“My father is Hystaspes; the father of Hystaspes was Arsames; the father of Arsames was Ariaramnes; the father of Ariaramnes was Teispes; the father of Teispes was Achaemenes. That is why we are called Achaemenids; from antiquity we have been noble; from antiquity has our dynasty been royal. Eight of my dynasty were kings before me; I am the ninth. Nine in succession we have been kings.”
Behistun Inscription, Darius I Ochus 465-408 BC
There is little consensus among scholars regarding the origin of the Aryan people who populated Media, Persia, and possibly northern India; however, their empires hold a vital place in world history. The best primary sources that we have are the ones written by the kings and royal houses over the ages. The secondary sources of information are questionable at best, and include mythology and fables that have little use to a serious scholar of history. In this study we will focus our attention on a combination of primary sources (eye witness accounts), and inspired scripture.
The Aryan peoples coalesced into a united kingdom sometime around 675 BC in the land known today as Iran (the word “Iran” is the same as “Aryan”). The first king was Teispes Deioces who ruled until his death around 640 BC. It is important to remember that dates from that far back in history are never exact as the method for reckoning time has not been consistent. The methods for determining what year in our modern AD/BC years is not simple and always requires assumptions.
As it is with many ancient kingdoms, the kings added a royal name in front of their given name when they took the throne, as well as a special royal title. When these names are transliterated into other languages (we are using the Greek transliteration of most names), they can appear very different from their original language, which has caused much confusion in the kings lists in some secondary historical sources. Also, the titles the kings took have been mistaken as names, adding further confusion—more on this later.
One of the primary sources we have used to determine our version of the Achaemenid Kings List is the Behistun Inscription, which is a trilingual inscription in the side of a rock face near the modern city of Kermanshah in western Iran. It was carved by Darius I the Great 465 to 408 BC. You can see on our Kings list that Darius I was the ninth king in the Achaemenid Dynasty, excluding Achaemenes himself, which is consistent with the Behistun Inscription. Why would Darius exclude Achaemenes when he counted the kings of his dynasty? We aren’t completely sure; however, the Cyrus Cylinder, a clay cylinder found in the ruins of Babylon and containing the genealogy of Cyrus II the Great, also skips Achaemenes and names Teispes the first king of the city of Anshan. Teispes then united the Aryan people and started the Aryan Empire. The Cyrus Cylinder gives the kings list of Persia as Teispes, Cyrus I, Cambyses I, then Cyrus II.
In the Behistun Inscription, Darius used the throne names of his predecessors, and we believe that Darius was his throne name as well, his given name being Ochus. The throne name is the name that has a number designator after it, such as Cyrus I and Cyrus II. We see this also in the Ptolemies of Egypt and many other kingdoms throughout history.
“My father is Hystaspes; the father of Hystaspes was Arsames; the father of Arsames was Ariaramnes; the father of Ariaramnes was Teispes; the father of Teispes was Achaemenes. That is why we are called Achaemenids; from antiquity we have been noble; from antiquity has our dynasty been royal. Eight of my dynasty were kings before me; I am the ninth. Nine in succession we have been kings.” —Behistun Inscription
Stephen D. Anderson makes an excellent argument for “Hystaspes” being the “Darius the Mede” of the Book of Daniel in his Ph.D theses, Darius the Mede: A Reappraisal; we highly recommend any serious researcher to read it. We have made a spreadsheet showing Stephen’s version of the kings list. We believe the kings he has listed under Media and those listed in the left column under Teispes are actually the same kings.
Most historians include the names Cyaxares, Xerxes, and Artaxerxes as kings in their Achaemenid kings lists, however, we believe these to be titles rather than names. Also, when we look closer at the name Achaemenes, we see it is the Old-Persian ksha manah, meaning “intelligent king.” Which leads us to believe that it may not have been the given name of the father of Teispes, but rather a title he took.
The word “Ahasuerus” is Strong’s h325 אחשורוש, or shortened to אחשרש, of Persian origin; Achashverosh (i.e. Ahasuerus or Artaxerxes, but in this case Xerxes), the title (rather than name) of a Persian king: —Ahasuerus.
According to the Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon, Astyages was the father of Darius the Mede, which is where we have him on our kings list as well. We also see that the term Xerxes was discovered to be the old-Persian word Khshyar-ksha, which means “lion-king.” Therefore, we find that Ahasuerus and Xerxes are the title Lion-king, and it is our belief that “Cyaxares” is the same word inverted to ksha-khshyar.
