Darius III of Persia

Darius III or Codomannus(c. 380 - 330 BC), king of Persia from 336 BC to 330 BC.

After the eunuch Bagoas murdered Artaxerxes III[?] (338 BC) and his son Arses (336 BC), he raised a distant relative of the royal house to the throne. This was Codomannus, who according to Justin x. 3 has excelled in a war against the Cadusians[?] (cf. Diod. xvii. 5 if., where his father is called Arsames, son of Ostanes, a brother of Artaxerxes). The new king, who adopted the name of Darius, took warning by the fate of his predecessors and saved himself from it by forcing Bagoas to drink the cup himself. Already in 336 BC Philip II of Macedon had sent an army into Asia Minor, and in the spring of 334 BC the campaign of Alexander began. In the following year Darius himself took the field against the Macedonian king, but was beaten at Issus and in 331 BC at Arbela[?]. In his flight ot the east he was deposed and killed by Bessus in July 330 BC.