Hystaspes (father of Darius I)

Vishtaspa (fl. 550 BC), known under his Hellenized name Hystaspes (Ὑστάσπης), was a Persian satrap of Bactria and Persis, and the father of Darius I of Persia.

The son of Arsames, Hystaspes was a member of the Persian royal house of the Achaemenids. He was satrap of Persis under Cambyses, and probably under Cyrus the Great also. He accompanied Cyrus on his expedition against the Massagetae. But he was sent back to Persis, to keep watch over his eldest son Darius, whom Cyrus, in consequence of a dream, suspected of considering treason.

Besides Darius, Hystaspes had two sons, Artabanus and Artanes.^[1] Ammianus Marcellinus^[2] makes him a chief of the Magians, and tells a story of his studying in India under the Brahmins. His name occurs in the inscriptions at Persepolis.^[3]

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Philip Smith (1870). "Hystaspes". In Smith, William. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology 2. p. 545.