Atossa

Persian queen

• Born: c. 545 b.c.e.
• Birthplace: Persia (now in Iran)
• Died: Possibly c. 479 b.c.e.
• Place of death: Persia (now in Iran)

As the daughter, the wife, and the mother of Persian kings, Atossa had great influence in the rule of ancient Persia.

Early Life

The writings of the Greek historian Herodotus are the main source of biographical information on Atossa (ah-TOH-sah). Persian sources are rare, and those that have survived do not include Atossa. For instance, the royal inscriptions do not mention Atossa or any mortal women, and women are excluded from the palace reliefs of Persepolis. There is agreement, however, that Herodotus’s Historiai Herodotou (c. 424 b.c.e.; The History, 1709) provides an accurate picture of the essential facts of Atossa’s life.

Atossa was the daughter of Cyrus the Great, who founded the first Persian Empire, the Achaemenid Dynasty (sixth to fourth century b.c.e.). Cyrus ruled from 559 b.c.e. until his death c. 530 while fighting in the region of the Oxus and Jaxartes Rivers on the eastern frontier. During his reign, Cyrus greatly expanded Persia by conquering Lydia, which controlled the Greek city-states along the western coast of Asia Minor, and finally Babylon.

After Cyrus’s death, his son Cambyses II (r. 529-522) ascended the throne. Cambyses II wanted to marry his sister Atossa, according to ancient Egyptian custom, but marriage to siblings was not a Persian practice. Cambyses gathered all the Persian royal judges and asked them if there were a law that permitted a man to wed his sister. The judges could not find such a law, but they knew of the law that said that the king of Persia could do whatever he wanted. Thus, the judges gave Cambyses a legitimate basis for marrying Atossa.

In 525 b.c.e., Cambyses conducted a war against Egypt and was victorious. However, his investment of troops and material in the Egyptian campaign led him to worry about maintaining power at home and the potential rivalry of his and Atossa’s brother Bardiya (Smerdis). Following the paranoid logic of absolute monarchy, Cambyses had their brother killed and tried to keep the murder secret. However, this led to another kind of vulnerability for Atossa’s brother and husband. Because Bardiya’s death was kept secret, the general public did not question his “reappearance” in the form of an impostor, Smerdis the Magian, who actually resembled Bardiya, or Smerdis, the son of Cyrus. This impostor, the false Smerdis, led a rebellion in Persia in 522 and usurped the throne. To make matters worse, the impostor offered his supporters three years of tax relief, which increased his popularity to the point that he was able to seize control of several provinces. In the ensuing crisis, Cambyses, who was rushing back to reassert his authority, lost his life, probably from an infection after an accidental cut from his own sword or, possibly, suicide. One of the late Cambyses’ most important generals was Darius (son of Hystaspes and a prince from another branch of the royal Achaemenids), who immediately took over leadership of the Persian army and continued its homeward march.

However, another complication had arisen for Atossa. When the impostor, pretending to be her murdered brother Smerdis, seized the throne, he took Atossa as his wife, as well as Cambyses’ other wives. After he returned with his army, Prince Darius and six other leading Achaemenid nobles overthrew the impostor, and they declared that Darius was the rightful heir to the throne.

Along with the political authority and wealth, Darius also acquired the harem of the previous rulers and so became Atossa’s third husband. Darius also married Atossa’s sister Artystone and Atossa’s niece Parmys, the daughter of the murdered Smerdis, son of Cyrus. After a year of bitter fighting (522-521), Darius was able to subdue the groups who had supported the pretender and bring peace back to the empire. He then began to establish a stable and organized government, including regular taxation. According to his royal inscriptions, he wished to be remembered as a lawgiver and organizer.

Although Atossa had no official role in the governance of Darius’s kingdom, she had great influence and power stemming from her closeness to the king, her royal lineage, and her firsthand knowledge of the actions of the two previous rulers.

Life’s Work

Herodotus also provides an interesting story showing Atossa’s influence on Darius. Democedes, the Greek physician from Croton, was taken to Persia during the Achamenians’ war in Asia Minor. He became a court physician after successfully treating Darius. When he helped heal a growth on Atossa’s body, she promised him any honorable favor he wished. Democedes requested that she convince Darius to consider war with Greece and send Democedes with an exploratory group to Greece, so that he could return home. His plan was to escape during this trip. The following is what Herodotus records Atossa as having said to persuade Darius to invade Greece:

My lord, you have very great power and yet you sit idle. You have not added any nation or power to the empire of Persia. It is but right for a man who is young and is master of great wealth to achieve something for all to see, that the Persians may know that he who rules them is truly a man. Indeed there is a double benefit in such a course; the Persians will know that their leader is a man, and also they themselves will be worn down by the war and will not plot against you—as they might, were they at leisure. And it is now you should do this, while you are young. For as the body grows, so the mind grows with it; and as the body grows old, so does the wit grow old and is blunted toward all matters alike.

