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Smerdis of Persia

Smerdis, Bardiya or Bardia (Bardiya) was a son of Cyrus the Great whose name was allegedly usurped by an impostor, a magi (member of the Medes' priestly caste) reportedly named Gaumata (Gaumāta). Smerdis/Gaumata reigned as a Persian king over the whole Achaemenid Empire for seven months, before he was killed by Darius I in 522 BC.

Name and sources

The prince's name is listed variously in the historical sources. His Persian name is Bardia; by Ctesias, Pers. 8, he is called Tonyoxarces; by Xenophon, Cyrop. Vin. 7.ii, who takes the name from Ctesias, he is called Tanooxares; by Justin i.9, Mergis; and in Aeschylus, Pers. 774, his name is Mardos. In the prevalent Greek form of his name, Smerdis, the Persian name has been assimilated to the Greek (Asiatic) name Smerdis or Smerdies, a name which also occurs in the poems of Alcaeus and Anacreon.

The son of Cyrus

Smerdis was the younger son of Cyrus the Great, who, according to Ctesias, on his deathbed appointed him governor of the eastern provinces (cf. Xen. Cyrop. vin. 7, if). According to his successor Darius (in the Behistun Inscription) and according to the Greek historian Herodotus: another of Cyrus's sons - Cambyses II - (before setting out for Egypt) secretly conspired for his brother to be murdered. This was because he was afraid that he might attempt a rebellion during his absence. Smerdis's death was not known to the people, and so in the spring of 522 BC a usurper, Gaumata, is said to have pretended to be Smerdis and proclaimed himself king on a mountain near the Persian town Paishiyauvada. According to Herodotus, the real Smerdis had only one daughter, called Parmys. She eventually married Darius I, to legitimize his claims to the throne.

The usurper

The despotic rule of Cambyses II, coupled with his long absence in Egypt, contributed to the fact that "the whole people, Persians, Medes and all the other nations," acknowledged the usurper [or indeed Smerdis himself], especially as he granted a remission of taxes for three years (Herod. iii.68). Cambyses began to march against him, but died in the spring of 522.

Darius claimed that the real name of the usurper was Gaumata, a Magian priest from Media; this name has been preserved by Justin i. 9 (from Charon of Lampsacus?), but given to his brother Cambyses (called Patizeithes by Herodotus), who is said to have been the real promoter of the intrigue; the name of the Magian usurper, according to Herodotus, was Oropastes. Alternatively, according to Ctesias, it was Sphendadates.

Historians are divided over the veracity of Darius' claim that Smerdis's kingship had been usurped by 'Gaumata'. Claims of the existence of a magian 'double' may have been invented by Darius to legitimate his own usurpation of the Persian throne.

His reign

The history of the 'false' Smerdis is narrated by Herodotus and Ctesias according to official traditions; Cambyses before his death supposedly confessed to the murder of his brother, and in public explained the whole fraud. But, as Darius said, nobody had the courage to oppose the new king, who ruled for seven months over the whole empire. It is certain that Smerdis transferred the seat of government to Media; and here in a castle in the district of Nisaya he was surprised and killed by Darius and his six associates in September 522.

Some contracts dating from his reign have been found in Babylonia, where his name is spelt Barziya. Darius says that Smerdis destroyed some temples, which Darius later restored. Smerdis also took away the herds and houses of the people, which Darius corrected once he gained the throne. (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 modern authors (Gore Vidal, Creation) to prove that Gaumata in reality was the genuine Smerdis and Darius a usurper have contributed to controversy over the usurpation.

Aftermath

In the next year, another pseudo-Smerdis, named Vahyazdāta rose against Darius in eastern Persia and met with great success. But he was finally defeated, taken prisoner and executed (Behistun Inscr. ~ 40 if.) Perhaps he is identical with the King Maraphis "the Maraphian," name of a Persian tribe, who occurs as successor in the list of Persian kings given by Aeschylus, Pers. 778. The death of the false Bardia was annually celebrated in Persia by a feast called “the killing of the magian," (Magiophani) at which no magian was allowed to show himself (Herod. ~ 79 Ctes. Pers. 15).