Kings and Generals: In our new animated historical documentary we will talk about the king of the Achaemenid Empire Darius I and his ascension to the throne. Assassination, intrigue and cover-ups, what more could we want in a story about Imperial succession? The First Persian Empire was one of the greatest and most labyrinthine empires that ever existed. An expertly organised economy, a relatively tolerant and lenient provincial system, along with other groundbreaking advances in human civilisation was combined with some of the most scandalous and bloody court politics in the history of the world. Much of ancient Persia’s prominence and prosperity was made possible by one man, perhaps the most competent ruler Persia ever produced - Darius I, or ‘the Great’. How this figure came to power is not a well known story, but it is one of the most obscure and colourful tales we can gather from the ancient sources. Welcome to our video on Darius the Great and how he rose to become the King of Kings.