Persian king who consolidated the empire
Darius I
Active
522–486 BCE
He reorganized administration and roads, began a canal linking the Red Sea to the Mediterranean and allowed the Jerusalem Temple to be finished. He seems to have ordered local laws of communities in the empire, such as Egypt's, to be written down.
What the sources say
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4 statements
Cyrus's son Cambyses conquered Egypt, which gave Persia a bigger interest in the territory connecting Egypt with the rest of the empire, Yehud included. He died before reaching home, and his successor, Darius I (522 to 486 BCE), consolidated the empire: he reorganized administration, expanded roads and started a waterway linking the Red Sea to the Mediterranean.
Darius's permission to finish the Temple, begun under Cyrus but halted under Cambyses, may have been part of that effort: a way of binding Yehud more closely to Persian rule by sponsoring Jerusalem and its temple.
The book illustrates the chapter with a relief sculpture of King Darius the Great (figure 2.2).
To hold the empire together, Darius I evidently sought to codify the local laws of his subject communities. A document from Egypt suggests he told his satrap to assemble a panel of Egyptian wise men who would write down all of Egypt's ancient laws, whether civil, priestly or private.