Darius I and The Greatest Lie in History 

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Here's a very curious bonus fact: Darius mounted a giant monument for himself which is known as The Behistun Inscription. I think the texts appearing in the video are from that monument. In it, he boasts how he's the legitimate king and how he has vanquished his enemies. The importance of that text cannot be overstated, because it was written in ancient Sumerian cuneiform script, but in three languages: Old Persian, Elamite, and Akkadian. Since Old Persian, having descendants, was very well understood, that allowed historians and linguists to gain a deeper knowledge of Akkadian or Elamite. Without those, so much of the information would be lost. The knowledge of Akkadian, a lost Semitic language, in its stead was very useful for gaining the understanding of Sumerian language with Sumer-Akkadian bilingual texts being found. Even a dictionary of those two languages. Without those, The Epic of Gilgamesh, for example, would be perfectly incomprehensible for us. By writing a giant boast-piece, Darius accidentally gave us so much information about antique languages, history and literature.

Ahhh Varys clones makes his character make so much sense! He wasn’t teleporting or fast traveling, it was his clones dudes!

I love how Cambyses' eyes go full derp to indicate his mental state.

*Bardiya was not the impostor* *(1 impostor remains)*

“Who is worthy of Cyrus’ daughters than Cyrus’ son?” “He wanted to marry his sister against Persian tradition” What?

The music at the beginning just gave me PTSD flashbacks to Cyrus destroying me in Civ 6...

Me halfway thru this video: Wow you can't make this stuff up Darius I: We'll see about that

What an amazing HBO series this story would make!!! They could make millions...

Lord of the Persias: The Fellowship of the Crown

In my mother's hometown (Hamedan) in Iran, there are two cuneiform inscriptions from Darius and his son Xerxes. The site is called Ganjnameh. It says "A great God is Ahuramazda, who created this earth, who created yonder heaven, who created men, who created happiness for man, who made Darius king. One king for many, one lord for all. I am Darius, the great king, king of kings, king of countries containing all kinds of men, king in this great earth far and wide, son of Hystaspes, an Achaemenid." It still sends shivers down my spine every time I read it. You can feel the greatness when you are standing in front of the inscription, a truly humbling experience.

The narrator's pronunciation is a work of art. Powerful and commanding. A beauty.

I thought this was incredible but the ending left me speechless... So clever of Darius! Such an interesting history, a shame we only learn the western side, in school. I hope one day we can learn history from all sides, so we get to know of these incredible happenings

Thanks K&G! As an Iranian and a history enthusiast, this was just excellent! The story of "Fake Bardiya" is very famous. We even have it in our school books. But even I didn't know this much about that story. Maybe it is really made up by Darius! P.S.: The background music in the first 3 minutes of the video is so Persian that I wanna make saffron ice cream with pistachios right now.

“Hey man do you know whatever happened to Bardiya?” “Who?” “Bardiya, the King’s brother, the number 2 man in the empire? It seems he just vanished into thin air!” “Never heard of him”

In my opinion, one cannot doubt Darius the Great because he really spoke fairly and truthfully in his inscription and it cannot be a lie.

That is literally one of the greatest stories in history and I just learned of it. Thanks so much

I have a soft spot for the Persian Empire, especially for Cyrus and Darius (the Greats). Great video! Shows really the complexity and a certain amorality a ruler needs to maintain such a large, polyglot empire such as the Persians have. I've recently re-read Toby Wilkinson's "The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt". There, Cambyses was not portrayed as a mad king, but a rather sane one. Apparently, the records state that Cambyses took pains portraying himself as a rightful pharaoh in order to help bed-in the Egyptians to Persian rule. There were no mention of either the Apis bull incident or the attack on the Siwa oasis that resulted in the loss of his army. Whatever the truth of the matter is we'll never know, as Darius would've made it in his best interest to make sure Cambyses' name will pale in comparison to his.

I really hated how pop culture portrayed The Persian Empire

The crazy thing is for years I always wondered where the pronunciation of my name came from! My dad sent this to me and I was shocked because i thought my name was never heard of or rare 😂😂😂 amazing history behind this historic story.

Greetings to all Iranian People from Greece 🇬🇷✌️

Wow, this is way better than Game of Thrones Season 8.

Tom Holland's "Persian Fire" is one of the best history books I have ever read. It gives a thorough description of both the ancient Persian and Greek civilizations and shows why conflict between them was utterly inevitable. A must for anyone who likes history. Well done on another excellent video Kings and Generals!

