ABSTRACT
The conflict over the succession and *Cambyses’ death brought Darius I to the Achaemenid throne; during his long reign, he devoted much time and energy to the organisation of his great empire.
He appears to have taken a considerable interest in Egypt’s ancient civilisation and, unlike other *Persian rulers, he actively tried to promote Egypt’s own interests. One of his first acts was to send a satrap (governor) to Egypt to bring together the wisest amongst the soldiers, priests and scribes so that they could write down and preserve the country’s laws down to Year 44 of the reign of *Amasis. This information is inscribed on the back of a much later papyrus known as the ’Demotic Chronicle’, and there are comments on the role of Darius as a great law-giver in another source-the writings of the Classical author *Diodorus Siculus (i:95).