In scripture, we find the title Ahasuerus given to the kings of the Median and Persian empires.
Ezra 4:6 And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the people of Judah and Jerusalem.
Esther 1:1-2 And it happened, in the days of Ahasuerus—he is Ahasuerus who reigned from India even to Ethiopia, over a hundred and twenty-seven provinces—in those days when King Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom in Shushan the palace.
Daniel 9:1-2 In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans.
As we see from Wikipedia, the prefix “arta” in Old-Persian means righteous. Therefore, it is our belief that “Artaxerxes” is a title meaning “Righteous Lion-king”.
Historians are divided on the relationship between Media and Persia. It is our belief that after the death of Teispes, the two kingdoms existed as two halves of the divided Aryan Empire. Where the two halves of the Achaemenid Dynasty ruled in cooperation, similar to a confederation, with the king that was the older family member as the head of the Dynasty. Ariaramnes was likely much older than his brother, Cyrus I, as Cyrus’ son married Ariaramnes’ granddaughter. Cyrus I lived long past his brother and became the head of the Dynasty at Ariaramnes’ death in 590 BC. When Cyrus I died in 570 BC, the headship passed to his son, Cambyses I. However, when Cambyses I died in 533 BC, the headship passed over to the Median king, Hystaspes Darius (the Mede), who was older than the new Persian king, Cyrus II.
Scripture supports Media and Persia being two separate kingdoms.
Daniel 5:28 …your kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.
Daniel 8:20 The ram which you saw with two horns is the kings of Media and Persia.
Esther 1:19 If it please the king, let there be a royal decree from him, and let it be written among the laws of Persia and Media so that it shall not pass away…
An ancient document called the Harran Stele, from the court of Nabonidus, king of Babylon, says that Nabonidus’ enemies are the kings of Egypt, Media, and Arabia, not mentioning Persia at all. It seems unreasonable to think that he would not know who his enemies were, or who had control over the Medes and Persians when they conquered his kingdom.
In 504 BC, when Babylon was conquered, Hystaspes Darius was king of Media, and Cyrus II (the Great) was king of Persia. We believe that Hystaspes Darius was the head of the Achaemenid Dynasty, while Cyrus was the general of the Medo-Persian army. This would explain why some sources credit Cyrus with conquering Babylon, while others credit Darius. As an example:
Daniel 5:31 And Darius the Mede took the kingdom, being a son of sixty-two years.
Daniel 6:9 All on account of this, King Darius signed the document and the ban.
Whereas, the Nabonidus Chronicle, an ancient Babylonian text, describes the conquest of Babylon by the Persian king Cyrus the Great.
Other archaeological evidence supporting a confederation of Media and Persia, comes from the bas-reliefs in the stairway at Persepolis. These show no distinction in official rank or status between the Persian and Median nobility.
Hystaspes Darius died in 502 BC, we believe his son, Ochus was not old enough to rule, and this is why Cyrus II who historians believe was around forty years old at the time, took control of both the Median and Persian empires. However, once Ochus came of age, he married Cyrus II’s daughter and took the throne of Media as Darius I Ochus.
When Cyrus II died in 473 BC, his son Cambyses II became king of Persia. Just eight years later, Cambyses died without an heir, and Darius I became king of both Media and Persia, uniting the Aryan Kingdom. Darius I’s son, Darius II Arses, was the rightful heir of both the Median and Persian halves of the Aryan Empire as he was Cyrus II’s grandson.
And now I will declare to you the truth: Behold, three kings will yet stand up in Persia. And the fourth shall be rich in all greater riches…
Daniel 11:2
Yeshua tells Daniel that there will be four more kings of the Aryan Empire after Cyrus II the Great, then the king of Greece will come. We believe that scripture is the inerrant inspired word of YHWH. After removing the Cyaxares, Xerxes, and Artaxerxes kings from the Achaemenid kings list, there are exactly four kings remaining after Cyrus II: Cambyses II, Darius I Ochus, Darius II Arses, and Darius III Arsames.
Darius III Arsames was the final king of the Achaemenid Dynasty. Alexander the Great of Greece conquered the Aryan Empire in 330 BC, just as Yeshua had prophesied in Daniel 10.
And He said, Do you know why I have come to you? And now I will return to fight with the ruler of Persia. And when I have gone out, then, lo, the ruler of Greece shall come.
Daniel 10:20
May you be blessed by this study. Shalom.