Parysatis (; peo, Parušyātiš, grc, Παρύσατις; 5th-century BC) was a powerful Persian Queen, consort of

Darius II Darius II ( peo, 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁 ; grc-gre, Δαρεῖος ), also known by his given name Ochus ( ), was King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire from 423 BC to 405 or 404 BC. Artaxerxes I, who died in 424 BC, was followed by h ...

and had a large influence during the reign of

Artaxerxes II Arses ( grc-gre, Ἄρσης; 445 – 359/8 BC), known by his regnal name Artaxerxes II ( peo, 𐎠𐎼𐎫𐎧𐏁𐏂 ; grc-gre, Ἀρταξέρξης), was King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire from 405/4 BC to 358 BC. He was the son and suc ...

Biography

Parysatis was the daughter of

Artaxerxes I Artaxerxes I (, peo, 𐎠𐎼𐎫𐎧𐏁𐏂𐎠 ; grc-gre, Ἀρταξέρξης) was the fifth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, from 465 to December 424 BC. He was the third son of Xerxes I. He may have been the " Artas ...

, Emperor of Persia and Andia of

Babylon ''Bābili(m)'' * sux, 𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠 * arc, 𐡁𐡁𐡋 ''Bāḇel'' * syc, ܒܒܠ ''Bāḇel'' * grc-gre, Βαβυλών ''Babylṓn'' * he, בָּבֶל ''Bāvel'' * peo, 𐎲𐎠𐎲𐎡𐎽𐎢 ''Bābiru'' * elx, 𒀸𒁀𒉿𒇷 ''Babi ...

. She was the half-sister of Xerxes II, Sogdianus, and

. She married her half-brother Darius II and had 13 sons, of which four survived to adulthood:

Cyrus the Younger Cyrus the Younger ( peo, 𐎤𐎢𐎽𐎢𐏁 ''Kūruš''; grc-gre, Κῦρος ; died 401 BC) was an Achaemenid prince and general. He ruled as satrap of Lydia and Ionia from 408 to 401 BC. Son of Darius II and Parysatis, he died in 401 BC i ...

, Ostanes, and Oxathres. and one daughter - Amestris.

Influence at the Persian Court

Parysatis was very powerful and had a network of spies and informants.

Ctesias Ctesias (; grc-gre, Κτησίας; fl. fifth century BC), 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 fi ...

, who was her physician, mentions in his books how she would identify and order the execution of various people who were a threat to the throne. Parysatis was very savvy and succeeded in assisting

's ascent to the throne, even though he was a bastard and not a legitimate child. Ctesias records that he was very dependent on her counsel. In addition, she is mentioned to have held a lot of land and villages in Syria, Media and Babylon, and a record of the taxes paid directly to her remained, as well as the servant who was in charge of managing her holdings and tax collections - Ea bullissu.

Supporting Cyrus the Younger

Queen Parysatis flaying a eunuch James Ensor

Her favorite son was Cyrus, and it was on account of her influence that he was given supreme command in western Anatolia as a teenager in around 407 BC. When her husband died, she supported Cyrus. When Cyrus was defeated in the

Battle of Cunaxa The Battle of Cunaxa was fought in the late summer of 401 BC between the Persian king Artaxerxes II and his brother Cyrus the Younger for control of the Achaemenid throne. The great battle of the revolt of Cyrus took place 70 km north of Bab ...

, she blamed the satrap

Tissaphernes Tissaphernes ( peo, *Ciçafarnāʰ; grc-gre, Τισσαφέρνης; xlc, 𐊋𐊆𐊈𐊈𐊀𐊓𐊕𐊑𐊏𐊀 , ; 445395 BC) was a Persian soldier and statesman, Satrap of Lydia and Ionia. His life is mostly known from the works of Thuc ...

for his death, and thus had him assassinated not long after. According to the chapter on Artaxerxes II in ''

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...

's Life,'' a young Persian soldier named Mithridates unknowingly struck Cyrus the Younger during the

(

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece 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 ...

