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SMERDIS (Pers. Bardiya; by Ctesias, P...

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 253 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SMERDIS (Pers. Bardiya; by See also:Ctesias, Pers. 8, called Tanyoxarces; by See also:Xenophon, Cyrop. viii. 7. 11, who takes the name from Ctesias, Tanaoxares; by See also:Justin i. 9, Mergis; in See also:Aeschylus, Pers. 774, Mardos) , a See also:Persian See also:king of infamous memory; the prevalent See also:Greek See also:form Smerdis has assimilated the Persian name to the Greek (See also:Asiatic) name Smerdis or Smerdies, which occurs in the poems of See also:Alcaeus and See also:Anacreon. Smerdis was the younger son of See also:Cyrus the See also:Great who, according to Ctesias, on his deathbed appointed him See also:governor of the eastern provinces (cf. Xen. Cyrop. viii. 7, 11). Before See also:Cambyses set out to See also:Egypt, he secretly caused him to be murdered (See also:Darius in the See also:Behistun Inscr. i.

10), being afraid that he might See also:

attempt a See also:rebellion during his See also:absence. His See also:death was not known to the See also:people, and so in the See also:spring of 522 a usurper pretended to be Smerdis and proclaimed himself king on a See also:mountain near the Persian See also:town Pishiyauvada. Owing to the despotic See also:rule of Cambyses and his See also:long absence in Egypt, " the whole people, Persians, Medes and all the other nations," acknowledged the usurper, especially as he granted a remission of taxes for three years (See also:Herod. iii. 68). Cambyses began to See also:march against him, but seeing that his cause was hopeless, killed himself in the spring of 521 (but see further CAMBYSES). The real name of the usurper was, as Darius tells us, Gaumata, a Magian See also:priest from See also:Media; this name has been preserved by Justin i. 9 (from See also:Charon of See also:Lampsacus?), but given to his See also:brother (called by See also:Herodotus Patizeithes), who is said to have been the real See also:promoter of the intrigue; the true name of the usurper is here given as Oropastes; by Ctesias as Sphendadates. The See also:history of the false Smerdis is narrated by Herodotus and Ctesias according to See also:official traditions; Cambyses before his death confessed to the See also:murder of his brother, and in public explained the whole See also:fraud. But, as Darius said, nobody had the courage to oppose the new king, who ruled for seven months over the whole See also:empire. Some contracts dating from his reign have been found in Babylonia, where his name is spelt Barziya (for the See also:chronology cf. Ed. See also:Meyer, Forschungen zur See also:alien Geschichte, ii.

472 ff.). Darius says that he destroyed some temples, which Darius restored, and took away the herds and houses of the people (Behistun Inscr. i. 14). We have no means of explaining this statement, nor can we fully understand all the incidents connected with his usurpation; but the attempts of See also:

modern authors to prove that Gaumata in reality was the genuine Smerdis and Darius a usurper have failed. It is certain that Smerdis transferred the seat of See also:government to Media; and here in a See also:castle in the See also:district of Nisaya he was surprised and killed by Darius and his six associates in See also:October 521. His death was annually celebrated in See also:Persia by a feast called " the killing of the magian," at which no magian was allowed to show himself (Herod. iii. 79, Ctes. Pers. 15). In the next See also:year, another pseudo-Smerdis, named Vahyazdata, See also:rose against Darius in eastern Persia and met with great success. But he was finally defeated, taken prisoner and executed (Behistun Inscr. iii. 40 ff.; perhaps he is identical with the King Maraphis " the Maraphian," name of a Persian tribe,who occurs as successor in the See also:list of Persian See also:kings given by Aeschylus, Pers.

778). See DARIUS (I.) and PERSIA, See also:

Ancient History. (ED.

End of Article: SMERDIS (Pers. Bardiya; by Ctesias, Pers. 8, called Tanyoxarces; by Xenophon, Cyrop. viii. 7. 11, who takes the name from Ctesias, Tanaoxares; by Justin i. 9, Mergis; in Aeschylus, Pers. 774, Mardos)

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