Darius << duh RY uhs >> III (380-330 B.C.) ruled the Persian Empire, also called the Achaemenid Empire, from 336 to 330 B.C. He was king when the Macedonian ruler Alexander the Great invaded the empire in 334 B.C. That year, a united force from several Persian satrapies (provinces) failed to halt Alexander’s advance at the Granicus River, in what is now northwestern Turkey. In 333 B.C., the Macedonians defeated forces led by Darius near Issus, in what is now southeastern Turkey.
Unable to prevent Alexander from capturing Egypt, Palestine, and Phoenicia in the eastern Mediterranean region, Darius assembled a new army. In 331 B.C., he fought the Macedonians at Gaugamela, an event commonly called the Battle of Arbela, in what is now northern Iraq. Once again, the Persian king was defeated. In 330 B.C., after he had withdrawn toward present-day Afghanistan, Darius’s own men arrested and killed him.
