Editing Bardiya (section)

== Modern view ==
[[File:Smerdis.png|thumb|Medieval image of Bardiya.]]
Most modern historians do not consider Darius' version of events convincing, and assume that the person who ruled for a few months was the real son of Cyrus, and that the story of his impersonation by a magus was an invention of Darius to justify his seizure of the throne.<ref name="Olmstead">{{citation |last=Olmstead |first=A. T.|title=History of the Persian Empire|year=1959|publisher=University of Chicago Press}}.</ref><ref name="Axworthy">{{citation|last=Axworthy|first=Michael|author-link=Michael Axworthy|title=Iran: Empire of the Mind|year=2008|location=New York|publisher=Basic Books}}.</ref><ref name="Mieroop 2">{{citation|last=Van De Mieroop|first=Marc|title=A History of the Ancient Near East|edition=2nd|year=2006|publisher=Blackwell}}.</ref><ref name=Holland>[[Tom Holland (author)|Holland, Tom]] ''Persian Fire''</ref><ref name="Allen">{{citation|last=Allen|first=Lindsay|title=The Persian Empire|year=2005|location=London|publisher=The British Museum press|page=42}}.</ref><ref>Llewellyn-Jones, Lloyd ''Persians: The Age of the Great Kings'' pp 97-106</ref>

The key argument against a fabrication is that there is no evidence for it, and lacking further discoveries that view "must remain hypothetical".<ref name="EIr_Bardiya">{{citation|last=Dandamayev|first=M. A.|chapter=Bardiya|year=1988|title=Encyclopedia Iranica|chapter-url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/bardiya-son-of-cyrus|series=vol. 3, fasc. 8|pages=785–786|location=Costa Mesa|publisher=Mazda}}.</ref> However, the idea that Gaumata was a fabrication is nonetheless appealing because "it was vital for a man like Darius, who had no particular rights to the throne, to invent a character (Gaumata) condemned for his acts against gods and men."<ref name="EIr_Gaumata">{{citation|last=Briant|first=Pierre|chapter=Gaumāta|chapter-url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/gaumata-|year=2000|title=Encyclopedia Iranica|series=vol. X, fasc. 3|pages=333–335|location=New York|publisher=Routledge, Kegan Paul}}.</ref> There are some implausibilities in the official story, e.g. the impostor resembled the real Bardiya so closely that most of his wives did not spot the difference, except for queen [[Phaidyme]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.persepolis.nu/queens.htm#phaidyme|title = Historical Persian Queens, Empresses, Warriors, Generals of Persia| date=January 2023 }}</ref><ref>Bourke, Dr. Stephen (chief consultant) ''The Middle East: Cradle of Civilisation Revealed'' p. 225, {{ISBN|978-0-500-25147-8}}</ref> Darius often accused rebels and opponents of being impostors (such as [[Nebuchadnezzar III]]) and it could be straining credibility to say that they all were.<ref name=Mieroop/><ref name=Holland/><ref>Behistun Inscription 4.1 (52)</ref>