Stateira (; died about 400 BC) was an Achaemenid queen, consort of the Persian king

Artaxerxes II Arses (; 445 – 359/8 BC), known by his regnal name Artaxerxes II ( ; ), was King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire from 405/4 BC to 358 BC. He was the son and successor of Darius II () and his mother was Parysatis. Soon after his accession, Ar ...

and mother of his successor, Artaxerxes III.

Biography

Stateira was the daughter of the Persian nobleman

Hydarnes Hydarnes (), also known as Hydarnes the Elder, was a Persian nobleman, who was one of the seven conspirators who overthrew the Pseudo-Smerdis. His name is the Greek transliteration of the Old Persian name , which may have meant "he who knows the ...

. She married Artaxerxes II, the oldest son of Darius II of Persia, and his wife

Parysatis Parysatis (; , ; 5th-century BC) was a Persian queen, consort of Darius II and had a large influence during the reign of Artaxerxes II. Biography Parysatis was the daughter of King of Kings Artaxerxes I of Persia and Andria of Babylon. She wa ...

. Darius II probably wanted to establish good relations with an important noble family, from which Stateira was descended because her brother Terituchmes married Amestris, a daughter of Darius II. Terituchmes loved one of his half-sisters more than his royal bride and tried to start a rebellion. Therefore, according to legend, Parysatis had all the children of Hydarnes killed and only spared the life of Stateira at the request of her husband. Artaxerxes II took over the Persian throne in 404 BC after the death of his father. Stateira seems to have been his only legal wife despite his numerous concubines. She bore a son, Artaxerxes, the heir to the throne, and probably other children. The queen's mother Parysatis and Stateira tried to be the key political influence on the king; so the women became bitter rivals. Stateira was very popular with the people, allegedly because she left the curtains open when she drove in her carriage and because she talked to the ordinary people. She supported her husband in his quarrel with his brother

Cyrus the Younger Cyrus the Younger ( ''Kūruš''; ; 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 in battle during a failed attempt to oust his ...

and criticized her sharp-tongued mother-in-law, because Parysatis had helped her favorite son Cyrus in his attempt to win the Persian throne from his brother Artaxerxes II. Reportedly the intense hatred between the two women led Parysatis to encourage Artaxerxes II to take on concubines 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 castration, 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 2 ...

Masabates and therefore intensified 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 and his fellow generals, who had been taken prisoner by

Tissaphernes Tissaphernes (; ; , ; 445395 BC) was a Persian commander and statesman, Satrap of Lydia and Ionia. His life is mostly known from the works of Thucydides and Xenophon. According to Ctesias, he was the son of Hidarnes III and therefore, the gre ...

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

Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...

, 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'' 5-6 and 17-19 (mainly based on Ctesias).

Posteriority

* Stateira plays a key role in the novel by the Greek author

Chariton Chariton of Aphrodisias () was the author of an ancient Greek novel probably titled ''Callirhoe (novel), Callirhoe'' (based on the subscription in the sole surviving manuscript). However, it is regularly referred to as ''Chaereas and Callirhoe'' ( ...

, who probably lived in the 1st or 2nd century AD. * The

Asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

831 Stateira, discovered in 1916, is named in her honour.

Notes

References

* Karl Fiehn: ''Stateira 1)''. In: ''

Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft The Pauly encyclopedias or the Pauly-Wissowa family of encyclopedias, are a set of related encyclopedias on Greco-Roman world, Greco-Roman classical studies, topics and scholarship. The first of these, or (1839–1852), was begun by compiler A ...

''. Vol. III A, 2 (1929), col. 2170–2171. * ''Stateira '. In: ''Der Neue Pauly''. Vol. 11 (2001), col. 920. * William Greenwalt: ''Statira I''. In: ''Women in World History''. Vol. 14 (2002), p. 745-746. 5th-century BC women Queens consort of the Achaemenid Empire Iranian murder victims Deaths from foodborne illnesses 5th-century BC Iranian people Artaxerxes II