Hystaspes

Position of Hystaspes in the Achaemenid lineage according to Darius the Great in the Behistun inscription. According to Ammianus Marcellinus, Hystaspes penetrated deep into India, where he learned from the Brahmins. Historically, this corresponds to the time of the Achaemenid conquest of the Indus Valley. Hystaspes ( ; ) or Guštāsp (fl. 550 BC), was a Persian satrap of Bactria and Persis. He was the father of Darius I, king of the Achaemenid Empire, and Artabanus, who was a trusted advisor to both his brother Darius as well as Darius' son and successor, Xerxes I.

The son of Arsames, Hystaspes was a member of the Persian royal house of the Achaemenids. He was satrap of Persis under Cambyses II, and probably under his second cousin Cyrus the Great also. He accompanied Cyrus on his expedition against the Massagetae. However, he was sent back to Persis to keep watch over his eldest son, Darius, whom Cyrus, after a dream, suspected of considering treason.

Besides Darius, Hystaspes had three sons: Artabanus, Artaphernes, and Artanes, as well as a daughter who married Darius' lance-bearer Gobryas.

Ammianus Marcellinus

In ancient sources, Hystaspes is sometimes considered as identical with Vishtaspa (the Avestan name for Hystapes), an early patron of Zoroaster.

Hystaspes died in and was buried in Persepolis, with a funerary cult subsequently being established in his name. Historian Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones suggests that the Takht-e Gohar, previously attributed as the tomb of Cambyses II, was actually that of Hystaspes.