Darius III

About Darius III

Darius III was the final King of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 336 to 330 BCE. As the last great Persian ruler, his primary historical significance stems from his direct military confrontation with Alexander the Great. His defeat in critical battles like Issus and Gaugamela ultimately led to the collapse of the vast Persian Empire, cementing his place as an opponent to one of history's most influential figures. MIT's Pantheon project consequently ranks him at #954 in global historical importance.

In terms of modern internet attention, Darius III currently presents a mild attention gap. He receives an estimated 272K annualized Wikipedia views in 2025. When compared to his peer, Wu Zetian (\#960 importance), who garners 608K views, Darius III receives notably less contemporary interest despite a similar historical rank. However, compared to the much more historically significant Elizabeth (\#534 importance), who only captures 40K views, Darius III is currently over-represented in online attention.

The data indicates a recent cooling of interest, with Darius III's Wikipedia traffic showing a significant 49.7% year-over-year decline. Furthermore, momentum analysis comparing Q1 to Q3 of 2025 suggests a further negative trend of -21% in active interest throughout the year.