Strangest Unconfirmed Ancient Fact

>>3124263
What? Its really not that uncommon for the sons of monarchs to quell and even commit fratricide to gain the throne/become their father's successors; so this alone is not in any way strange or weird. For my money's worth, I don't think Darius would've intentionally had Cambyses, his cousin, killed. Darius was already likely in line given he was from a cadet branch of the Achaemenid line who served as kavi (kinglets) and acted as the earliest of governors and nobles to swear loyalty to Cyrus during the Persian Revolt and on top of that was the personal squire and attendant/aide. The only issue is if the "Baridya" aka Smerdis was in fact an imposter or the real deal. Since the mainstream view is Cambyses took an injury and died of likely a septic wound, it would naturally fall to Darius to inherit the throne and put the imposter to the sword.

>series of political intrigues within the roman empire lead to a 14 year old Syrian priest landing on the throne
>he doesn't consider his position as emperor to be an impediment to him continuing to be a priest, even though his faith is a foreign one to the itlians
>builds huge new temple in Rome to his god, has the sacred relics of his religion shipped over to Rome and forces all the patricians to partake in its rituals
>spends more time and energy as a priest than he does as an emperor
>since he's 14 he has a voracious and bizarre sexual appetite, while lacking any discretion at all
>goes around the city in cognito prostituting himself
>orders his body guards to fuck him
>tells the roman senate that he wants to become a woman and is applauded for it, offers a fortune to any doctor who can invent a sex-change procedure

>>3124263
Come on, I seriously doubt anyone believes that poor Bardiya/Smerdis was a fake and Darius was the hero who defeated the evil mage imposter. The whole story about Cambyses killing his brother but keeping his death in secret is retarded, if Cambyses wanted to kill his brother he would've found a legal pretext (he's the king) or feigned an accident.

Now, I don't know why would you believe that Darius killed Cambyses.

>>3126315
Well I'll agree that Darius definitely did not kill or assassinate Cambyses.

>>3126315
Well if we take a cui bono stance on it, everything seemed to line up miraculously well for Darius. Considering he was at the king's side on campaign and no one really knows for sure how he died, its a possibility. Remember that according to all sources, Cambyses was really unpopular and Darius turned out to be a really, really good king. Covering it up back then with how slowly information traveled is pretty easy to do with the right support.

The thing is nobody really knows and those are just the three most likely options. Of course, the only evidence for Bardiya being a mage is a propaganda piece on a mountain probably written by Darius but when you consider Bardiya was ruling the Empire's central Asian lands, nobody out in the heart of Persia would really know what he looked like. It wouldn't be too hard for some noble with a lot of backing to pass himself off with the help of his supporters. But it's all up in the air and speculating on the validity of ancient history is half the fun of it.

>unconfirmed
>fact

>>3126239
Caligula?

>>3127467
no, elagabalus
http://www.roman-empire.net/decline/elagabalus.html

makes for some interesting reading

>>3126239
>>3127484

>prostituting himself in the taverns and brothels of Rome. Meanwhile he would often arrange it to be caught by Hierocles, who would then be expected to punish him for his behaviour with a severe beating


lel

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>>3124263
And then there is cyrus daughter Atossa, sister of cambyses and wife (incest was seen as prestigous in zoro times) became the wife of bardiya when cambyses died in egypt. But she was also the wife of the bardiya that claimed the throne (mage or not). And them when darius took the throne he married her.

She lived to see her father kiilled by a nomad queen of cucking, her brothers and husbands die to ancient shenanigans, while having a sort of breast cancer. Poor bitch

>>3128243
>She lived to see her father kiilled by a nomad queen of cucking
Herodotus made that up

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>>3129349
I'll make you up you little bitch

>>3127405
Yeah, but HOW did Cambyses manage to slay Bardiya without anybody knowing he was dead? It's just too controverted to be true.

Darius was great, but he was more than likely an usurper.

>>3129520
He himself doesn't paint the tale as reliable, and he's the only source to mention it (not counting those based on him). Others state that Cyrus died of old age.

>>3129349
>>3129520
Herodotus pretty much outright admits the story is likely untrue.

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>>3129520
>tfw you are a figment of Herodotus' imagination