Irdabama (fl. early 5th-century BC), was an Ancient Persian businesswoman during the reign of

Darius the Great Darius I ( ; – 486 BCE), commonly known as Darius the Great, was the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 522 BCE until his death in 486 BCE. He ruled the empire at its territorial peak, when it included much of West A ...

(r. 522–485 BC). She is the most well known and wealthiest businesswoman attested to in the records of the Achaemenid Empire at Persepolis. According to Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones (2013), recently uncovered texts in Persepolis indicate that Darius' mother was Irdabama. It is not clear exactly who Irdabama was, but she was clearly very rich. She has been suggested to be of aristocratic or royal birth. It is also possible that she was in fact two different women. Llewellyn-Jones suggests she descended from a family of

Elamite Elamite, also known as Hatamtite and formerly as Scythic, Median, Amardian, Anshanian and Susian, is an extinct language that was spoken by the ancient Elamites. It was recorded in what is now southwestern Iran from 2600 BC to 330 BC. Elamite i ...

dynasts centered at Susa. She possessed her own work forces, include 480 laborers, mainly centered in what is today Shiraz. She is the most notable example of Persian women of this era who owned land and estates in Iran as well as outside Iran such as Babylonia, Syria, Egypt, and Media. WOMEN i. In Pre-Islamic Persia
/ref> She mainly dealt in wine and grain and oversaw business holdings, production centers and her estates. Several seals have been found regarding her business transactions. It is described how she distributed her goods and food rations to her staff and how she supervised the management of her vast land holdings. She travelled widely around Iran and Mesopotamia with her own entourage of servants.

References

* Stephanie Lynn Budin, Jean Macintosh Turfa:
Women in Antiquity: Real Women across the Ancient World
' *
From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire
' *
King and Court in Ancient Persia 559 to 331 BCE
' 6th-century BC Iranian people 5th-century BC Iranian people Ancient businesswomen 5th-century businesspeople 5th-century BC women Women from the Achaemenid Empire Ancient landowners 6th-century BC women People from Shiraz