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[[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]].  Alternatively, others such as the [[Jehovah's Witness]] simply conclude that 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>

'''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", “the major problem in the historical interpretation of Daniel”<ref>Shea, William H., ''“Darius the Mede: An Update.”'', Andrews University Seminary Studies 20 (1982): 229–247. https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/auss/vol20/iss3/3/</ref>, and “the last great difficulty in the chronology of Daniel.”<ref>Anderson, Robert. *The Coming Prince*. Hodder & Stoughton.</ref>: 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 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>