Darius I, King of Kings

The Achaemenid Empire was founded by
Cyrus II (Cyrus the Great) in the middle
of the 6th century BC. The Achaemenid
dynasty built the largest empire of the
era before the birth of Christ, extending
over parts of Asia, Africa and Europe.

The empire reached the peak of its
power in the 6th century BC, during
the reign of Darius I. One inscription
calls him ‘Great King’, ‘King of Persia’,
and ‘King of Nations’.

The Immortals

Members of this elite infantry unit always num­bered 10,000, because those who fell in battle were immediately replaced by new members.

The Suez Canal

Darius I continued building
the Suez Canal, which had been started 100 years earlier by pharaoh Necho II.

The daric

The gold coin of Darius was named after himself. The obverse shows the portrait of the ruler, while on the reverse there is an image of an archer.

Traditional Persian clothing

The one-piece, circular dress
was made of silk. The purple
colour was the symbol
of power in antiquity.

golden belt

golden sceptre

Facial hair

Persian men preferred exorbitantly curly beards. The nobles sprinkled gold dust on their hair.

Fashionable colours of Persian clothing

The clothes of Persians were usually spectacularly
colourful, decorated with geometric or rose flower patterns. Only the ruler was entitled to wear purple
clothes, which distinguished
him from his subjects.

The road network

Darius had a road network built that covered
the entire area of the empire. The main- and byroads were complemented with rest areas.