Was Darius the Great the greatest King of Antiquity? 21 amazing achievements of Darius the GreatAncient Suez CanalThe Darius Canal (the ancient version of today’s Suez Canal) linked the Red Sea and Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean.Transcontinental BridgeBuilt a bridge linking Asia & Europe across the Bosporus straights.Oceanic ExplorationSent the Greek explorer Scylax on missions to find the source of the Indus River and to attempt to circumnavigate Africa by ship through the pillars of Hercules (Straight of Gibralter) the opened trade routes from the Mediterranean from the Atlantic Ocean.Continental Highway SystemBuilt the worlds first intercontinental highway system which featured the 2,500 mile Royal Road (Shah Rah) the connect the the Persian Imperial Capital at Susa to the Provincial capital of Sardis in Ionia. Just one branch of this system, the so called Royal Road had 111 stations along its route and was regularly patrolled by military police to gourd against bandits and highwaymen.Histories first Postal ServiceBuilt the first postal service in history with mounted couriers stationed at regular intervals to carry mail and messages from one and of the empire to the next. The Romans later encountered this Persian system in Egypt and were impressed by it. And the motto of the United States Postal Service"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds"comes from Herodotus’s description of these Iranian couriers.It is said that as many days as there are in the whole journey, so many are the men and horses that stand along the road, each horse and man at the interval of a day’s journey; and these are stayed neither by snow nor rain nor heat nor darkness from accomplishing their appointed course with all speed.— Herodotus, Histories (8.98) (trans. A. D. Godley, 1924)First Intelligence ServiceCreated the worlds first official intelligence service called “The Eyes and Ears of the King.” (Chesh-o-Goosheh Shah) to keep an eye on Satraps (governors), tax collectors, administrators, judges and generals.Cosmopolitan FederalismCreated the worlds first proto-federal system with satrapies (semi-independent provinces) that were allowed to keep their own religions, languages, and customs.Public Works ProjectsInitiated large scale constructions projects such as Persepolis and Susa.Paid Labor, not SlavesUsed paid skilled and unskilled labor, as opposed to slaves, which had been the custom actress the ancient world.First International CurrencyEstablished the fist international monetary system with the Daric coins, named after Darius being the first monetary unit accepted internationally from India to Africa to central Europe and even Western Europe.Conquest of IndiaAdded India, up to the Indus, to Iran’s Achaemenian Empire, for the first time linking the Indian sub-continent time to the worlds of Western Asia , Africa and Europe. The Satrapie of India would be the wealthiest and of all the empire provinces and contributed the greatest revenues to the treasury.Re-Established PeaceSuccessfully quelled more than a dozen rebellions that had followed the succession dispute after Campbyes conquest of Egypt. The multiple rebellions that were put down included ones in Babylon, Egypt, Ionian Greece and east Iranian realm of central Asia. The reestablishment order under Darius assured the continuation of the Pax Persica (Persian Peace) that allowed for a level of safety for commerce and exchange of ideas and goods that was hitherto unprecedented in the ancient world.The Biblical Second TempleFinanced the rebuilding if the Second Temple of the Jews in the province of ancient Israel.Systemic Taxation used for public works and the improvement of lifeRegularly and fairly collected five categories taxes including on land, agriculture and commerce to fund the military, canals, aqueducts, agriculture, defensive fortifications, the nave, public works and building projects and roads across the empire, incorporating aspects of what today we would call both capitalistic and socialistic systems.Minimum WageCreated a minimum and standard wage system for different classes of laborers and artisans.Equal pay for women & Paid Maternity LeaveWe have records that show that female workers and artisans were paid the equal wages to men and even received paid maternity leave!Banking & CreditDuring Darius’s reign, the worlds first credit based banking system was established.Hundreds of miles of underground Canals (Qanats)Sytematicaly built underground canals as and aqueducts to transfer fresh water from mountainous and wet regions to the empire’s drier and desert regions allowing for agriculture. The Greeks were astonished to find Persian Paradaiza gardens fed my these under water Qanats in the middle of desert regions. These Persian gardens were vast verdant parks that guided exotic animals from the corners of the earth and also provided hunting grids for the ability. After the coming of Islam, this Persian garden tradition spread from Mughal India in the East to Andalucian Spain and influenced European garden designs in the Renaissance. The words and concept for Paradise in Western languages derives from these Paradaiza (Pardis) gardens.Law & JusticeGoverned based on universally applied laws and regulations that the Bible referred to as the ‘The Laws of the Medes & Persians which shall not change.’It should be noted that the English word ‘data’ derives via Latin, from the old Persian word ‘data’ and signifies the law and order that prevailed under the Pax Persica.Ruled the wolds first true cosmopolitan empire with 40% of the globes populationreigned over the wold's first (and antiquitie's only) truly cosmopolitan, multi-cultural, muti-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-religious entity, which contained over 40% of the worlds population-- the largest percentage of the world population under an empires rule in human history, even to this day.His Scythian Campaigntook him to the Dnieper, Volga and Danube in what is now Ukraine and Russia. He cooperated with the Greeks to chase his unruly fellow Iranian Scythians around the Black Sea and marked the boundary at the Danube River.Invented a script for writing the Aryan Language (also called 'Old Persian")“By the favor of Ahura Maza (the Lord of Wisdom) this is the inscription which I made in the Aryan language and on clay tablets and on parchment it was composed.”So I ask again;was Darius the Great the greatest King of Antiquity?