: Κούναξα), making him fall from his horse, dazed. Some eunuchs found Cyrus and tried to bring him to safety, but a Caunian among the king's camp followers struck a vein behind his knee with a dart, making him fall and strike his head on a stone, whereupon he died. Unwisely, Mithridates boasted of killing Cyrus in the court, and Parysatis had him executed by

scaphism Scaphism (from Greek , meaning "boat"), also known as the boats, is an alleged ancient Persian method of execution mentioned by Plutarch in his ''Life of Artaxerxes''. It ostensibly entailed trapping the victim between two boats, feeding and cove ...

. She likewise got vengeance on Masabates, the king's eunuch, who had cut off Cyrus' hand and head, by winning him from her son Artaxerxes in a game of dice and having him flayed alive.Plutarch. Ed. by A.H. Clough. "Artaxerxes," ''Plutarch's Lives''. 1996
Project Gutenberg
/ref>

Rivalry with Stateira

Stateira was the wife of Artaxerxes II. Her brother, Terituchmes, loved one of his half-sisters more than his intended bride - Amestris, Darius II and Parysatis's daughter. Terituchmes tried to start a rebellion, and Parysatis had all the family killed and only spared the life of Stateira at the request of her husband. After Artaxerxes II took control and Cryus's attempt to seize the throne failed, the queen mother Parysatis and queen consort Stateira both tried to be the key political influence on the king, making them bitter rivals. Reportedly the intense hatred between the two women led Parysatis to encourage Artaxerxes II to take on concubines in order to hurt his wife. Stateira also publicly spoke up against the cruelties of the queen mother at the Persian court. For example, she criticized the brutal treatment of the

eunuch A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millenni ...

Masabates, intensifying her conflict with Parysatis. Finally, Parysatis had Stateira murdered. Classical sources give different reasons for this deed. According to one version, Parysatis wanted to save the life of the Spartan commander

Clearchus The name Clearchus or Clearch may refer to: *Clearchus of Athens, Greek comic poet *Clearchus of Heraclea (c. 401 BCE – 353 BCE), Greek tyrant of Heraclea Pontica *Clearchus of Rhegium, Greek sculptor, pupil of Eucheirus, teacher of Pythagoras th ...

and his fellow-generals, who had been taken prisoner by

, but Stateira had succeeded in persuading her husband to execute the prisoners. Therefore, Parysatis is supposed to have poisoned Stateira.

, in his biography of Artaxerxes II, did not believe this story. According to another tradition, Parysatis murdered her daughter-in-law because she realized that her son only felt true love for his wife. Plutarch reports that Parysatis performed the assassination with the help of a loyal servant named Gigis. She carved a bird with a poisoned knife in such a way that only one half of the animal was mixed with the poison. This half was served to Stateira when they were dining together. The poisoned meal caused the painful death of Stateira. Artaxerxes was enraged and tried to capture Gigis, who was being hidden in Parysatis's quarters. Eventually, she was captured when she visited her family and was executed. Parysatis was banished to Babylon, but returned afterwards to continue to provide advice and counsel to the king. She advised him to marry his daughters Amestris and Atossa, to continue her influence over him, as they were less experienced in court.

In popular culture

Asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere. ...

888 Parysatis 888 Parysatis ( ''prov. designation'': ''or'' ) is a stony background asteroid, approximately in diameter, that is located in the central region of the asteroid belt. It was discovered by German astronomer Max Wolf at the Heidelberg Observato ...

, discovered by

Max Wolf Maximilian Franz Joseph Cornelius Wolf (21 June 1863 – 3 October 1932) was a German astronomer and a pioneer in the field of astrophotography. He was the chairman of astronomy at the University of Heidelberg and director of the Heidelberg-K ...

is named after her. * Jane Dieulafoy wrote a novel called ''Parysatis'' in 1890. It was later turned into a play with instrumental music by

Camille Saint-Saëns Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (; 9 October 183516 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic music, Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Piano C ...

in 1902. *

James Ensor James Sidney Edouard, Baron Ensor (13 April 1860 – 19 November 1949) was a Belgian painter and printmaker, an important influence on expressionism and surrealism who lived in Ostend for most of his life. He was associated with the artistic g ...

created an etching called "La Reine Parysatis ecorchant un eunuque” (Queen Parysatis flaying a eunuch), showing the execution of Masabates

References

Additional Reading

* * * {{authority control 5th-century BC women Queens of the Achaemenid Empire 5th-century BC Iranian people Darius II