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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.〔 After Artaxerxes III of Persia and all of his sons were killed by the vizier Bagoas, the vizier installed a cousin of Artaxerxes III, Artashata, on the Persian throne as Darius III. When Darius tried to act independently of the vizier, Bagoas tried to poison him, 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. However, he lacked the skills and experience to deal with these problems. 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. ==Early reign== Artaxerxes III and all of his sons except one, Arses, were assassinated by the orders of the vizier, Bagoas, who installed Arses on the throne as a puppet king. However, when Bagoas discovered that Arses couldn’t be controlled, he had Arses killed in 336 BC, and installed Artashata on the throne, the last surviving legitimate heir to the Persian throne. Artashata was a distant relative of the royal house who had distinguished himself in a combat of champions in a war against the Cadusii〔Justin 10.3; cf. Diod. 17.6.1-2〕 and was serving at the time as a royal courier.〔Plutarch, ''Life of Alexander'' 18.7-8, First Oration on the Fortune or the Virtue of Alexander, 326.D.〕 Artashata was the son of Arsames, son of Ostanes, one of Artaxerxes's uncles, and Sisygambis, daughter of Artaxerxes II Mnemon. He took the throne at the age of 43. Artashata took the regnal name Darius III,〔 and quickly demonstrated his independence from his 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.〔Diodorus 17.5.6.〕 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.〔Hermann Bengtson, ''History of Greece from the Beginnings to the Byzantine Era'', p. 205.〕 In 336 BC Philip II of Macedon was authorized by the League of Corinth as its Hegemon to initiate a sacred war of vengeance against the Persians for desecrating and burning the Athenian temples during the Second Persian War. He sent an advance force into Asia Minor under the command of his generals Parmenion and Attalus to "liberate" the Greeks living under Persian control. After they took the Greek cities of Asia from Troy to the Maiandros river, Philip was assassinated and his campaign was suspended while his heir consolidated his control of Macedonia and the rest of Greece. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Darius III」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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