Dara I or Darab I was the penultimate king of the mythological

Kayanian dynasty The Kayanians ( Persian: دودمان کیانیان; also Kays, Kayanids, Kaianids, Kayani, or Kiani) are a legendary dynasty of Persian/Iranian tradition and folklore which supposedly ruled after the Pishdadians. Considered collectively, the Ka ...

, ruling for 12 years. He was the son of Kay Bahman. Most accounts agree that Dara's mother was Humay Chehrzad, who had married her father, Kay Bahman. After Kay Bahman's death, Humay, who was pregnant with Dara, became the regent of the realm. Humay later hid the news of Dara's birth, and abandoned him on casket filled with expensive jewels on a river. The river has reported to have been the Euphrates, the

Tigris The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the ...

, the

Kor river Kor River (also Kur River; fa, رود کر) is located in the Fars Province of Iran. The sources of the river are mostly in the Zagros Mountains near Mount Dena. It flows into the Bakhtegan Lake, which is a salt lake. The increased salinity le ...

in Fars, the Polvar river in Fars, or the

Balkh river The Balkh River ( fa, دریای بلخاب; ps, د بلخ سیند) or Balkhab, also known in its upper reaches as the Band-e Amir River, is a river in northern Afghanistan. The river rises in the Band-e Amir lakes in Bamyan Province in the Hin ...

. When Dara became older he eventually found his way back to Humay, who abdicated in his favor. Dara I was later succeeded by his son

Dara II Dara II or Darab II was the last king of the mythological Kayanian dynasty, ruling between 14 and 16 years. He is generally identified with Darius III (), the last king of the Achaemenid Empire. In Middle Persian literature and Islamic chronicles ...

. Dara I has been credited with the establishment of the Persian postal system, which is a reflection of the introduction or restructuring of the postal system by the

Achaemenid The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Based in Western Asia, it was contemporarily the largest emp ...

King of Kings,

Darius I the Great Darius I ( peo, 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁 ; grc-gre, Δαρεῖος ; – 486 BCE), commonly known as Darius the Great, was a Persian ruler who served as the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 522 BCE until his d ...

(). The last Kayanian kings were usually connected with western Iran, as demonstrated by reports of Dara I using Babylon as his residence. Most sources credit Dara I with the foundation of the city of

Darab Darab ( fa, داراب, translit=Dārāb) — formerly Darabkert, or Darábgerd ("city of Darius")— is a city and capital of Darab County, Fars Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 54,513, in 13,279 families. Historical ...

gerd in Fars, while a few consider Dara II to have been its founder. According to later sources, Dara I had a son named Firuzshah, whose achievements are mentioned in the ''Firuz-nameh'' by Haji Muhammad Bigami.

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