Which ancient canal did Darius I complete to link the Nile River to the Red Sea?

Darius I is traditionally credited with completing the Canal of the Pharaohs, the ancient waterway linking the Nile River with the Red Sea.

The canal followed the Wadi Tumilat route through the eastern Nile Delta and the Isthmus of Suez, rather than the route of the modern Suez Canal. It connected the Nile near its easternmost branches with Lake Timsah and waterways leading toward the Red Sea, creating a valuable route between Egypt and the Persian Empire.

The project was not entirely new under Darius. Earlier Egyptian rulers, especially Necho II, are associated with beginning or reopening canal works in the late seventh century BCE. Darius, who ruled the Achaemenid Persian Empire from 522 to 486 BCE, ordered further construction after Persia conquered Egypt. His Suez inscriptions proclaim that ships could travel from Egypt to Persia through the canal.

Ancient writers disagreed about whether Darius himself fully finished it; some credited later Ptolemy II with completion or improvement. Nevertheless, “Canal of the Pharaohs” is the standard name expected for the ancient canal associated with Darius. It was a predecessor—not the same waterway—as the modern Suez Canal, opened in 1869.