I still can't get over old maps of this area - basically how the Aral Sea still existed... The Aral Sea is stuck really deep in my mind because when I was really young, I think I read a National Geographic or a book from probably the late 80s on how the Aral Sea was shrinking. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems like I remember seeing pictures of fairly big boats sitting basically in the desert where the sea used to be. It's just so trippy that basically an entire sea, that used to be pretty huge and I'm sure was majorly important to people in that area for thousands of years, has basically shrunk down to a murky little pond. Also, is it just me or is there something extremely unique and interesting about the culture, bureaucracy, administration and religion (Zoroastrianism) of this area? It all seems almost wholly unique to this small slice of time and area.

I think they should make a series or a movie about Darius the Great

The history of Persia is far more interesting and Game of Thrones like than I thought

The explanation at the end was a little lacking in detail. What methods were used to determine that Darius’s story was a lie, and what might the true, and full, story sound like?

Ahh finally. An audio-visual dichotomy on the political intrigues of eastern empires 💜 Love this channel.

"-I'm king" "-I'm king of kings" "-I'm emperor" "-I'M KING OF THE UNIVERSE"

Cyrus the Great: "I have established a great empire under humane rule. What can possibly go wrong?" Cambyses II: observe *this meme is paid for by the Royal Court of Darius the Great"

To whoever decided not to read the kings and generals comment, they're hiring

Ty as always for your hard work to produce this amazing video. Once again the passion of the team shows through!

This is one of the best episodes I've seen. Keep the good work up! I really love your channel!

Amazing video. Really enjoyed this and learned a fair bit I didn’t know about the Achaemenids. Thanks very much!

Actually I am from Kermanshah and time to time I go and visit Behistun Inscription. I remember after quite a time there was a big question in my mind. How could have not the elites and nobles in court recognized Gaumata and distinguished him from Bardia? Are you kidding me!? It was more like a coup especially the way Herodotus narrates it. Actually this topic is quite new in today Iran and a lot of people who know the history don't know about this saving-more-like-a-coup event. However, Darius turned out to be one of the greatest kings in Iranian History. His counterparts in other eras in Iran are Khosrow I of Sassanid dynasty, Malikshah I of Seljuq dynasty and Abbas I of Safavad dynasty. Again, well done guys.

Relevant tolerant? I think the Persian empire was the most tolerant empire considering other rulers back then

First video of this channel I ever saw and I must say Im really impressed!! You guys just earned a subscriber and a fan!

You had me in the first half, not gonna lie. The whole time I was thinking, " are these guys really going to spout this Darius story as if it was the facts?" It's good to see people acknowledge the dangers of believing the only source they have.

The Persian music at the beginning was absolutely sublime. Thank you : )

After thousands years of many Persian empires and many battles and difficult times , still Iran is standing strong and powerful within itself and world wide .Iranian culture and system will not change or being changed by out side force for thousands of years to come .Simply the best and most successful Empires of all time in every aspect ! Great video and Great job !

You guys keep delivering! Loved the video! I'm gonna shamelessly put in a request for a video on Cyrus the Great.

Beautifully made. We from Norway never learn about the eastern realms

Amazing! Dan Carlin's "King of Kings" podcast is another great source of information on Darius I and the Acheimanid Persian Empire's other great rulers.

It's also pretty interesting the way Darius was chosen to be the next monarch. The six men one morning gathered outside the palace and decided to name King the man whose horse neighed first in recognition of the rising sun. Darius had a slave, who rubbed his hand secretly in his horse's nostrils. When the sun rose, the slave touched the horse's nostrils who in excitement neighed forcing Darius's competetors to dismount and kneel before him since they considered him to have divine providence.

This is by far the most entertaining history channel on youtube, watched this one several times now, thanks K&G. I'm gonna argue for Darius the Great's story here. First, in the old days, you didn't need to be insane to kill members of the royal family, as it happened countless times later on. Second, It wasn't just Darius himself but in the old Persian culture telling a lie would be considered the worst of all, they thought of it as the murdering of the truth, so it seems very unlikely that Darius commits such a big lie and all the other high born Persians get on board with it.

A cross-eyed Cambyses II was way funnier than it should be.

cambyses really got the short end of the historical stick. not only did he have to follow in his father's huge shoes but then he gets the worst possible PR recorded for all time by Herodotus. tough scene.

