Parysatis (wife of Darius II)

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Parysatis ( Late Babylonian Puru -'- šátiš; Old Persian * Paru-šiyāti-; in the Neo-Persian language "Parizad" (from "Pari", a being from Persian mythology who is not human; the feminine and good-natured opposite of Daeva and the Iranian counter-figure to Deva in Sanskrit ; meaning of the name: perhaps "good luck / joy granting")) was at the end of the 5th and beginning of the 4th century BC. Chr. Persian king's wife and half-sister of Darius II.

Life

The tradition of the actions of the Parysatis - all taken from Greek sources - allow insights into Greek ideas according to which noble Persians and especially a queen mother could exert a great influence on politics. Sources from the Persian Empire confirm that Parysatis owned large lands in Babylonia , Syria and Media . Like other noble women in the great Persian empire, she was free to operate economically.

Co-regent of the king and Pharaoh

Parysatis was the daughter of the Persian king Artaxerxes I and the Babylonian Andia. She married her half-brother Darius II. The marriage resulted in 13 children, as the Greek historian Ktesias of Knidos reports; allegedly he received this information during his stay at the Persian court from Parysatis himself. Eight children of the queen died at a young age, of the remaining five her sons Artaxerxes II and Cyrus the Younger were the most important. She exercised a dominant influence on the government of her brother-husband.

Queen mother

Parysatis preferred her younger son Cyrus and tried to make him the new king after the death of Darius II (404 BC). But Artaxerxes II was able to ascend the throne as the older brother. When Cyrus was suspected of plotting a murder against his royal brother, she was able to save him from execution by desperate pleading.

401 BC Cyrus tried to conquer the throne by war, but fell in the battle of Kunaxa against Artaxerxes II. Parysatis took care of the funeral of her deceased son and went - at least according to Greek representation (main lines of tradition Dinon from Colophon and Ktesias with their Persica ) - with the utmost cruelty against all who in their eyes were guilty of his death and the desecration of his corpse. These Greek reports do not allow any conclusions to be drawn about the real events in the Persian Empire after the usurpation was put down.

The clichéd role of the Parysatis was designed by Dinon and Ktesias; this is by no means a historical account. Apart from this dubious tradition, there is no evidence of an influence of noble women on jurisdiction or practical political exercise in the Persian Empire. All forms of execution traditionally handed down by Plutarch in this context are not only characterized by their cruelty, but also by their ahistoricity.

Time in exile and return

It did not succeed Parysatis, the life of the Spartan general Klearchus and his fellow generals , the 401 BC. Had fought for Cyrus to save, since Stateira , the wife of Artaxerxes II, prevented this plan. In revenge, Parysatis had her daughter-in-law poisoned and therefore had to go into exile in Babylon for some time . She was later allowed to return to the royal court. One of the reasons for the execution of the Persian general Tissaphernes (395 BC) is given as the intrigues of the Parysatis, who wanted to take revenge on him because of the death of Cyrus.

Possessions

Parysatis owned extensive goods in Babylonia, but was also able to call possessions on Chalos in Syria and villages on the Tigris in the media .

literature

  • C. Binder: Plutarch's Vita des Artaxerxes. A historical comment. Berlin / New York 2008.
  • M. Brosius: Women in ancient Persia 559-331 BC. Oxford 1996.
  • F. Justi: Iranian Name Book Marburg 1895
  • J. Miller: Article: Parysatis 1). In: Paulys real encyclopedia of classical antiquity . Vol. XVIII 2,3 (1949), pp. 2051f.
  • R. Schmitt: Iranian anthroponyms in the surviving remains of Ktesias work. Vienna 2006.
  • R. Schmitt: The Iranian names and Iranian names in Xenophon's writings. Vienna 2002.
  • J. Wiesehöfer: Article: Parysatis [1] . In: The New Pauly . Vol. 9, 2000, p. 381.

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ See F. Justi: Iranisches Namenbuch , Marburg 1895, p. 244; R. Schmitt: The Iranian names and Iranian names in the writings Xenophons , Vienna 2002, p. 68
  2. ↑ Ktesias von Knidos in Felix Jacoby , The Fragments of the Greek Historians (FGrH), No. 688, F 15; Plutarch , Artaxerxes 2, 4
  3. ↑ Ktesias, FGrH 688, F 15; Plutarch, Artaxerxes 2.2
  4. ↑ Xenophon , Anabasis 1, 1, 3f .; Plutarch, Artaxerxes 2, 2
  5. ↑ Plutarch, Artaxerxes 3
  6. ↑ Plutarch, Artaxerxes 14, 10; 16, 1; 17, 1; 23, 1; Diodorus 14, 80, 6; Polyainos 7, 16, 1
  7. ↑ Dinon , FGrH 690, F 15b; Ktesias, FGrH 688, F 29; Plutarch, Artaxerxes 19, 2-10
  8. ↑ Diodorus 14, 80, 6; Plutarch, Artaxerxes 23, 1
  9. ↑ Cuneiform documents
  10. ↑ Xenophon, Anabasis 1, 4, 9
  11. ↑ Xenophon, Anabasis 2, 4, 27
personal data
SURNAME Parysatis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Wife of the Persian great king Dareios II.
DATE OF BIRTH 5th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 4th century BC Chr.