Bardiya

Bardiya, also known as Smerdis or Tanyoxarces, was a son of Cyrus the Great and the younger brother of Cambyses II, both important Persian kings. There are different stories about his life. Some believe Bardiya ruled the Achaemenid Empire for a short time in 522 BCE. Others think he was replaced by a man called Gaumata, who claimed to be Bardiya. This person, sometimes named Sphendadates, was later removed from power by Darius the Great. The true story about Bardiya remains a mystery to historians.

Name and sources

The prince was known by several different names in ancient records. In the Behistun inscription by Darius the Great, his Persian name is Bardiya or Bardia. The writer Herodotus called him Smerdis, which is the most common Greek form of his name. Other writers used different versions of his name: Ctesias called him Tanyoxarces, Xenophon called him Tanooxares, and Justin and Aeschylus used names like Mergis and Merdis.

For a long time, historians mainly used the name Smerdis, but more recent books often use Bardiya.

Traditional view

The traditional view about Bardiya comes from old stories by writers like Herodotus and Ctesias. They all agree that someone pretending to be Bardiya took control of the kingdom after the death of King Cambyses II. This person was not really Bardiya but an imposter named Gaumata.

Bardiya was the younger son of Cyrus the Great and the brother of Cambyses II. Some stories say Cambyses killed Bardiya and kept it a secret. Others say Bardiya went to Egypt with Cambyses but was sent back home because of jealousy. Either way, the people did not know Bardiya had died.

In 522 BC, someone pretending to be Bardiya claimed to be the new king. Many people believed him, especially because he offered three years without taxes. Cambyses tried to stop him but died before he could. Seven noblemen, including Darius, later discovered the imposter and removed him from power. Darius then became the new king. The old stories differ on names and details, but they all describe how an imposter took the throne by pretending to be one of Cyrus’s sons.

Modern view

Most modern historians think that Darius's story might not be true. They believe that Bardiya, Cyrus the Great's real son, was the one who ruled for a few months in 522 BCE. They think the tale about someone else pretending to be Bardiya was made up by Darius to help him take the throne.

Some experts say this idea is just a creative story without strong proof. Still, many find it interesting because Darius needed a reason to claim the throne, especially since he wasn't a close relative to the previous rulers. There are some strange points in Darius's story, like how the person pretending to be Bardiya looked so much like him that even most of his wives didn’t notice, except for one queen. Darius also often claimed that his enemies were pretending to be others, which makes some people doubt his stories.

Aftermath

After Bardiya, another person claimed to be him and fought against Darius in eastern Persia. This person was defeated, captured, and removed.

Bardiya had one daughter named Parmys, who later married Darius the Great. Some documents from his time were found in Babylonia. Darius mentioned that Bardiya damaged some temples and took away property from people, and Darius fixed these things after becoming king.

Bardiya in fiction

The story of Bardiya is told in the historical novel Creation by Gore Vidal from 1981. In this book, a Persian nobleman in the court of Darius the Great learns that the person who ruled for a few months was the real Bardiya.

An "impostor Magian Smerdis" appears in a 1940 short story called Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius by Jorge Luis Borges. In this story, a reader finds a mention of Smerdis in a made-up nation described in an ordinary encyclopedia. The narrator uses the name Smerdis as a metaphor in the story.