Mandane (

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: Μανδάνη, ''Mandánē'') was a

Median The median of a set of numbers is the value separating the higher half from the lower half of a Sample (statistics), data sample, a statistical population, population, or a probability distribution. For a data set, it may be thought of as the “ ...

princess Princess is a title used by a female member of a regnant monarch's family or by a female ruler of a principality. The male equivalent is a prince (from Latin '' princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for ...

and, later, the

queen consort A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king, and usually shares her spouse's social Imperial, royal and noble ranks, rank and status. She holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles and may be crowned and anointed, but hi ...

of the Persian king Cambyses I and the mother of

Cyrus the Great Cyrus II of Persia ( ; 530 BC), commonly known as Cyrus the Great, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire. Achaemenid dynasty (i. The clan and dynasty) Hailing from Persis, he brought the Achaemenid dynasty to power by defeating the Media ...

, the founder of the

Achaemenid Empire The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire, also known as the Persian Empire or First Persian Empire (; , , ), was an Iranian peoples, Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC. Based in modern-day Iran, i ...

. The name likely originates from the Old Iranian ''*Mandanā-'', which means “''delighting'', ''cheerful''”. Mandane was the daughter of Astyages, but the name of her mother is not mentioned. It is said that Astyages married Aryenis in 585 BC, but it is unlikely that Aryenis was the mother of Mandane. She possibly was the daughter of a previous wife of Astyages. According to the Greek historian

Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...

, Astyages had a dream in which his daughter stood before him, and suddenly a vine began to grow from her back, extending its tendrils to cover all of Asia. He called upon the

Magi Magi (), or magus (), is the term for priests in Zoroastrianism and earlier Iranian religions. The earliest known use of the word ''magi'' is in the trilingual inscription written by Darius the Great, known as the Behistun Inscription. Old Per ...

and priests to interpret the dream, and they explained that the vine represented his grandson, the son of Mandane, who would take his place on the throne and rule over all of Asia. In 577 BC, when Mandane reached marriageable age, Astyages gave her in marriage to Cambyses I, a Persian with noble ancestry who was mild-mannered and held a lower position than the Medes. Therefore, he did not believe that Cambyses I would pose a threat to his kingdom. Mandane's marriage to Cambyses was encouraged by Astyages to strengthen the bonds between the

Medes The Medes were an Iron Age Iranian peoples, Iranian people who spoke the Median language and who inhabited an area known as Media (region), Media between western Iran, western and northern Iran. Around the 11th century BC, they occupied the m ...

and

Persians Persians ( ), or the Persian people (), are an Iranian ethnic group from West Asia that came from an earlier group called the Proto-Iranians, which likely split from the Indo-Iranians in 1800 BCE from either Afghanistan or Central Asia. They ...

. Mandane gave birth to a son named Cyrus, whom Astyages ordered to be executed by Harpagus. However, Harpagus handed the child over to a shepherd and lied to Astyages, saying that Cyrus had been killed. When Cyrus grew up, his grandfather Astyages discovered that he was alive and allowed him to return to his parents in Persia.

Xenophon Xenophon of Athens (; ; 355/354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian. At the age of 30, he was elected as one of the leaders of the retreating Ancient Greek mercenaries, Greek mercenaries, the Ten Thousand, who had been ...

also mentions Mandane in his work ''

Cyropaedia The ''Cyropaedia'', sometimes spelled ''Cyropedia'', is a partly fictional biography of Cyrus the Great, the founder of Persia's Achaemenid Empire. It was written around 370 BC by Xenophon, the Athens, Athenian-born soldier, historian, and studen ...

''. According to his story, Mandane and her son traveled to the court of Astyages, where the adolescent Cyrus surprised his grandfather, who decided to keep him at the court. Mandane, however, returned to her husband Cambyses I in Persia. After several years, Cyrus asked Astyages to let him return to Persia, but some time after his departure from

Ecbatana Ecbatana () was an ancient city, the capital of the Median kingdom, and the first capital in History of Iran, Iranian history. It later became the summer capital of the Achaemenid Empire, Achaemenid and Parthian Empire, Parthian empires.Nardo, Do ...

, the Persian Revolt began. Astyages' dreams and their interpretation became reality when Cyrus led the revolt that resulted in the overthrow of Astyages from the throne, the fall of the

Median kingdom Media (Old Persian: ''Māda''; Ancient Greek, Greek: ''Mēdía''; Akkadian language, Akkadian: ''wikt:𐎶𐎠𐎭#Descendants, Mādāya'') was a political entity centered in Ecbatana that existed from the 7th century BCE until the mid-6th cen ...

, and the rise of the

Mandane serves as the genealogical link connecting the kings of the

Achaemenid dynasty The Achaemenid dynasty ( ; ; ; ) was a royal house that ruled the Achaemenid Empire, which eventually stretched from Egypt and Thrace in the west to Central Asia and the Indus Valley in the east. Origins The history of the Achaemenid dy ...

with the ancient Median royal family. Some scholars have suggested that the Gur-e Dokhtar tomb, discovered in 1960, could be the burial site of Mandane. However, other scholars believe that the tomb might belong to Atossa, Teispes, or

Cyrus I Cyrus I (Old Persian language, Old Persian: ''Kuruš'') or Cyrus I of Anshan or Cyrus I of Persia, was King of Anshan (Persia), Anshan in Persia from to 580 BC or, according to others, from to 600 BC. Cyrus I of Anshan is the grandfather of C ...

. There is some doubt about the historical accuracy of the marriage between Cambyses and Mandane. The Median mother of Cyrus may have been invented to justify the later Persian rule over the Medes. It appears that the purpose of this story is to establish a direct relationship between Astyages and Cyrus, that is, between Media and Persia. Due to the historical record of the battle between Astyages and Cyrus and the conquest of Media by Cyrus as reported in the Nabonidus Chronicle, the story of the marriage between Cambyses I and Mandane, as well as the birth of Cyrus from this couple, is highly questionable in terms of its historicity. Rüdiger Schmitt
"Mandane"
in ''

Encyclopædia Iranica ''Encyclopædia Iranica'' is a project whose goal is to create a comprehensive and authoritative English-language encyclopedia about the history, culture, and civilization of Iranian peoples from prehistory to modern times. Scope The ''Encyc ...

'', January 1, 2000 There is also the account by

Ctesias Ctesias ( ; ; ), also known as Ctesias of Cnidus, was a Greek physician and historian from the town of Cnidus in Caria, then part of the Achaemenid Empire. Historical events Ctesias, who lived in the fifth century BC, was physician to the Acha ...

, which claims that Cyrus married a daughter of Astyages named Amytis. If both the accounts of Ctesias and Herodotus are correct, then Cyrus marrying Amytis would be an unusual case of

incest Incest ( ) is sexual intercourse, sex between kinship, close relatives, for example a brother, sister, or parent. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by lineag ...

, as he would be marrying his aunt. Nevertheless, Herodotus' account is considered reliable by most modern scholars, such as George G. Cameron.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mandane Of Media Median people 6th-century BC women Queens consort of the Achaemenid Empire Year of death unknown 6th-century BC Iranian people Ancient Persian women Achaemenid princesses Cyrus the Great Median dynasty Daughters of kings Mothers of monarchs