Darius I known as Darius the Great, was the third Persian King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 522 BCE until his death in 486 BCE. He ruled the empire at its peak, when it included much of West Asia, parts of the Caucasus, parts of the Balkans, most of the Black Sea coastal regions, Central Asia, as far as the Indus Valley in the far east and portions of north and northeast Africa including Egypt, eastern Libya, coastal Sudan. Darius ascended the throne by overthrowing the legitimate Achaemenid monarch Bardiya, whom he fabricated to be an imposter named Gaumata; the new king quelled them each time. A major event in Darius's life was his expedition to punish Athens and Eretria for their aid in the Ionian Revolt and subjugate Greece. Although ending in failure at the Battle of Marathon, Darius succeeded in the re-subjugation of Thrace, expansion of the empire through the conquest of Macedon, the Cyclades and the island of Naxos and the sacking of the city of Eretria. Darius organized the empire by placing satraps to govern it.
He organized Achaemenid coinage as a new uniform monetary system, along with making Aramaic the official language of the empire. He put the empire in better standing by building roads and introducing standard weights and measures. Through these changes, the empire was centralized and unified. Darius worked on construction projects throughout the empire, focusing on Susa, Persepolis and Egypt, he had the cliff-face Behistun Inscription carved to record his conquests, an important testimony of the Old Persian language. Darius is mentioned in the biblical books of Haggai and Ezra–Nehemiah. Dārīus and Dārēus are the Latin forms of the Greek Dareîos, itself from Old Persian Dārayauš, a shortened form of Dārayavaʰuš; the longer form is seen to have been reflected in the Elamite Da-ri-a-ma-u-iš, Babylonian Da-ri-ia-muš, Aramaic drywhwš, the longer Greek form Dareiaîos. The name is a nominative form meaning "he who holds firm the good", which can be seen by the first part dāraya, meaning "holder", the adverb vau, meaning "goodness".
At some time between his coronation and his death, Darius left a tri-lingual monumental relief on Mount Behistun, written in Elamite, Old Persian and Babylonian. The inscription begins with a brief autobiography including his lineage. To aid the presentation of his ancestry, Darius wrote down the sequence of events that occurred after the death of Cyrus the Great. Darius mentions several times that he is the rightful king by the grace of the supreme deity Ahura Mazda. In addition, further texts and monuments from Persepolis have been found, as well as a clay tablet containing an Old Persian cuneiform of Darius from Gherla, Romania and a letter from Darius to Gadates, preserved in a Greek text of the Roman period. In the foundation tablets of Apadana Palace, Darius described in Old Persian cuneiform the extent of his Empire in broad geographical terms: Darius the great king, king of kings, king of countries, son of Hystaspes, an Achaemenid. King Darius says: This is the kingdom which I hold, from the Sacae who are beyond Sogdia to Kush, from Sind to Lydia - what Ahuramazda, the greatest of gods, bestowed upon me.
May Ahuramazda protect me and my royal house! Herodotus, a Greek historian and author of The Histories, provided an account of many Persian kings and the Greco-Persian Wars, he wrote extensively on Darius, spanning half of Book 3 along with Books 4, 5 and 6. It begins with the removal of the alleged usurper Gaumata and continues to the end of Darius's reign. Darius was the eldest of five sons to Hystaspes and Rhodogune in 550 BCE; the Behistun Inscription of Darius states that his father was satrap of Bactria in 522 BCE. According to Herodotus, Hystaspes was the satrap of Persis, although the French Iranologist Pierre Briant states that this is an error. According to Herodotus, prior to seizing power and "of no consequence at the time", had served as a spearman in the Egyptian campaign of Cambyses II the Persian Great King. Hystaspes was a noble of his court. Before Cyrus and his army crossed the Aras River to battle with the Armenians, he installed his son Cambyses II as king in case he should not return from battle.
However, once Cyrus had crossed the Aras River, he had a vision in which Darius had wings atop his shoulders and stood upon the confines of Europe and Asia. When Cyrus awoke from the dream, he inferred it as a great danger to the future security of the empire, as it meant that Darius would one day rule the whole world. However, his son Cambyses was the heir to the throne, not Darius, causing Cyrus to wonder if Darius was forming treasonable and ambitious designs; this led Cyrus to order Hystaspes to go back to Persis and watch over his son until Cyrus himself returned. Darius did not seem to have any treasonous thoughts. There are different accounts of the rise of Darius to the throne from both Darius himself and Greek historians; the oldest records report a convoluted sequence of eve
Cockfosters is a suburb of north London to the east of Chipping Barnet, lying in the London Borough of Enfield and in the London Borough of Barnet. Before 1965, it was in the counties of Hertfordshire; the name was recorded as far back as 1524 and is thought to be either the name of a family or that of a house which stood on Enfield Chase. One suggestion is that it was "the residence of the cock forester". Of note in Cockfosters is Trent Park, now a country park. Christ Church, Cockfosters, an Anglican evangelical church, was founded in 1839. Christ the King, Cockfosters, a Catholic church, was founded in 1930; the Piccadilly line of the London Underground reached Cockfosters in 1933. The Cock Inn, off Cockfosters Road on Chalk Lane, opened in 1798. Southgate School is located on Sussex Way. Trent C of E Primary School is located on Chalk Lane; the Chickenshed Theatre Company, aka Chickenshed, is located in Cockfosters. It has since moved to its current site, it now produces many shows. It is an inclusive theatre company and started the concept of "inclusive theatre", which means anyone, regardless of background, gender, age, or disability, is allowed to both watch and perform in theatre.
