Darius III

Darius III
King of Persia King of Babylon Pharaoh of Egypt
Detail of Darius III from the Alexander Mosaic.
King of Persia
Reign	336–330 BC
Predecessor	Artaxerxes IV Arses
Successor	Artaxerxes V Bessus
Pharaoh of Egypt
Reign	336–332 BC
Predecessor	Artaxerxes IV
Successor	Alexander the Great
Born	c. 380 BC Persia
Died	July 330 BC (aged 49 or 50) Bactria
Burial	Persepolis
Spouse	Stateira I
Issue	Stateira II Drypetis
House	Achaemenid Dynasty
Father	Arsames of Ostanes
Mother	Sisygambis
Religion	Zoroastrianism

Darius III (c. 380 – July 330 BC), originally named Artashata and called Codomannus by the Greeks, was the last king of the Achaemenid Empire of Persia from 336 BC to 330 BC. Artashata adopted Darius as a dynastic name.

His empire was unstable, with large portions governed by jealous and unreliable satraps and inhabited by disaffected and rebellious subjects.

In 334 BC, Alexander the Great began his invasion of the Persian Empire and subsequently defeated the Persians in a number of battles before looting and destroying the capital Persepolis, by fire, in 331 BC. With the Persian Empire now effectively under Alexander's control, Alexander then decided to pursue Darius. Before Alexander reached him, however, Darius was killed by the satrap Bessus, who was also his cousin.

Artashata was the son of Arsames, son of Ostanes, and Sisygambis, daughter of Artaxerxes II Mnemon. He had distinguished himself in a combat of champions in a war against the Cadusii and was serving at the time as a royal courier. However, prior to being appointed as a royal courier, he had served as a satrap (governor) of Armenia. He may have been promoted from his satrapy to the postal service after the ascension of Arses, for he is referred to as one of the king's "friends" at court after that occasion.

In 336 BC, he took the throne at the age of 43 after the death of Artaxerxes III and Arses. According to a Greek source, Diodorus of Sicily, Artashata was installed by the vizier Bagoas, after the latter had poisoned the king Artaxerxes III and subsequently his sons, including Arses, who had succeeded him on the throne. However, a cuneiform tablet (now in the British Museum) suggests that Artaxerxes died from natural causes. Artashata took the regnal name Darius III, and quickly demonstrated his independence from his possible assassin benefactor. Bagoas then tried to poison Darius as well, when he learned that even Darius couldn't be controlled, but Darius was warned and forced Bagoas to drink the poison himself. The new king found himself in control of an unstable empire, large portions of which were governed by jealous and unreliable satraps and inhabited by disaffected and rebellious subjects, such as Khabash in Egypt. Compared to his ancestors and his fellow heirs who had since perished, Darius had a distinct lack of experience ruling an empire, and a lack of any previous ambition to do so. Darius was a ruler of entirely average stamp, without the striking talents and qualities which the administration of a vast empire required during that period of crisis.