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Darius. A careful study of App-57 will show that this "Darius the Median" of Dan_5:31 is the Artaxerxes (the great king) of Neh_2:1 and Ezr_6:14, and the Ahasuerus of Est_1:1. These names are all used of one and the same person; and by comparison of the Median kings, according to Herodotus, compared with the genealogy of Cyrus in his Cuneiform Cylinder, the important fact becomes clear that this man was ASTYAGES; and the names ARSAMES = CAMBYSES, common to Herodotus, the Behistun Rock, and the Cylinder of Cyrus, all refer to one and the same person. If this be so, and ASTYAGES is to be identified with "DARIUS the Median", then all difficulty vanishes. The Scripture record harmonizes exactly with the accounts given in the three sources named above; and we have the real clue to the parentage of Cyrus the Great (App-57). If this be not so, then "Darius the Median" remains an insoluble riddle to history and chronology alike, for there can be found no place for him on the page of history.
an hundred and twenty. Darius Hystaspis, in his inscription on the Behistun Rock (App-57), enumerates twenty-three names. This number was continually altered according to historical changes and conquests. In Est_1:10, Est_1:13, Est_1:14, there were seven when Astyages took the kingdom; but he added 120 more (Dan_6:1), and made 127 (Est_1:1; Est_8:9; Est_9:30).
princes = satraps. As in Dan_3:2.