Prexaspes

The murderer of Smerdis.

Prexaspes was the trusted companion of the second king of the Persian Empire, Kambyses; when Kambyses dreamed that his brother, Smerdis, was sitting on the throne with his head reaching to the heavens, he was convinced that Smerdis was plotting to depose him and claim the throne for himself; Kambyses gave Prexaspes the cowardly task of killing Smerdis.

Prexaspes secretly killed Smerdis and unwittingly allowed a Mede to assume Smerdis’ identity and take the throne of the empire; before Kambyses could return to his capital, Susa, he died of an accidental wound; while on his deathbed, Kambyses confessed to the high ranking Persians of his army that he had instructed Prexaspes to kill Smerdis and that a false-Smerdis had usurped the throne; the Persians were accustomed to Kambyses’ manipulative nature and did not believe him; after Kambyses died, Prexaspes denied the murder of Smerdis and allowed the false-Smerdis to stay on the throne.

As the months went by, false-Smerdis wanted to insure his reign and offered Prexaspes riches and position if he would publicly proclaim that the false-Smerdis was in fact the true-Smerdis; Prexaspes agreed but as he was addressing the Persians from the balcony of the palace, he had a change of heart and told the truth; he confessed to the murder of the true-Smerdis and then hurled himself from the balcony and died an honorable death on the pavement below; his confession prompted a coup which resulted in the assassination of the false-Smerdis and allowed a Persian, Darius, to reclaim the throne of the empire.

• Histories, chapters 30, 33, 66, 74-76 and 78