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Hystaspes

Persian noble of the Achaemenid clan and father of Darius I, 6th century BCE

In the game: Level 2: The Spear-bearer

Hystaspes, in Old Persian Vishtaspa, was the father of Darius I and a Persian noble whose life spanned the reigns of Cyrus, Cambyses and Darius. Darius named him first in his genealogy. In 521 Hystaspes led the fight against rebels in Parthia during the wars that secured his son's throne. Herodotus says his other son Artaphernes later governed Sardis.

In the game: The game's chronicle note says he governed Parthia under Darius. Behistun only places him in Parthia leading troops in 521 and gives him no title, and Herodotus calls him governor in Persis in 522.

His place in Darius's lineage

In the record

At the start of the Behistun inscription Darius calls himself son of Vishtaspa, son of Arshama (Arsames), son of Ariyaramna, son of Chishpish, son of Hakhamanish (Achaemenes). Hystaspes is never called king. In a foundation charter from Susa, Darius states that his father and his grandfather Arsames were both still alive when Auramazda made him king.

DB §1-2; DSf

Fighting the rebels in Parthia

In the record

Behistun records that Parthia and Hyrcania joined the Median rebel Fravartish in 521. Hystaspes was in Parthia, and the people there turned against him. He fought the rebels at Vishpauzatish. Darius then sent him a Persian army from Raga, and he defeated them again at Patigrabana, ending the revolt in that region.

DB §35-37

Cyrus's dream of the winged Darius

Later legend

Herodotus says Hystaspes, son of Arsames, marched with Cyrus against the Massagetae. Cyrus dreamed that the young Darius had wings that shaded Asia and Europe, and took it as a sign of a plot. He sent Hystaspes home to Persia to hold his son until the King returned. Herodotus adds that the dream really foretold Cyrus's own death. It reads as a prophecy shaped after Darius came to power.

Herodotus 1.209-210

What office he held

Disputed

Herodotus says that in 522 Hystaspes was governor of the Persians, meaning Persis, when Darius came to Susa to join the conspirators. Behistun shows him in Parthia a year later but gives no title. Many historians think he governed Parthia and Hyrcania, while others see him only as a commander there. Some also question how closely Darius's branch was related to Cyrus's, and think the shared ancestor Achaemenes was stressed to strengthen the new king's claim.

Herodotus 3.70; DB §35; P. Briant, From Cyrus to Alexander, 2002

A death at the royal tomb

Later legend

Ctesias, writing about a century later, says Darius's parents wanted to see the rock tomb being cut for the King. The priests hauling them up the cliff were frightened by snakes and let go of the ropes, and both died. No Persian source confirms the story, and Ctesias is often unreliable.

Ctesias, Persica (epitome of Photius)