Darius the Mede

Darius the Mede is mentioned in the Book of Daniel as King of Babylon between Belshazzar and Cyrus the Great, but he is not known to secular history and there is no space in the historical timeline between those two verified rulers.

Most scholars view this Darius as a literary fiction, but some have tried to harmonize the Book of Daniel with history by identifying him with various known figures, notably Cyrus, Cyaxares, or Gobryas, the general who was first to enter Babylon when it fell to the Persians in 539 BCE.

The story concludes: "That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean (Babylonian) king was killed, and Darius the Mede received the kingdom.

Daniel continues to pray to the God of Israel, and Darius, although deeply distressed, must condemn him to be thrown into the lions' den because the edicts of the Medes and Persians cannot be altered.

[6] Their kingdom came to an end in 550 BCE (or 553 BC according to some sources), when it was conquered by Cyrus the Great, the Persian king of Anshan in south-western Iran.

Ugbaru is presumably the same person as the Gorbyras mentioned by the Greek historian Xenophon, a Babylonian provincial governor who switched to the Persian side.

Detail from the church of Lambrechtshagen, Germany, 1759: Daniel in the lions' den with Darius the Mede above.
The Persian invasion of Babylonia, September–October 539 BC, showing Gutium, Opis, and Babylon.
Gold Persian daric (with a purity of 95.83%) issued by Darius the Great, c. 490 BCE).