Darius I 'the Great,' son of Hystaspes, king of Persia 522-486 BC — the emperor by whose regnal years Haggai and Zechariah date every oracle. He seized the throne in the chaos after Cambyses died and spent his first two years crushing revolts across the empire, a campaign he had carved in three languages on the cliff at BEHISTUN. In his second year (520) the temple work resumes; when Judah's enemies protest, Darius has the archives searched, finds Cyrus's original decree at Ecbatana, and orders the rebuilding funded from the royal treasury (Ezra 6) — so the house is finished in his sixth year, 516 BC. ⚠ He is a different king from Darius the Mede of Daniel, and from Darius II; the shared name is why this Persian Darius must claim the word here, so it is not mistaken for the figure in Daniel.