Well done! Keep the series coming. Brings life to this important period of the Persian empire. Indeed archaeological evidence refutes Darius' account that Cambyses slew the Apis bull as he appeared not to have been in Egypt at the time as stated. This is another reason why we have to be careful to ascribe truth to isolated accounts of events. I say that even for Herodotus from whom most of the events of the Greco-Persian Wars are learned and from whom most of our thoughts about Persia come from (note: we also get accounts from Alexander the Great's personal biographers and Xenophon who fought the Persians). While we are indebted to Herodotus as the Father of History, it is telling that he was known in his own lifetime as "The Father of Lies" and "The Storyteller" by some prominent Greeks. He documented some things with accuracy but other events clearly revealed that he had not learned things firsthand. Historians doubt that he, for example, ever went to Egypt or ever went to Persia proper. As such he would not have had any input from the Persian court or the Persian side of the events. He wrote that history more than an ancient lifetime after the events. Where he actually met personages still alive, albeit in their twilight years, stories would have been no doubt infused with bravado much the way old soldiers or athletes today enhance their past achievements (darn internet now makes that harder! Lol). The Greek world was one of mythology surrounding superheroes such as Hercules and Achilles. We have to remember that Herodotus' audience was Greek amphitheaters and an active audience relishing in superhuman feats of Greek soldiers. So much of the dialogue attributed to the Persians would have been made up as he had no way of knowing any of that, especially a lifetime after the events in the ancient world where there were was no microfiche. Hopefully we learn more about this great Empire and civilization of the Persians and the other great civilizations of antiquity in coming years through actual archeological evidence.

Thank you for doing these videos, love ancient history.

I'm a simple man: I see Persian history I click video.

Love Persia (Iran) from Greece 🇬🇷

I didn’t read Darius the first and the title went for me on fast eye like Darius…I…and the greatest lie in history. Great idea for a tv show. Think I will call Netflix 😂

I am Persian and even though we are told this "Fake Bardia" story in our school books (which we even had exams about it !), I did not know this much info ! great video.

Even if Darius was a usurper he was a great leader and ruled Persia at it's golden age. He is still one of my favorite rulers of all time.

This framing of Darius makes him come across a bit like Basil the Macedonian, another usurper who smeared his predecessor, and also went on to be one of the greatest rulers his state (the Byzantine Empire) ever had.

A very well done job ,thanks for sharing .the video was amazing !!!!

BRILLIANT Wisdom Shared Knowledge Gained. Thank You.

That is one epic tale, with a great punchline. Ta muchly all involved.

This should be made into a netflix tv show!

You really are doing great documentaries. Awesome videos nicely explained appreciate your talent and time ✌👍🔥👏👏👏👏👏👏✍👨‍🏫😉

Your animation gives me nostalgic Vibes

Awesome, but should have been nicer to see or told how that new evidence of Darius' lies were found. Anyway, love Persian history!

I'm in love with this channel for it's wide variety of history but most importantly, it's passion and accuracy about Persian history . It isn't a completely modernized propaganda against the Iranian regime, it's real history !...thank you guys for making this flawlessly! As an Iranian I remember that even when I spent most of my childhood life in Iran ...they didn't bother to teach that much about the magnificence of the Persians and their policies/administration methods. I have always wanted to know more about my own homeland and you guys made it an accurate reality! ...no washed up lies and inaccurate facts , just real history. Thank you Kings and Generals ! (Btw if I had some money I would donate to your patreon but I haven't gotten paid yet 😂)

any chance for a video on the magi and zoroastrianism as it pertains to the region? i know its slightly off topic but the context would be awesome for better understanding of the region in general.

Rightly or wrongly, Darius' vanity reminded me of a certain poem: 'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!' Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.'

4:13 - *"Cambyses was married to his two sisters"* 7:16 - *"The king wished to marry his sister against Persian tradition"* Uh... what? You mean marrying the *third* sister was suddenly "too much" for Persian tradition? :)

As Always You Guys Always Produce Something That We Barely Even Heard Of In History Lesson . Keep Up Your Work .

I am from Iran please also add Persian subtitles to the clips

A fascinating and intriguing video. Makes you wonder if Darius I was truly a noble hero or an evil deceiver. We may never know. My compliments to those who made this video a reality.

