while the enemy threatened the land could not have inspired admiration for him. It is wrong to suppose that Nabuû-na'id had neglected to construct temples and fortifications for his capital. Nabû-na'id speaks of himself, as well as of his predecessor, as the "restorer of Esagila and Ezida;" and the bricks which bear his name show that he expended great care upon the fortifications of Babylon.
Darius.
The statements of Herodotus concerning the history of Darius are confirmed in all essential particulars by the great inscription of Behistan, which was compiled in three languages—Persian, Median-Elamite, and Babylonian that it might be understood all over the empire.[1]
The chief events which come to our notice are the murder of Smerdis by his brother, Cambyses; the reign of the false Smerdis; the accession of Darius to the throne; the rebellions in the Persian empire, especially at Babylon; and the conquest of Babylon. After the death of Cyrus, Cambyses, the elder of his two sons, ascended the throne. Before his invasion of Egypt he had his younger brother, Smerdis,[2] murdered. No one knew of his death except two magi, who
- ↑ The Persian text is published in "Die alt-persischen Keilinschriften," von Fr. Spiegel, 1882; "Old Persian Inscriptions," by Herbert Gushing Tolman, American Book Co., 1892; "Die alt-persischen Keilinschriften," von F. H. Weissbach und W. Bang, 1893-94. The Median-Elamite in " Die Achaemeniden-inschriften Zweiter Art," von F. H. Weissbach, 1890. The Babylonian in "Die Achaemeniden-inschriften," von Carl Bezold.
- ↑ Hdt, III., 30. Behistan, I., 10: "Afterwards Cambyses slew that Bardiya (Smerdis)," etc.
