The Twitter Herodotus

3.81 Megabyzus wanted an oligarchy. He agreed that monarchies were bad but said rule by the mob is likewise unrestrained & given to outrage.

3.82 But Darius argued that they should keep the monarchy: the Persians had been freed by one man; they should remain free through one man.

3.83 Darius' opinion won the day. It was likely that 1 of the 7 would become king. Otanes did not want to rule & withdrew from the running.

3.84 The king wd be whoever's horse whinnied 1st at dawn. The others wd be able to enter palace unannounced unless the king was w/a woman.

3.85 Darius fixed the contest with his groom. The groom let Darius' stallion mount a mare where the conspirators would ride in the morning.

3.86 In the A.M. Darius' horse whinnied on cue, an omen underscored by a flash of lightning. The runners-up did obeisance to their new king.

3.87 Another version of the story has the groom there giving Darius’ horse his hand to smell, as he’d rubbed it on a mare’s loins.

3.88 So Darius became king. He married the two daughters of Cyrus (Atossa & Artystone) as well as the daughters of Smerdis and Otanes.

3.89 He then organized the Persian empire into twenty provinces, or satrapies, and assessed the taxes due annually from each nation.

3.90 The 1st province, for example, paid 400 talents of silver annually. #2 500 talents. #3 360 talents. #4 500 talents & 360 white horses.