What did people think of king Darius?

Answer 1

I am not sure what you are asking. If you mean "did people like him?", then the answer is some did and some didn't. If you mean who do they think he was and how did he come to the throne, then the answer is more interesting.

Wikipedia gives a good account of Darius' rise to power. When Cambyses was busy in Egypt, Gaumata, a religious leader usurped the throne, claiming to be Cambyses' brother, Bardiya, whom he resembled. When Cambyses marched against the usurper, he died mysteriously. Darius claimed Cambyses was despondent and killed himself. Herodotus claimed he accidently stabbed himself and died of gangrene. This happened in 522 BC.

Darius carried on, ousted the usurper and took the throne. However, in answer to the question of whether the people liked him, Darius spent the first year of his reign putting down rebellions.

From a Western point of view, that of Judeo-Christianity, Darius was loved because in 519 BC he decreed the continuation of the reconstruction of the Jerusalem Temple, including financial support, according to Ezra chapter 6.

Another Western point of view is that of classic Greece. Here he is not so well liked; he is remembered as the Persian king who attacked Athens and was defeated at Marathon in 490 BC. Darius is also the father of Xerxes whose 500,000 man army was held for three days at Thermopylae by 300 Spartans, giving the Athenians time to evacuate to Salamis.