Artystone (; ;

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 ...

, ) also known as ''Irtašduna'' in the Fortification tablets, was a

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

princess, daughter of king

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 ...

, and sister of

Cambyses II Cambyses II () was the second King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning 530 to 522 BCE. He was the son of and successor to Cyrus the Great (); his mother was Cassandane. His relatively brief reign was marked by his conquests in North Afric ...

Atossa Atossa (Old Persian: ''Utauθa'', or Old Iranian: ''Hutauθa''; 550–475 BC) was an Achaemenid empress. She was the daughter of Cyrus the Great, the sister of Cambyses II, the wife of Darius the Great, the mother of Xerxes the Great and the gr ...

and

Smerdis Bardiya or Smerdis ( ; ; possibly died 522 BCE), also named as Tanyoxarces (; ) by Ctesias, was a son of Cyrus the Great and the younger brother of Cambyses II, both Persian kings. There are sharply divided views on his life. Bardiya eithe ...

. Along with Atossa and her niece Parmys, Artystone married king

Darius I 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 ...

. It is argued that by marrying the female offspring of Cyrus, the founder of the empire, the new king aimed to prevent his rule from being contested, since Darius himself was not of royal blood. Artystone and Darius had at least two sons, Arsames and Gobryas, and a daughter,

Artazostre Artazostre or Artozostre (Old Persian *''Artazauštrī'') was a Persian princess, daughter of king Darius the Great (522-485 BC) by Artystone, daughter of Cyrus the Great. According to the Greek historian Herodotus (VI, 43) Artazostre was given ...

. 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 ...

, Artystone was Darius' favourite wife. According to James Ussher, Artystone may have been another name for the biblical queen

Esther Esther (; ), originally Hadassah (; ), is the eponymous heroine of the Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible. According to the biblical narrative, which is set in the Achaemenid Empire, the Persian king Ahasuerus falls in love with Esther and ma ...

, since

also called her Artystone the Virgin. While Esther is commonly known as the wife of Xerxes or Artaxerxes, the Book of Esther lists her cousin Mordecai as present during Nebuchadnezzar's capture of Jeconiah in 599 BC, and

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...

referencing him as a contemporary of Darius,Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book 11:4:9
/ref> making it impossible for Mordecai to be alive during Xerxes' or Artexerxes' reigns.

Primary sources

, 3.88.2 bis; 7.69.2; 7.72.2. *The Persepolis Fortification Archive *Annals of the World by James Ussher, 797; 1036

Notes

References

*Brosius, M. (1998): ''Woman in Ancient Persia''.
Artystone
, in W. Smith (ed.), ''A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology''. *Lendering, J (2007 999:
Artystone
", in https://www.livius.org/ *Schmitt, R (1987):
Artystone
, in E. Yarshater (ed.),

Encyclopaedia Iranica An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles or entries that are arranged alphabetically by artic ...

, vol. II. *James Ussher (1650): ''Annals of the World''. *Josephus, F: ''Antiquities of the Jews,'' Book 11 {{Cyrus the Great 6th-century BC women 5th-century BC women 6th-century BC births 5th-century BC deaths 6th-century BC Iranian people Achaemenid princesses Family of Darius the Great Teispids Daughters of kings