Cockfosters has a non-League football club, Cockfosters F. C. which plays at the Cockfosters Sports Ground. Saracens used to play at Chase Side; the ground is still used for Enfield F. C. for the Saracens "B' team, Saracens Storm. It is used as Saracens Amateurs' training ground. Cockfosters Cricket Club and Southgate Compton Cricket Club play at Chalk Lane on fields adjacent to Christ Church, either side of Cockfosters Bowling Club. Trent Country Park covers 320 hectares. An attraction within Trent Park's grounds, installed in 2012, is the treetop adventure park Go Ape. Cockfosters has its own electoral ward in the Enfield borough; the 2011 census of Cockfosters ward counted a population of 16,137. The ethnic makeup was 73.7% White, 13.5% Asian, 8% Black. The most spoken foreign languages were Greek. 50 % of the population were Christian, with Jews forming 10 % and 9 % respectively. Of the 5,215 households, most were bungalow. 68.8% of home tenures were owned, with minorities of rented and rented homes.
4.2% of economically active people were unemployed. The median age was 40; the part within the borough of Barnet is covered by the East Barnet ward. Cockfosters is the name of a 2015 short-story collection by Helen Simpson. One of the short stories features a visit to "lost property" at Cockfosters Underground station; the poet John Betjeman, who taught at Heddon Court School in 1929-30, wrote "The Cricket Master" about his experiences there. The MP for Enfield Southgate from 2005 to 2017, David Burrowes, was born in Cockfosters. George Baillie Duncan ministered at Christ Church and the cricketer Andrew Wingfield Digby was a curate there. Cameron McVey grew up in Cockfosters. Other transient residents have included the footballers Tommy Docherty and George Eastham and Dave Davies of the Kinks. Professors John Stollery and Ian Jacobs grew up in Cockfosters. Two tube stations are located within Cockfosters: Cockfosters Station is the terminus of the Piccadilly line. Oakwood Station is the next station after Cockfosters.
London Buses routes 298, 299, 307, 384, 692, 699, N91 serve Cockfosters. Media related to Cockfosters at Wikimedia Commons
Jamie Anderson is an English producer and writer best known for his work on the Doctor Who and Terrahawks audio plays for Big Finish Productions, for his work continuing the legacy of his late father Gerry Anderson. Jamie was educated at Abingdon School, he became a World Junior Champion in 2003 along with fellow Abingdonian Nick Brodie when the eight won the gold medal in Athens. After leaving Abingdon in 2004 he attended Oxford Brookes University for one year before gaining a place at Keble College at the University of Oxford where he studied physiological sciences. Anderson began writing for Big Finish Productions in 2015, contributing to the anthology release You are the Doctor. Subsequent to its release in December 2015 he began directing a selection of the company's main range of Doctor Who audio plays, his directorial duties were extended to design work in 2016 when he was involved with the visualisation of a Stained glass Dalek with artist Chris Thompson, for a Colin Baker story Order of the Daleks written by Mike Tucker.
In addition, he played a role in the Big Finish releases based on two of his father’s creations and Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. Outside of Big Finish Productions, Anderson crowdfunded via Kickstarter the publication of a series of novels based on ideas created by his father, called Gemini Force One Terrahawks: Volume 1 Doctor Who: The Waters of Amsterdam Doctor Who: The Peterloo Massacre Terrahawks: Volume 2 Doctor Who: And You Will Obey Me Doctor Who: Vampire of the Mind Doctor Who: The Two Masters Doctor Who: Order of the Daleks Doctor Who: Absolute Power Doctor Who: Cold Fusion Doctor Who: Quicksilver Terrahawks: Volume 3 Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons: Spectrum File 1 Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons: Spectrum File 2 Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons: Spectrum File 3 Terrahawks: Volume 1 Doctor Who: You Are the Doctor and Other Stories Terrahawks: Volume 2 Doctor Who: Absolute Power Terrahawks: Volume 3 Terrahawks: Volume 1 Terrahawks: Volume 2 Doctor Who: Cold Fusion Terrahawks: Volume 3 Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons: Spectrum File 1 Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons: Spectrum File 2 Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons: Spectrum File 3 Gerry Anderson's Firestorm Doctor Who: The Comic Strip Adaptations - Volume One The Prisoner: Series 1 Terrahawks: Volume 2 The Prisoner: Series 2 Terrahawks: Volume 3 Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons: Spectrum File 1 Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons: Spectrum File 2 Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons: Spectrum File 3 Kate Kestrel And The Terrahawks List of Old Abingdonians Jamie Anderson on IMDb Personal Website Jamie Anderson on Twitter