Person

Bardiya

d. 522 BCE · 6th century BCE · Also known as Smerdis, Tanyoxarces, Bardia, Gaumata

Bardiya, called Smerdis by Herodotus, was a son of Cyrus the Great and the younger brother of Cambyses II, both Persian kings. Views of him are sharply divided: either he ruled the Achaemenid Empire for a few months in 522 BCE, or he had been secretly killed by Cambyses and was impersonated by a magus called Gaumata. The second version is that of Darius the Great's Behistun Inscription, Herodotus and Ctesias, in which seven nobles killed the ruler in September 522 BCE and Darius took the throne. Most modern historians assume that the man who ruled was the real Bardiya and that Darius invented the impostor to justify his seizure of the throne. Bardiya's only daughter, Parmys, married Darius.

Bardiya
Image: Unknown artist Unknown artist ⧼for⧽ Darius I · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Bardiya. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/bardiya
MLA
“Bardiya.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/bardiya. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Bardiya.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/bardiya.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Bardiya’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/bardiya (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