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For other Persians named Ochus, see Ochus (disambiguation)
Darius II, originally called
Ochus and often surnamed
Nothus (from
Greek νοθος, meaning 'bastard'), was king of the
Persian Empire from
423 BC to
404 BC.
Artaxerxes I, who died shortly after
December 24, 424 BC, was followed by his son
Xerxes II. After a month and a half Xerxes II was murdered by his brother Secydianus or
Sogdianus (the form of the name is uncertain). His illegitimate brother, Ochus,
satrap of
Hyrcania, rebelled against Sogdianus, and after a short fight killed him, and suppressed by treachery the attempt of his own brother Arsites to imitate his example. Ochus adopted the name Darius (in the chronicles he is called
Nothos, meaning "the bastard"). Neither Xerxes II nor Secydianus occurs in the dates of the numerous
Babylonian tablets from
Nippur; here the reign of Darius II follows immediately after that of Artaxerxes I.
Of Darius's reign historians know very little (a rebellion of the
Medes in 409 BC is mentioned by
Xenophon), except that he was quite dependent on his wife
Parysatis. In the excerpts from
Ctesias some
harem intrigues are recorded, in which he played a disreputable part. As long as the power of
Athens remained intact he did not meddle in
Greek affairs; even the support which the Athenians in 413 BC gave to the rebel Amorges in
Caria would not have roused him, had not the Athenian power been broken in the same year before
Syracuse. He gave orders to his satraps in
Asia Minor, Tissaphernes and
Pharnabazus, to send in the overdue tribute of the Greek towns, and to begin a war with Athens; for this purpose they entered into an alliance with Sparta. In 408 BC he sent his son Cyrus to Asia Minor, to carry on the war with greater energy. In 404 BC Darius II died after a reign of nineteen years, and was followed by
Artaxerxes II.
