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Megabyzus is not as famous as his grandson. That's really all the internet has to reveal about this particular member of Darius the Great's cabal. Every factoid I thought I uncovered about Megabyzus turned out to actually be about his grandson, also named Megabyzus. Because I think ancient history itself is conspiring against me. The only story in which he really makes a splash is immediately after Darius's six conspirators assassinated the imposter King Bardiya. Since neither Bardiya or his brother Cambyses II had heirs to succeed them, the conspirators were left to debate how they were gonna run things. Otanes, the most senior and respected among them, spoke first, suggesting that the common people have lived under an absolute monarch who bullied them without restraint for too long. Despite his own blood relations to the royal family, he wanted to forgo his noble titles and institute a democracy where at last they could have a say in their governance.

The other six promptly told him that was dumb and lame, and the poor old man just kinda voluntarily left the table, knowing he was beat.

Megabyzus was the next to propose a solution: arguing that the Achaemenid Empire should be ruled by an oligarchy of rich and wise noblemen of high stature. Men like… him and his cohorts for example! How convenient. Of course, ultimately it was decided that the Empire was used to having a king, and poor humble Darius, totally not having planned this from the start, volunteered to become that king. I wonder why he spent the first few years of his reign putting down revolts. It's truly a mystery. Don't worry, Megabyzus still went on to have a rich and cushy life. I know, I was concerned for his wellbeing too, poor unfortunate soul. His son Zopyrus would go on to father a Megabyzus of his own, who would become a commander in King Xerxes's army against the Greek city states, and indeed married one of Xerxes's own daughters. Megabyzus the Elder just sort of disappears from the historical record, so we don't know his fate, but I've been having a bad day and so the cynical side of me thinks he spent the rest of his life nice and cozy on top of a pile of money, because sometimes bad guys die in their sleep.

Design notes, I couldn't find any depictions of either Megabyzus. Often you'll get this image of an Achaemenid era sculpted head attached to articles about him, but as far as I can tell this is just an anonymous nobleman. Ah well, if no one else is gonna claim the face, I might as well use it as a reference for this guy's features. His outfit is one I designed myself, taking references from various archaeological examples of exquisite Indo-Iranian armors and the robes common in ancient Mesopotamia. In my D&D game, I made him a very eccentric character who had a very high opinion of himself. And the money to back it up. I also found out that apparently there was a class of priests at the famous Temple of Ephesus called the "Megabazus", though as far as I could find, there is no connection to our main man here. Which kinda sucks, because the Temple of Ephesus was a big part of that region in my campaign, and it would've been neat to connect the character more closely to the goings on. Ah well.

Description
Megabyzus is not as famous as his grandson. That's really all the internet has to reveal about this particular member of Darius the Great's cabal. Every factoid I thought I uncovered about Megabyzus turned out to actually be about his grandson, also named Megabyzus. Because I think ancient history itself is conspiring against me. The only story in which he really makes a splash is immediately after Darius's six conspirators assassinated the imposter King Bardiya. Since neither Bardiya or his brother Cambyses II had heirs to succeed them, the conspirators were left to debate how they were gonna run things. Otanes, the most senior and respected among them, spoke first, suggesting that the common people have lived under an absolute monarch who bullied them without restraint for too long. Despite his own blood relations to the royal family, he wanted to forgo his noble titles and institute a democracy where at last they could have a say in their governance.

The other six promptly told him that was dumb and lame, and the poor old man just kinda voluntarily left the table, knowing he was beat.

Megabyzus was the next to propose a solution: arguing that the Achaemenid Empire should be ruled by an oligarchy of rich and wise noblemen of high stature. Men like… him and his cohorts for example! How convenient. Of course, ultimately it was decided that the Empire was used to having a king, and poor humble Darius, totally not having planned this from the start, volunteered to become that king. I wonder why he spent the first few years of his reign putting down revolts. It's truly a mystery. Don't worry, Megabyzus still went on to have a rich and cushy life. I know, I was concerned for his wellbeing too, poor unfortunate soul. His son Zopyrus would go on to father a Megabyzus of his own, who would become a commander in King Xerxes's army against the Greek city states, and indeed married one of Xerxes's own daughters. Megabyzus the Elder just sort of disappears from the historical record, so we don't know his fate, but I've been having a bad day and so the cynical side of me thinks he spent the rest of his life nice and cozy on top of a pile of money, because sometimes bad guys die in their sleep.

Design notes, I couldn't find any depictions of either Megabyzus. Often you'll get this image of an Achaemenid era sculpted head attached to articles about him, but as far as I can tell this is just an anonymous nobleman. Ah well, if no one else is gonna claim the face, I might as well use it as a reference for this guy's features. His outfit is one I designed myself, taking references from various archaeological examples of exquisite Indo-Iranian armors and the robes common in ancient Mesopotamia. In my D&D game, I made him a very eccentric character who had a very high opinion of himself. And the money to back it up. I also found out that apparently there was a class of priests at the famous Temple of Ephesus called the "Megabazus", though as far as I could find, there is no connection to our main man here. Which kinda sucks, because the Temple of Ephesus was a big part of that region in my campaign, and it would've been neat to connect the character more closely to the goings on. Ah well.