Stateira (wife of Darius III)
Stateira († around 331 BC) was the sister of Darius III. a Persian queen (since 336 BC) from the Achaemenid dynasty .
Life
origin
Stateira was probably the daughter of the Persian nobleman Arsames (Arsanes) . Whether she is also a daughter of the Sisygambis and thus a full sister of Dareios III. was is not sure. She was considered the most beautiful woman in all of Asia. She is the only attested wife of Darius III.
captivity
To the war campaign of Dareios III. According to tradition, she accompanied her husband against Alexander the Great together with her daughters Stateira and Drypetis , her little son Ochus and other distinguished Persian women. After Alexander's victory in the Battle of Issus (333 BC), she and the entire family of the Persian king were captured by the Macedonians. Alexander treated Stateira and the royal family as a whole with the utmost respect.
death
Stateira was very worried about her husband. After Alexander's visit to Egypt , she died of a miscarriage and, on the orders of the Macedonian king, who was very grieving for her, received a splendid burial according to ancient Persian tradition.
As Dareios III. learned of the death of his wife and her respectful treatment and appropriate burial by Alexander, he first suspected that this unusually generous treatment was due to a love affair between the Macedonian conqueror and his beautiful wife, who must therefore have stained her reputation with adultery .
Alexander's messenger assured, however, that there had been no intimacy between Stateira and the Macedonian king, but that he had acted only out of human size.
family tree
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Artaxerxes II. 15th King, Regent of Persia |
Amestris princess |
Cyrus the Younger Prince |
Oxanthres prince |
Ostane's prince |
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Artaxerxes III. 16. King, Regent of Persia |
Oh, prince |
Rodrogune princess |
Apama princess |
Sisygambi's princess |
Poor prince |
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Arses 17th King, Regent of Persia |
Parysatis princess |
Oxyathres prince |
Dareios III. 18th King, Regent of Persia |
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Alexander the Great, King of Macedon and Regent of Persia |
Stateira princess |
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literature
- Fiehn: Stateira 2). In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume III A, 2, Stuttgart 1929, Col. 2170 f.
- Stateira [2] . In: The New Pauly . Volume 11, Col. 920.
Remarks
- ↑ Arrian , Anabasis 4, 19, 5f .; see. Curtius Rufus 4, 10, 24; Plutarch , Alexander 30.
- ↑ Curtius Rufus 3, 11, 24; 3, 12, 22; Plutarch, Alexander 30; among others
- ^ So Plutarch, Alexander 30; similar to Justin 11, 12, 6; Diodorus 17, 54; Curtius Rufus 4, 10, 23f .; among others
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Stateira |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Sister consort of the Persian King Dareios III. |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 4th century BC Chr. |
| DATE OF DEATH | around 331 BC Chr. |