Darius listened to her advice and proceeded to send a reconnaissance group, including Democedes, to Greece c. 519 b.c.e.

According to Herodotus, as Darius prepared for an expedition and war against both Egypt and Athens, Persian law required him to name an heir to the throne. Darius’s two oldest sons (by different mothers) fought over the throne. Darius had fathered three sons with his former wife, the daughter of Gobryas, before he became king. Their oldest son was named Artobazanes, who argued that according to custom, the first-born son should succeed the king. After Darius became king, he had four sons by Atossa, the eldest being Xerxes, born in 519. At this time, Demaratus, a former Spartan king, advised Xerxes that he should be the next king because in Sparta, the son born after the father attained the throne would be the successor. Herodotus reports that Darius accepted Xerxes’ plea, and Xerxes was designated the official heir.

Herdotus comments, “But I myself believe that, even without the advice, Xerxes would have become King. For Atossa had all the power.” This power would indicate that Atossa had some influence and authority in the royal court. As the daughter of Cyrus the Great and wife of three kings, she had experience and expertise in government or state affairs. When Xerxes ascended the throne, she very likely had influence as the queen mother. As crown prince, Xerxes ruled as the king’s governor in Babylon and reigned as king from 486 until 465, when harem intrigues led to his assassination. Atossa’s other sons by Darius held important military and administrative positions.

Another Greek source is Aeschylus’s famous tragedy Persai (472 b.c.e.; The Persians, 1777), performed in Athens eight years after the Greek victory against Xerxes at Salamis. In 481, Xerxes had begun land and sea invasions of Greece but ultimately was not successful. The Battle of Salamis in 480 was a major defeat for the Persian fleet and the turning point in the Persian Wars, after which Xerxes returned home, leaving another in charge of operations.

Although never referred to by name, Atossa is a leading character in this play. She is the “Queen of Persia, wife of Darius, mother of Xerxes.” The setting is a scene with the palace of Xerxes in the background and the tomb of Darius in the center foreground. The play begins with a chorus of Persian elders and the queen awaiting news about the battle. After the news of the Persian defeat, the queen invokes the ghost of Darius. Finally Xerxes returns, and the play ends with a lament.

Although it is a historical play based on a contemporary event, and written by someone who had fought in the Battle of Salamis, The Persians is obviously fictional in many ways and cannot be assumed to be a factual or realistic portrayal of Atossa. In the play, she is inquisitive and asks the royal councillor questions about the power structure of Athens and the Greek armies and about what wealth or treasures the Athenians possessed. Her character is that of the emotional, caring queen mother. Although it is not known how much knowledge the Greeks actually had of Persian royalty, Atossa was a known personality, significant enough to be a main character in Aeschylus’s famous play. It has been noted that the play is unique in its unexpected, sympathetic portrayal of the defeated enemy as noble. The play does support that Atossa was alive at the time of Xerxes’ return to Persia c. 479, so she probably lived into her seventies. There is no record of when or how she died.

Significance

Atossa played a prominent role during the Achaemenid period in ancient Persia. She was the daughter of Cyrus II, who founded the first Persian Empire. Later she was the wife of two kings, Cambyses and Darius, as well as of an impostor king, and finally the mother of King Xerxes. With her royal lineage and relationship to kings, she was an integral part of the rise and the beginning of the collapse of the Persian Empire. Although the Persian sources are scarce, Greek historiography has provided enough of a portrait to make Atossa the most renowned woman from ancient Persia.

According to Herodotus, she had power that guaranteed her son Xerxes’ ascension to the throne on Darius’s death, and she was able to persuade Darius to consider war with Greece. Although clearly fictional drama based on a true historical event, Aeschylus’s The Persians confirms the existence of a memorable and interesting queen.

Bibliography

Aeschylus. The Complete Greek Tragedies. Edited by David Grene and Richmond Lattimore. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991. This collection includes S. G. Bernardete’s translation of The Persians, in which Atossa is a main character. The introduction provides useful background information and critical commentary on the play.

Green, Peter. Xerxes at Salamis. New York: Praeger, 1970. A scholarly work on the significant victory by the Greek states against the powerful Persian Empire. Includes illustrations, maps, photographs, notes, bibliography, and an index.

Herodotus. The History. Translated by David Grene. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987. This is an English translation by one of the best-known translators of the Greek classics. Herodotus’s work is the main source of information on Atossa.

Herodotus. The Persian Wars. Translated by George Rawlinson. New York: The Modern Library, 1947. These selections from Herodotus’s The History give detailed historical information on the Persians and the Achaemenid kings, and there are references to Atossa.

Sancisi-Weerdenburg, Heleen. “Exit Atossa: Images of Women in Greek Historiography on Persia.” In Images of Women in Antiquity, edited by Averil Cameron and Amelie Kuhrt. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1983. This chapter is informative, because mentions of mortal women are nonexistent among the Persian sources.