2 others in the registry answer to the name Darius. Every Darius in the Bible
- verses
- 8
- first named
- Daniel 5:31
- last named
- Daniel 11:1
- period
- Exile and Return
- tribe
- Persia
Description
Who was Darius?
Darius the Mede is mentioned in the Book of Daniel as the ruler who took over the Babylonian kingdom after the fall of Babylon to the Medo-Persian Empire. He is first introduced in Dan.5.31, which states that Darius the Mede received the kingdom at the age of sixty-two.
In Daniel 6, Darius is portrayed as the king who was manipulated by his officials into issuing a decree that prohibited prayer to anyone but him for thirty days. This decree led to Daniel being thrown into the lions' den when he was caught praying to God. However, God protected Daniel, and Darius, upon discovering Daniel's miraculous survival, issued a new decree acknowledging the power of Daniel's God (Dan.6.25-28).
Darius is also mentioned in Dan.9.1, which sets the context for Daniel's prayer of confession and supplication for his people. The chapter begins by stating that this event took place in the first year of Darius' reign.
In Dan.11.1, an angelic messenger refers to the first year of Darius the Mede, indicating that he had been supporting and protecting the prince of Persia.
The identity of Darius the Mede has been a subject of debate among scholars, as there is no clear historical record of a Median king ruling Babylon between the reigns of Belshazzar and Cyrus the Great. Some scholars suggest that Darius may have been a subordinate ruler or a governor under Cyrus, while others propose that the name may be a title or a reference to Cyrus himself. Despite the uncertainty surrounding his identity, the biblical account presents Darius the Mede as a significant figure in the early days of the Medo-Persian Empire and in the life of Daniel.
Relations
Direct connections
Every entity the graph places in a stated relation with this one, grouped by the kind of link. Each relation is authored once and its inverse derived, so both ends always agree. Rows marked “registry” come from the identity spine rather than from a verse, and a row marked “which bearer is the source’s decision” is one where the name could have meant more than one person. The last group is not a relation at all — it counts the events two entities stand in together.
Associated with
Child of
- AhasuerusregistryDaniel 9:1
- Vashtiregistry, no verse
Sibling of
- Artaxerxesregistry, no verse
Stands in the same events as
Places
Where this happens
The places the claims about this person reach, drawn where the gazetteer locates them. A point is where a row puts them and never where tradition does; no line joins two points, because the rows state where and not in what order.
The pattern
Where Darius is named
Every book of the corpus in the order it is read, each as wide as the chapters it holds. A bar is the verses of that book which write the name, and the flat stretches are as much of the answer as the bars.
8 verses across 1 of 66 books; 65 write the name nowhere. Named in Daniel (8).
Read it
Where to read it
Every verse of the text carried here that names this entity — 8, across 1 book.
Onward
Where this page goes
Not the direct relations above — these are one hop further out, ranked so that a rare shared connection outweighs a common one. Descriptions by STEPBible TIPNR.
Where they appear
Chapter by chapter
Atlas's reading of each chapter this person appears in, in canonical order. One line per chapter, and each leads to the whole of it.
- Daniel 5Darius the Mede received the kingdom at the age of sixty-two.
- Daniel 6Darius appoints satraps, signs the unchangeable decree, labors to rescue Daniel, and later proclaims the power of Daniel’s God.
- Daniel 9Darius, a Mede by descent, is made ruler over the kingdom of the Chaldeans.
- Daniel 11Darius was strengthened and protected by the speaker in his first year.
Sources