On today's post we are returning our eyes towards the Persian empire and one of the main figures that History overlooked is this woman named Atossa. She was an achaemenid ruler, daughter of the powerful Cyrus the Great, whom we have already discussed on this blog. Atossa was also mostly remembered for being the mother of the powerful persian king Xerxes I, but was that all she should be entitled for? Despite the lack of profound informations concerning this interesting character, we are interested in trying to bring what we could find about her to the public eye.
Atossa was likely born around the year 550 BC in Pasargadae. She was one the children of Cyrus the Great, allegedly the oldest daughter, and his favourite wife, Cassandane. There is not much about her early life, but it appears that Atossa was taught reading and writing due to the later accounts that suggest her active role in politics, as seen here:
"One might imagine that considering Cyrus's open-mindedness on the one hand and the advanced trend practiced by the Persians in educating their children and youth on the other, as recorded in Xenophon's- the 4th century (BC) historian- book titled Cyropedy, Atossa must have had a distinct character of merit. Given that Atossa had learned how to write and read, she played a decisive role in educating and training her own as well as those of other aristocrats and courtiers."
She was also married to her brother, or half-brother, Cambyses II upon the death of their father. It appears that he was actually very fond of her and the match (one uniting close relatives) was the first to occurr within the royal family. Whether was the case, the marriage was not meant to last long as Cambyses died mysteriously in Egypt, leaving behind a scenario that would propice the rise of Darius the Great as "when Darius I defeated the followers of a man claiming to be Bardiya (Smerdis), the younger brother of Cambyses II in 522 BC, he married Atossa."
There are no records concerning Atossa's thoughts of the marriage, which implies it was a political union for both parties, as Atossa had a noble blood as the daughter of Cyrus the Great. This would later be important to Xerxes' inheritance as king of the persians. As we can see below:
"Atossa played an important role in the Achaemenid royal family, as she bore Darius the Great the next Achaemenid king, Xerxes I. Atossa had a 'great authority' in the Achaemenid royal house and her marriage with Darius I is likely due to her power, influence and the fact that she was a direct descendant of Cyrus."
Furthermore,
"Four sons were born to Darius and Atossa, among whom the oldest was named Xerxes. As told earlier, Darius who had another wife before getting married to Atossa had some other sons from his first wife. Given that Xerxes was not the oldest son and according to customs, a monarch had to be replaced by his first son, a lot of arguments took place between them. Xerxes claimed that his mother is the 'Savior of Persian Tribe' in view of her being the daughter of Cyrus. Besides when she was born her father was the monarch, while his older brothers were born earlier. On the other hand, Atossa's influence and authority was quite effective in the decisions made by her husband and other officials in this respect, disregarding the absence of any legal and inheritance right to this effect. Eventually, the 35 year old Xerxes was appointed as the crown prince, while the unprecedented measure reflected the high authority of 'The Ladies Lady'. That's how Xerxes, the grandson of Cyrus the Great took reign after his father (486-865 BC), while Darius' older son from his other wife was the best candidate deserving to replace his father and had already been trained for it."
Her power here is evident, though it's not possible to comprehend how she exercized it: through subtle manners or more actively, or a mix of both. What we do know, as far as we may see it, is that she earned her husband's respect so that he trusted her to deal with matters as these. As for the others son Atosse bore him, they were also:
"given important army and administrative positions. That was actually the period when Atossa enjoyed the greatest authority of her long lifetime. As a woman in her middle ages and with high expertise and having been through a lot of ups and downs, she made use of her influence in the state affairs as the queen mother."
And also, "according to Herodotus, 'Atossa was of great authority, and during the Greek war initially recommended by her, Darius made use of her advice. She was even interested in accompanying her husband in the process of war." Her persona was also very recommendable during her son's reign, which she lived enough to see. However, accounts record that she disagreed with Xerxes in matters of war, specially where the invasion in Greece was concerned. Nonetheless, she remained his great supporter until the end of her life.
Lastly, we do not know anything about her death, except the year it occurred being 475 BC. However, there are some facts which are interested to share. We know, for example, that:
"Herodotus records in The Histories that Atossa was troubled by a bleeding lump in her breast. She wrapped herself in sheets and sought a self-imposed quarantine. Ultimately, a Greek slave, Democedes, persuaded her to allow him to excise the tumor. This is the first recorded case of mastitis."
Also, Atossa was:
"the second female personality who was titled a 'Lady', which was a religious title, after Anahita. Since then such a title was gradually granted to some queens. Aeschylus, the 5th century (BC) Greek dramatist, in his famous play titled 'The Iranians', which is the story of Xerxes' war with the Greek and the significant victory of the Greeks, has called Atossa 'The Ladies Lady'."
Whilst some sources claim Atossa was a woman who sought to achieve power for herself, seeing in her figure someone who was very ambitious and selfish to the very least, we must regard such views carefully. After all, was every powerful woman in a world dominated by male perspectives and powers necessarily ambitious and power hungry? Some might, as some might not. It is not up to us to (re)produce such judgement, especially when we know that Atossa and others like her were trapped in a male's world where they were expected to be silent and submissive. Not necessarily fitting in such stereotypes does not make any female character desperated for power, selfish or other pejorative adjective. That is what we must bear in mind whenever we look at historical individuals located in different space and time from ours this day.
Bibliography:
BROWN, Julie. "Atossa." In: Atlas Mountains. Pp 170, 171. 2012.
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