Changes

<TR><TD VALIGN="top"><B>reign</B></TD><TD VALIGN="top">ca. 550 BC to Dec. 538 BC</TD></TR>

<TR><TD VALIGN="top"><B>reign</B></TD><TD VALIGN="top">ca. 550 BC to Dec. 538 BC</TD></TR>

<TR><TD VALIGN="top"><B>successor</B></TD><TD VALIGN="top">[[Cyrus II the Great|Cyrus the Great]]</TD></TR>

<TR><TD VALIGN="top"><B>successor</B></TD><TD VALIGN="top">[[Cyrus II the Great|Cyrus the Great]]</TD></TR>

<TR><TD VALIGN="top"><B>father</B></TD><TD VALIGN="top">Astyages</TD></TR>

<TR><TD VALIGN="top"><B>father</B></TD><TD VALIGN="top">[[Astyages]]</TD></TR>

<TR><TD VALIGN="top"><B>mother</B></TD><TD VALIGN="top">unknown</TD></TR>

<TR><TD VALIGN="top"><B>mother</B></TD><TD VALIGN="top">unknown</TD></TR>

<TR><TD VALIGN="top"><B>birth</B></TD><TD VALIGN="top">c. 601 BC</TD></TR>  

<TR><TD VALIGN="top"><B>birth</B></TD><TD VALIGN="top">c. 601 BC</TD></TR>  

[[File:Medo-Persia - Achaemid Family Tree - inc Otanes & Cyaxares II.PNG|450px|thumb|right| The Achaemid Family Tree showing the merging of the royal houses of the Medes and the Persians to create the Medo-Persian Empire.]]

[[File:Medo-Persia - Achaemid Family Tree - inc Otanes & Cyaxares II.PNG|450px|thumb|right| The Achaemid Family Tree showing the merging of the royal houses of the Medes and the Persians to create the Medo-Persian Empire.]]

'''Darius the Mede''' is a character appearing thrice in the biblical [[Book of Daniel]].  Meanwhile the exact identity of ''Darius the Mede'' remains the subject of heated debate representing "the last great hurdle to the contextually historical authenticity of book": leading skeptics to claim ''Darius the Mede'' is nothing more than an easily dismissed fictional character, while reversely the class of "historical harmonizers" suggest that ''Darius the Mede'' is simply another name for an existing historical figure whose identity is up for debate, but most commonly favours [[Cyaxares II]].

'''Darius the Mede''' is a character appearing thrice in the biblical [[Book of Daniel]].  Meanwhile the exact identity of ''Darius the Mede'' remains the subject of heated debate representing "the last great hurdle to the contextually historical authenticity of book": leading skeptics to claim ''Darius the Mede'' is nothing more than an easily dismissed fictional character, while reversely the class of "historical harmonizers" suggest that ''Darius the Mede'' is simply another name for an existing historical figure whose identity is up for debate, but most commonly favours [[Cyaxares II]]. Alternatively, others such as the [[Jehovah's Witness]] simply conclude that in the wake of varying, potentially insufficient and contradictory source documents, we have no reason not to simply accept the biblical account: that ''Darius the Mede'' was as he is presented to us.<ref>https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1972407</ref>