it was brilliant
and everyone can make mistake especially in history, that you can not say anything for sure
Nicely done! I love covering the Persian Empire myself. A fantastic empire with a lot that doesn't get covered that often!
Thank you for you historical projection.
I am Persian and even though we are told this "Fake Bardia" story in our school books (which we even had exams about it !), I did not know this much info ! great video.
Persian history sounds interesting to outsiders like me, but seeing how long your country's history records was, maybe Iranian students may have it hard to memorize it all? I imagined it like that tho😅.
@@hanselsihotang Very difficult to remember who was who at the time, a pass mark was sweet enough for most of us 😅
@@RezaGheisariSG just like I had imagined then😅.
Fyi, in my country, Indonesia, we adopted various parts of ancient Persian culture into our culture as well. I.e. Yogyakarta (My province) monarch's royal Coat of Arms were inspired by a Persian Coat of Arms (forgot which one, but it had double wings on it)
@@hanselsihotang Probably you are talking about Faravahar symbol which is also a symbol of nationalism in Iran. The ancient civilisations may vanish but their heritage remains
This is truly fantastic, a magnificent tale that should definitely be more widely taught in Western Civilisation. Thank you very much for bringing this history to me.
Absolutely amazing video! Darius has earned my respect. The first recorded hustle in history.
Saya suka channel ini dan saya harap setiap upload video disertakan subtittle Indonesianya..
🙏🙏🙏🙏
Terimakasih..
what a fantastic video and topic !!!
There’s also the thought that he might’ve had something to do with the death of Cambyses - as close as Darius was in the Achemaneid bloodline, and with his spear bearer status, he’d have been involved in a lot of the inner workings of the Egypt campaign and in a perfect position to arrange for the untimely death of the king. Also helps to explain his “lucky” run in with the conspirators to take out Bardya - because of his convenient position in Cambyses’ court, proactively taking charge of the guys who were going to overthrow the next king would draw a lot of attention to the possibility of his involvement in Cambyses’ death.
0:37 CK2 demesne size warning causes too much stress. Gotta keep the vassals happy.
Kill them, imprison them, blackmail them, and then fuck their wives and daughters. That's how you control your vassals my dude. They can't complain if they're cucked and dead. Oh and always keep a huge fuck all army.
Lol I was thinking the same. Keep only happy spy masters
wow. what a twist :O. looking forward for the next video.
I did not see that twist ending coming... What a twist!
Assassins: Cambyses II really took the whole “We didn’t kill Croesus” thing well
Cambyses II: Well yes, but actually no.
Married his own sisters? Madness and paranoia? Cambyses was a secret Targaryen confirmed.
IMO as someone who hasn't followed GoT and got up to speed via a fandom wiki and this channel's videos...
I kind of understand the outrage of season 8, but really how the bloody hell did no one see some of this stuff coming?! Robert is fucking laughing his fat-ass off, he called it all: all this backstabbing and arse-licking doesn't prepare you to fight a motherfucking dragon. And Ned's right there with him also laughing because a member of his bloodline is now King.
@@JonManProductions Rest assured, the fans knew that Dany would succeed because of her dragons, we just didn't know that the writers would turn her insane without satisfactory explanation. And no, Ned wouldn't give a crap about Bran being king, he never cared about power. He could have taken the throne multiple times in the events of the plot, but didn't, because he's too honourable.
Derek Garrard
I need help here.
I was born in the Tropics and resides in the Arctic.
Not too acquainted with ancient Middle East history.
Who are the Targaryen? What are they?
This is a false assertion. He did not marry his sisters. But Persian enemies will say or do anything to discredit this great king.
@Glinkling Smearnops
Matter of fact observation...
Ever since I first heard of this on Dan Carlin's podcast, it became my favorite historical story of all time. Any others like this with conspiracies and power struggles?
Awesome video, Even I didnt know this much about Iran history! Please make more videos
Another great one! I love the fact you guys referenced Tom Holland’s book-as I read that last year
Such a great one- I was high dazzled and impressed by Darius’ mastery of propaganda
Spinning an assassination as saving the empire
It’s really hard to decide... Darius’ version seems too dramatic to occur in real life, but a lie with such scale gets away for 2600 years something is equally unbelievable. Guess this will remain a mystery.
14:10 the rightmost image, i like the game of thrones reference to the drowning Varys
. very nice touch