A Short History of the World in 50 Lies

by Natasha Tidd

But killing your brother tends to come with consequences. For Cambyses, this was that when he died, in July 522 BC, there was no direct heir to take his place. With the role of ruler up for grabs, a very unusual frontrunner appeared – Bardiya. Of course, this wasn’t the real Bardiya, but a fake in the form of a magus called Gaumāta, who in early 522 BC had begun impersonating him. While Cambyses was in Egypt, this fake Bardiya was back in Persia rallying support against his ‘brother’, leading to a short-lived rebellion that was quelled when Cambyses died and the usurper Bardiya was crowned King of Kings. For those who had been close to Cambyses II, this was an injustice that could not stand – they knew that the real Bardiya had been secretly killed and so this new king had no right to rule and could jeopardize the entire empire. In September 522 BC, Cambyses’s lance bearer, Darius, led a group of men to entrap and murder Gaumāta. With the false king dead, Darius had saved the Achaemenid Empire and was duly crowned its new ruler, Darius the Great.