{"id":367,"date":"2025-08-17T00:09:53","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T16:09:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/en.uhhc.com.cn\/?p=367"},"modified":"2025-11-20T00:18:35","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T16:18:35","slug":"did-ears-and-a-mare-decide-the-persian-throne-the-rise-of-darius-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/en.uhhc.com.cn\/index.php\/2025\/08\/17\/did-ears-and-a-mare-decide-the-persian-throne-the-rise-of-darius-i\/","title":{"rendered":"Did Ears and a Mare Decide the Persian Throne? \u2013 The Rise of Darius I"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Author: Simon Zhang, The Timeless Threads History Club<\/strong> from Beijing 21st Century School<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This story begins with the First Persian Empire (Achaemenid Empire). After the death of Cyrus the Great (\ud800\udfa4\ud800\udfa2\ud800\udfbd\ud800\udfa2\ud800\udfc1, K\u016bru\u0161<\/em>, founder of the First Persian Empire), his son Cambyses II (\ud800\udfa3\ud800\udfb2\ud800\udfa2\ud800\udfaa\ud800\udfa1\ud800\udfb9, Kamb\u016bjiya<\/em>) inherited this unprecedented, vast realm. However, he was exceptionally cruel and bloodthirsty. While campaigning in Egypt, Cambyses received news of rebellion back home but died mysteriously en route. What exactly was this rebellion?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cambyses II, son of Cyrus the Great. Published by Guillaume Rouille (1518?-1589<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Before his Egyptian campaign, Cambyses secretly murdered his brother Bardiya over fears of a succession challenge. Few knew of this assassination, except two of Cambyses\u2019 palace herdsmen. Seizing the opportunity during his absence, these herdsmen impersonated the slain prince and usurped the throne. Later, a nobleman named Otanes grew suspicious. He instructed his daughter Phaedyme (also Cambyses\u2019 wife) to verify the imposter\u2019s identity by checking if he had ears<\/em>\u2014one herdsman\u2019s ears had been severed as punishment for past crimes. She confirmed he was earless. Otanes then rallied six allies and a revered elder statesman to overthrow the imposter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Phaedyme verifying the imposter king. From “History of Darius the Great” (1850s) by Jacob Abbott, Library of Congress<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A kingdom cannot be without a ruler. After the coup, the seven conspirators debated who should be king. Otanes, who exposed the fraud, withdrew:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“I wish neither to rule anyone nor to be ruled by anyone. May my family remain free for all time.”<\/em>
Reading this, one might recall historical power-transfer rituals like “releasing military authority over wine” (\u676f\u9152\u91ca\u5175\u6743), though parallels are limited. To preserve rational freedom eternally\u2014a dream many cherish\u2014this bold yet meticulous noble achieved it. According to Herodotus (Father of History), Otanes\u2019 descendants flourished and retained their freedom until Persia\u2019s fall.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Darius I in the Behistun Inscription relief)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How then to choose the king? The remaining six agreed:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“At dawn, whoever\u2019s horse neighs first shall rule.”<\/em>
Darius, a young noble and Cambyses\u2019 lance-bearer, won\u2014but through trickery. His clever groom smeared mare\u2019s secretions on his hand, letting Darius\u2019 stallion catch the scent at the critical moment. Herodotus thus dramatically credited the rise of an Oriental despot to “the hand of a clever groom.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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The Extent of the First Persian Empire (Achaemenid) in 485 BCE<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Upon seizing power, Darius\u2019 priority was stabilizing the empire and quelling revolts. After three years of campaigns, he forged a tolerant world empire stretching from Thrace and Egypt to the Hindu Kush\u2014history\u2019s first intercontinental realm. Inheriting Cyrus\u2019 legacy, Darius embraced conquered peoples with remarkable openness, never resorting to annihilation. His policies extended to the Jews: around 520 BCE, Prince Zerubbabel (\u05d6\u05b0\u05e8\u05bb\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d1\u05b6\u05dc, Z\u0259rubb\u0101vel<\/em>), grandson of Judah\u2019s last king, and the priest Joshua\u2014son of the final Temple priest\u2014departed Babylon to restore Jerusalem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(This article was edited by Peter Tian of the UHHC Operations Office. Images sourced from the internet will be removed immediately upon request if copyright is infringed.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Author: Simon Zhang, The Timeless Threads History Club …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":492,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/en.uhhc.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/en.uhhc.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/en.uhhc.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/en.uhhc.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/en.uhhc.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/en.uhhc.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":610,"href":"http:\/\/en.uhhc.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367\/revisions\/610"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/en.uhhc.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/en.uhhc.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/en.uhhc.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/en.uhhc.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}