Meanwhile, in Susiana, Atrines, the original leader of the rebellion, had been made prisoner by the troops sent against him, and, being brought to Darius while he was on his march against Babylon, was put to death.  But this severity had little effect.  A fresh leader appeared in the person of a certain Martes, a Persian who, taking example from the Babylonian rebel, assumed a name which connected him with the old kings of the country, and probably claimed to be their descendant, but the hands of Darius were now free by the termination of the Babylonian contest, and he was able to proceed towards Susiana himself.  This movement, apparently, was unexpected; for when the Susianians heard of it they were so alarmed that they laid hands on the pretender and slew him.

A more important rebellion followed.  Three of the chief provinces of the empire, Media, Armenia, and Assyria, revolted in concert.  A Median monarch was set up, who called himself Xathrites, and claimed descent from the great Oyaxares; and it would seem that the three countries immediately acknowledged his sway.  Darius, seeing how formidable the revolt was, determined to act with caution.  Settling himself at the newly-conquered city of Babylon, he resolved to employ his generals against the rebels, and in this way to gauge the strength of the outbreak, before adventuring his own person into the fray.  Hydarnes, one of the Seven conspirators, was sent into Media with an army, while Dadarses, an Armenian, was dispatched into Armenia, and Vomises, a Persian, was ordered to march through Assyria into the same country.  All three generals were met by the forces of the pretender, and several battles were fought, with results that seem not to have been very decisive.  Darius claims the victory on each occasion for his own generals; but it is evident that his arms made little progress, and that, in spite of several small defeats, the rebellion maintained a bold front, and was thought not unlikely to be successful.  So strong was this feeling that two of the eastern provinces, Hyrcania and Parthia, deserted the Persian cause in the midst of the struggle, and placed themselves under the rule of Xathrites.  Either this circumstance, or the general position of affairs, induced Darius at length to take the field in person.  Quitting Babylon, he marched into Media, and being met by the pretender near a town called Kudrus, he defeated him in a great battle.  This is no doubt the engagement of which Herodotus speaks, and which he rightly regards as decisive.  The battle of Kudrus gave Ecbatana into the hands of Darius, and made the Median prince an outcast and a fugitive.  He fled towards the East, probably intending to join his partisans in Hyrcania and Parthia, but was overtaken in the district of Rhages and made prisoner by the troops of Darius.  The king treated his captive with extreme severity.  Having cut off his nose, ears, and tongue, he kept him for some time chained to the door of his palace, in order that there might be no doubt of his capture.  When this object had been sufficiently secured, the wretched sufferer was allowed to end his miserable existence.  He was crucified in his capital city, Ecbatana, before the eyes of those who had seen his former glory.