Egyptian campaign After securing his authority over the
empire, Darius embarked on a campaign to
Egypt where he defeated the rebel forces and secured the lands that Cambyses had conquered while incorporating a large portion of
Egypt into the Achaemenid Empire. According to the Bisitun inscription, the Egyptian rebellion began while Darius was in Babylon dealing with
the rebellion there. It has been suggested that the inclusion of Egypt among the list of rebelling provinces in this inscription was a scribal error, and various dates are possible for an actual rebellion. Likewise, the identity of the rebel leader is not known, but it has been suggested to be
Petubastis III. Through another series of campaigns, Darius I would eventually reign over the territorial apex of the empire, when it stretched from parts of the
Balkans (
Thrace-
Macedonia,
Bulgaria-
Paeonia) in the west, to the
Indus Valley in the east.
Invasion of the Indus Valley In 516 BCE, Darius embarked on a campaign to Central Asia,
Aria and
Bactria and then marched into
Afghanistan to
Taxila in modern-day
Pakistan. Darius spent the winter of 516–515 BCE in
Gandhara, preparing to conquer the
Indus Valley. Darius conquered the lands surrounding the Indus River in 515 BCE. Darius I controlled the
Indus Valley from
Gandhara to modern
Karachi and appointed the Greek
Scylax of Caryanda to explore the Indian Ocean from the mouth of the
Indus to
Suez.
Babylonian revolt After
Bardiya was murdered, widespread revolts occurred throughout
the empire, especially on the eastern side. Darius asserted his position as king by force, taking his armies throughout the empire, suppressing each revolt individually. The most notable of all these revolts was the Babylonian revolt which was led by
Nebuchadnezzar III. This revolt occurred when Otanes withdrew much of the army from
Babylon to aid Darius in suppressing other revolts. Darius felt that the Babylonian people had taken advantage of him and deceived him, which resulted in Darius gathering a large army and marching to
Babylon. At Babylon, Darius was met with closed gates and a series of defences to keep him and his armies out. Darius encountered mockery and taunting from the rebels, including the famous saying "Oh yes, you will capture our city, when mules shall have foals." For a year and a half, Darius and his armies were unable to retake the city, though he attempted many tricks and strategies—even copying that which
Cyrus the Great had employed when he captured Babylon. The situation changed in Darius's favour when, according to the story, a mule owned by
Zopyrus, a high-ranking soldier, foaled. Following this, a plan was hatched for Zopyrus to pretend to be a deserter, enter the Babylonian camp, and gain the trust of the Babylonians. The plan was successful and Darius's army eventually surrounded the city and overcame the rebels. During this revolt,
Scythian nomads took advantage of the disorder and chaos and invaded Persia. Darius first finished defeating the rebels in Elam, Assyria, and Babylon and then attacked the Scythian invaders. He pursued the invaders, who led him to a marsh; there he found no known enemies but an enigmatic Scythian tribe. He managed to capture the Scythian king
Skunkha and added him to the other rebel kings depicted in the Behistun Inscription.
European Scythian campaign The
Scythians were a group of north Iranian nomadic tribes, speaking an
Eastern Iranian language (
Scythian languages) who had invaded
Media, killed
Cyrus in battle, revolted against Darius and threatened to disrupt trade between Central Asia and the shores of the
Black Sea as they lived between the
Danube River, River
Don and the Black Sea. Darius crossed the
Black Sea at the
Bosphorus Straits using a bridge of boats. Darius conquered large portions of Eastern Europe, even crossing the
Danube to wage war on the
Scythians. Darius invaded European
Scythia in 513 BCE, where the Scythians evaded Darius's army, using feints and retreating eastwards while laying waste to the countryside, by blocking wells, intercepting convoys, destroying pastures and continuous skirmishes against Darius's army. Seeking to fight with the Scythians, Darius's army chased the Scythian army deep into Scythian lands, where there were no cities to conquer and no supplies to forage. In frustration Darius sent a letter to the Scythian ruler
Idanthyrsus to fight or surrender. The ruler replied that he would not stand and fight with Darius until they found the graves of their fathers and tried to destroy them. Until then, they would continue their strategy as they had no cities or cultivated lands to lose. Despite the evading tactics of the Scythians, Darius's campaign was so far relatively successful. As presented by
Herodotus, the tactics used by the Scythians resulted in the loss of their best lands and of damage to their loyal allies. This gave Darius the initiative. As he moved eastwards in the cultivated lands of the Scythians in Eastern Europe proper, he remained resupplied by his fleet and lived to an extent off the land. While moving eastwards in the European Scythian lands, he captured the large fortified city of the
Budini, one of the allies of the Scythians, and burnt it. Darius eventually ordered a halt at the banks of Oarus, where he built "eight great forts, some distant from each other", no doubt as a frontier defence. In his
Histories,
Herodotus states that the ruins of the forts were still standing in his day. After chasing the Scythians for a month, Darius's army was suffering losses due to fatigue, privation and sickness. Concerned about losing more of his troops, Darius halted the march at the banks of the
Volga River and headed towards
Thrace. He had conquered enough Scythian territory to force the Scythians to respect the Persian forces.
Persian invasion of Greece Darius's European expedition was a major event in his reign, which began with the invasion of
Thrace. Darius also conquered many cities of the northern Aegean,
Paeonia, while
Macedonia submitted voluntarily, after the demand of
earth and water, becoming a
vassal kingdom. He then left
Megabyzus to conquer Thrace, returning to
Sardis to spend the winter. The Greeks living in
Asia Minor and some of the Greek islands had submitted to Persian rule already by 510 BCE. Nonetheless, there were certain Greeks who were pro-Persian, although these were largely based in
Athens. To improve Greek-Persian relations, Darius opened his court and treasuries to those Greeks who wanted to serve him. These Greeks served as soldiers, artisans, statesmen and mariners for Darius. However, the increasing concerns among the Greeks over the strength of Darius's kingdom along with the constant interference by the Greeks in
Ionia and
Lydia were stepping stones towards the conflict that was yet to come between Persia and certain of the leading Greek city states. When
Aristagoras organized the
Ionian Revolt,
Eretria and Athens supported him by sending ships and troops to Ionia and by burning
Sardis. Persian military and naval operations to quell the revolt ended in the Persian reoccupation of Ionian and Greek islands, as well as the re-subjugation of Thrace and the conquering of Macedonia in 492 BCE under
Mardonius. Macedon had been
a vassal kingdom of the Persians since the late 6th century BCE, but retained autonomy. Mardonius's 492 campaign made it a fully subordinate part of the Persian kingdom. These military actions, coming as a direct response to the revolt in Ionia, were the beginning of the first Persian invasion of mainland Greece. At the same time, anti-Persian parties gained more power in Athens, and pro-Persian aristocrats were exiled from Athens and Sparta. Darius responded by sending troops led by his son-in-law across the
Hellespont. However, a violent storm and harassment by the
Thracians forced the troops to return to Persia. Seeking revenge on Athens and Eretria, Darius assembled another army of 20,000 men under his Admiral,
Datis, and his nephew
Artaphernes, who met success when they captured Eretria and advanced to Marathon. In 490 BCE, at the
Battle of Marathon, the Persian army was defeated by a heavily armed Athenian army, with 9,000 men who were supported by 600
Plataeans and 10,000 lightly armed soldiers led by
Miltiades. The defeat at Marathon marked the end of the first Persian invasion of Greece. Darius began preparations for a second force which he would command, instead of his generals; however, before the preparations were complete, Darius died, thus leaving the task to his son
Xerxes. ==Family==