Incredible video! This is not the sort of video I normally enjoy, preferring your battle videos, but I am glad I watch all of your videos anyway because this was educational, well-paced, and very entertaining.

i really like that this channel does so much Persian history its quiet refreshing and often overlooked :)

Always AWESOME content 🌐

An amazing job as always!

So let's see. A powerful ruling family that had a mad king, bald eunuchs, as well as incest and polygamy going hand in glove. Besides the lack of dragons, I guess this means Cyrus and his family were the original Targaryens.

0:37 CK2 demesne size warning causes too much stress. Gotta keep the vassals happy.

this channel is a pure gem

Greatly done! Thanks 🙏🏼 Could you also do one on the Sassaian king Khosrau I? And one on Safavid king Shah Abbas?

Wow!! What a great and fascinating episode from you guys. I need to learn more about the Persian empire

that opening cinematic when entering the room SOOO COOL :)

One of the major reasons I love watching this channel is the sweet voice of the narrator

Damn that was awesome, really good video guys!

Nicely done! I love covering the Persian Empire myself. A fantastic empire with a lot that doesn't get covered that often!

This is truly fantastic, a magnificent tale that should definitely be more widely taught in Western Civilisation. Thank you very much for bringing this history to me.

Surely the best channel on RU-vid!

Civilization soundtrack and sound effects ! Am I the only one who paused it to check I didnt have a civ game currently running ? ^^ Great material

holy moly those twists at the end. man this would make a great tv show or an epic movie

Married his own sisters? Madness and paranoia? Cambyses was a secret Targaryen confirmed.

wow. what a twist :O. looking forward for the next video.

14:10 the rightmost image, i like the game of thrones reference to the drowning Varys . very nice touch

Hahahaha man the eyes of the mad king throughout the episode had me laughing too hard 😂 I replayed the video a many times just because of that! Yall's animator(s) did a great job this is one of my favorite channels on RU-vid

I really like the Achaemenid Empire. Don’t really hear too much about them too often though...

Such a well made and informative video.🙂

I did not see that twist ending coming... What a twist!

Absolutely amazing video! Darius has earned my respect. The first recorded hustle in history.

Another great one! I love the fact you guys referenced Tom Holland’s book-as I read that last year Such a great one- I was high dazzled and impressed by Darius’ mastery of propaganda Spinning an assassination as saving the empire

Kings and generals! I appreciate the work that you do. You provide amazing and useful historical information. You also have a perfect voice as a narrator and good talent for the way of describing the events. I wish you more success. But what I do is using the information that you provide here to analyze the economic, social and political consequences of the historical aspects of the events. Most of historical information that you expose here, however are more than what I reached to them myself but whatever facts that I could gather are almost matching the historical facts and information that you are exposing here. But I leaned them in a hard way for a long time, Because of lack of sources and also English is my second language. For instance Alexander eastern campaign had a huge historical consequences that lasted for at least 500 years of Parthian history. You may not believe it at first what I found here shows that amazing things happened in Central Asia, Afghanistan, Persia and Mesopotamia. Even as they say: " Islamic golden era" in Persia was not anything Islamic about it. It was same old Sogdian and Pahlavan Hellenistic culture that revived due to Caliphate Almamun holding back Islamic laws and sharia that led same central Asian Hellenism thrive again in Persia for another 350 years of Islamic era. Even the great classical literature Shahnameh of Ferdosi which is under direct influence of Greek tragic theater never was appreciated as it deserves. Silk Road stretched from Xinjiang to Sogdiana, Persia, Armenia and Syria. South ward from Kashgar to Indus valley and Gujarat, Ionian Democratic Mercantilism lasted for centuries.

As an Iranian person it’s my honor to have such a history and I’m sorry for having such modern history I was born in best place on it’s worst condition I am alive with the hope to see the day of freedom

There’s also the thought that he might’ve had something to do with the death of Cambyses - as close as Darius was in the Achemaneid bloodline, and with his spear bearer status, he’d have been involved in a lot of the inner workings of the Egypt campaign and in a perfect position to arrange for the untimely death of the king. Also helps to explain his “lucky” run in with the conspirators to take out Bardya - because of his convenient position in Cambyses’ court, proactively taking charge of the guys who were going to overthrow the next king would draw a lot of attention to the possibility of his involvement in Cambyses’ death.

thanks for covering iranian history 💙💙💙

that has to be the best storytelling you have done, as long as i can remember! the fucking twist! amazing! really entertaining to watch!