The Death of Darius III

In the early Summer of 330, Alexander hunted down the Persian king Darius III Codomannus. His courtiers arrested, perhaps because they thought that extraditing him would guarantee their own lives, or perhaps because they wanted to choose a new, stronger king. However, Alexander was too close to deliberate, and when the first Macedonian horsemen appeared, the Persian courtiers decided to kill their king. A relative of Darius, Bessus, became the new king under the name of Artaxerxes V. Darius was murdered in the desert east of modern Tehran ancient Rhagae). He was fifty years old. The following description is taken from the Anabasis (section 3.21.6-22.2) by Arrian of Nicomedia; it was translated by Aubrey de Sélincourt.

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