Darius II

The ninth Achaemenid emperor (423–404 BC)

  • Fame55.1
  • Momentum0.2
  • Wikipedia12.9K
Source-basedStable
Lived -475–-404, aged 71
  • Wikipedia
    56 languages
    Cross-language footprint
  • Era
    -475–-404
    Aged 71
Summary
Updated 2026-06-08

An Achaemenid king who took the throne through bloodshed after his father's death and kept it only by leaning on his wife. Greek sources tagged him "the Bastard" — a reference to the legitimacy questions that shadowed his entire reign.

Biography

About

When Artaxerxes I died in 424 or 423 BC, his sons turned on each other. Ochus won the struggle and took the throne name Darius, though whispers about his lineage never stopped. His nineteen years as King of Kings were spent putting down revolts from his own satraps and meddling in the Peloponnesian War tearing through Greece. He ruled heavily under the influence of his wife Parysatis, and the palace historian Ctesias recorded harem intrigues in which Darius played an ugly role. The Elephantine papyri place him alongside the high priest Johanan; he may be the Darius named in Haggai, Zechariah,…

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Score breakdown

The six component signals behind the Fame score, and their ranks across the leaderboards.

Fame
Stable
55.1
Composite of search demand, mentions, audience & graph footprint.
Score components
Momentum0.2
Historical23.1
Source confidence60.0
Completeness60.0
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Category rank
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Sources

  • Wikidata
    wikidata · wikidata.org
    High confidence
  • Wikipedia
    wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
    High confidence
  • Pantheon 2.0
    database · pantheon.world
    High confidence