 Probably first cut or at least begun by Necho II, in the late 6th century BC, it was either re-dug or completed by Darius the Great.Classical sources disagree as to when it was finally completed.Darius the Great's Suez Inscriptions comprise five Egyptian monuments, including the Chalouf Stele, that commemorate the construction and completion of the canal linking the Nile River with the Red Sea by Darius I of Persia.