Did you know that Darius III was a postman before his reign?

[Cyrus]

t is an article in Persian language about it: http://www.chn.ir/shownews.asp?no=16444

[marcus]

Hi Cyrus,Is there any chance you could provide a quick precis? I'm working on my Persian, but this is well beyond me! :-)All the bestMarcus

[jan]

Hi Marcus,
I am just laughing...can't help it! Thanks for helping those of us blind and deaf in Arabic language. Jan

[Cyrus]

The title of this article is "Darius, a courier who became a king" but it talks generally about Angaria (ancient Persian postal system), it says in Achaemenid period, imperial couriers were usually selected among princes and reliable relatives, and Darius was one of them.

[Cyrus]

Arabic Language?!!

[marcus]

Thanks, Cyrus.I can't help laughing, though - first of all I wondered whether it was a typographical mistake in the newspaper, and should have read "courtier". That wouldn't be so strange in an English newspaper!All the bestMarcus

[dean]

Hello,I realise that the following has little to do with the aforementioned but it is about Darius. My reading for the past couple of days has been Alexander the Great- A historical biography by Green. One of the things that he affirms is that in spite of the general perception of Darius III Codoman- he was a damned good strategist- as was seen in Issus.
Probably fiction, but also was said that Darius was responsible for a thigh wound inflicted on Alexander during the battle.Best regards,
Dean.

[marcus]

Hi Dean,I agree - I've never made the mistake of underestimating Darius.Plutarch (I think, off the top of my head) does indeed say that Darius inflicted Alexander's thigh wound. He does follow it up, however, by saying that in his letter to Antipater, Alexander didn't say who gave him the wound. The inference appears to be that Plutarch isn't convinced - and certainly I would have thought that, had it been Darius, Alexander would have said so. I also think it's highly suspect because I doubt Alexander got that close to Darius before D. decided it was time to make his exit.All the bestMarcus

[marcus]

I wondered whether you'd pick Jan up on that, Cyrus! :-)However, to be fair, it is the same script (admittedly with a few different letters - don't worry, I know that much! ). All the bestMarcus

[ancientlibrary]

It certainly is an attractive theory. Certainly the
current US Post Office couldn't win the battle of
Gaugamela, no matter how many men they had.
I dozen guys from FedEx and it would be all
over. And Alexander's letter to Darius? I bet we
find it stashed in a warehouse in New Jersey
some day.

[marcus]

LOL :-)The UK postal system isn't much better - they'd turn up 3 days late to the battle, and probably would have ended up in completely the wrong place.Still, in my experience of courier companies, I'm not sure they'd fare much better ...I do rather like the idea of Darius as a postman, though - being chased down the street by a vicious dog, no doubt ...All the bestMarcus

[Cyrus]

You are right, the winner of that battle was the tiny army of Bin Laden with some anthrax letters!