Musa (queen)

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Coin of Phraatakes. The reverse shows Musa

Musa ( referred to as Thermusa by Flavius ​​Josephus ) was a Parthian queen. She was first the wife of Phraates IV and later that of Phraatakes .

In the year 20 BC The Romans gave a son of Phraates IV back to the ruler who had been held hostage. In return, the Parthians delivered standards and prisoners they had captured to the Romans. In the wake of the son there was also a slave, this same Musa. Musa attained the status of lover at the court of Phraates IV and gave birth to the ruler a son: Phraatakes, whereupon she was raised to the wife of Phraates IV.

In the year 10 BC She was able to persuade the king to send his four eldest sons to Rome for training . In the year 2 BC She poisoned her husband and put her own son Phraatakes on the Parthian throne. In year 2 she even married him and from then on appears with him on his coins. In year 4 both disappear from the political stage. According to Josephus, both were killed because of their marriage.

Musa is known almost only through Roman historiography, which portrays the Parthians - as main enemies - in a negative light.

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literature

  • JM Bigwood, Queen Mousa, Mother and Wife (?) Of King Phraatakes of Parthia. A re-evaluation of the evidence . In: Mouseion Ser. 3, Volume 4, 2004, pp. 35-70.
  • Irene Huber, Udo Hartmann : "Because the king was unable to contradict their dictates ..." The position of women at the court of the Arsacids . In: Antonio Panaino, Andrea Piras (Ed.): Proceedings of the 5th Conference of the Societas Iranologica Europæa. Volume 1: Ancient and Middle Iranian studies . Mimesis, Milan 2006, pp. 485-517.
  • Emma Strugnell: Thea Musa, Roman Queen of Parthia . In: Iranica Antiqua. Volume 43, 2008, pp. 275-298.
  • Duane W. Roller: Cleopatra's daughter and other royal women of the Augustan era. Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 2018, ISBN 978-0-19-061882-7 , pp. 123–127.

Web links

Commons : Musa  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Musa
BRIEF DESCRIPTION parthian queen
DATE OF BIRTH 1st century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 1st century