Had to see a man about a horse

[jmtorres]

So I was doing some Darius research to have something intelligent to say for discussion purposes, and I discovered, much to my suprise, there's a historical Darius, who became king of Persia via assassination in 522 BCE. I waffle on whether Highlander's Darius is intended to be the same man, but the information is amusing in any case. Herodotus uses Darius (who is a distant cousin of the royal family) and the two sons of the dead king (one of whom dies on his own, one of whom Darius assassinates) as mouthpieces to discuss democracy, aristocratic oligarchy, and monarchy--Darius argues in favor of monarchy. And wins. Oh, oh, but this is the kicker--

When the council broke up, Darius said to him: 'Oebares, we have resolved to do as follows about the kingship: he shall be elected whose horse, after we are all mounted on our horses in the suburb of the city, neighs first at sunrise.'

Naturally, one assumes he had something to do with other Horsemen. Methos, perchance. I like to think of them after the Apocalyptic Horsemen broke up, but before Methos--or Darius, for that matter--reformed. Bad boys together in Persia! And is it just me, or does "assassination of the rightful heir to the throne" sound like Methos all over?