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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 grandmother of Artaxerxes I.
Queen Atossa is the most famous bearer of this name, however, the name Atossa appears to have been a traditional one within the Achaemenid clan. According to the genealogy of the Kings of Cappadocia, the name Atossa was also borne by a sister of Cambyses I and sister-wife of Artaxerxes II.
Accusations against Cambyses for committing incest are used as a way to vilify him: painting him as mad and vain. This is a common historiographical issue faced in many older historical texts on Persia. For example, one of the primary records of his incestuous acts is from an Egyptian text which antagonizes many of his actions, far beyond incest. However, many of the allegations within the text, such as the killing of the Apis bull, have been confirmed as false, which means that the report of Cambyses' supposed incestuous acts are also contestable.
Atossa bore no children with Cambyses, and his reign concluded abruptly with his death in the spring or summer of 522 BCE.Brosius, Maria (2000). "Women i. In Pre-Islamic Persia". Archived copy. Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. London et al. Archived from the original on 2020-03-13. Retrieved 2019-09-21.
Following Cambyses’ death, the empire entered a period of political instability. A usurper named Gaumata, who claimed to be Bardiya (Cambyses’ younger brother and the son of Cyrus the Great), seized power. Bardiya’s death was not known to the public, which allowed Gaumata, a Magian priest from Media, to proclaim himself king near the Persian town of Paishiyauvada. During this tumultuous period, Atossa was passed into Gaumata’s harem. This situation was short-lived however, as Darius the Great overthrew Gaumata, took possession of the harem and claimed the throne. To legitimize his rule, Darius took wives from the noblest houses of Persia, marrying Cyrus' daughters Atossa and Artystone, as well as Parmys, Atossa’s niece. Atossa was granted the status of Darius’ primary consort and queen.
In Histories, Herodotus referred to Atossa as a woman who had been a wife of her brother Cambyses and afterwards of the Magus, while he described Artystone as a virgin. According to Herodotus, Artystone was Darius’ favourite wife, yet Atossa wielded considerably more influence in the Achaemenid Court, and it was Atossa’s son Xerxes I who succeeded Darius’ throne. Darius the Great and Atossa shared a common great-great grandfather Teispes, the King of Anshan, who ruled from 675 to 640 BCE. Teispes was the son of Achaemenes, the eponymous founder of the Achaemenid dynasty. Darius himself was a distant relative with the family of Cryus but not a direct descendant. Darius and Atossa’s union was politically significant, as it connected Darius to the lineage of Cyrus the Great, thereby reinforcing his claim to the throne. Scholars have argued that Darius’ marriage to Atossa was motivated by a desire to legitimize his collateral Achaemenid line by aligning himself with the family of Cyrus, the empire’s founder.
Atossa and Darius had four sons: Xerxes, Hystaspes, Masistes, and Achaemenes. Xerxes, the eldest, succeeded Darius as King of Kings, ruling the Achaemenid Empire from 486 to 465 BCE. Hystaspes commanded the Bactrian and Saka troops in Xerxes’ army, Masistes served as one of Xerxes’ leading generals, and Achaemenes was appointed admiral of the Egyptian fleet. According to Herodotus in Histories IX, Atossa’s sons Xerxes and Masistes shared a deeply troubled and deteriorated relationship as Xerxes fell in love with the wife of Masistes, but eventually brutally ordered her to be mutilated and killed. This prompted Masistes to start a revolt against Xerxes in 478 BC, which eventually led to his execution along with his followers and three sons.
Atossa remained married to Darius until his death in 486 BCE. Both were buried at Naqsh-e Rustam, the royal necropolis of the Achaemenid kings.
Atossa’s influence extended beyond military strategy to the realm of succession politics. Around 487 BCE, she secured Darius’ support for the succession of her son, Xerxes I, despite him not being the eldest of Darius’ children. Darius had at least twelve sons in total and three sons by his first wife, the daughter of Gobryas, but Atossa’s advocacy ensured Xerxes’ appointment as commander-in-chief of the Persian army, solidifying his position as the heir apparent."> The succession was further reinforced by symbolic gestures, such as the placement of a frieze near the northern stairs of the Audience hall (Apadana) of Persepolis as early as 495 BCE, depicting Darius with Xerxes as the crown prince. All Persians who went to celebrate the New Year’s Festival could see the intended successor through the public display.
Following Darius’ death, the transition of power to Xerxes was remarkably smooth. While there was minor unrest in Egypt and Babylonia, there were no significant rebellions comparable to those at the end of Cambyses’ reign. The absence of large-scale civil war can be attributed in part to Atossa’s authority and the legitimacy of her offspring for rulership.
During Xerxes’ reign, Atossa held the esteemed position of queen-mother. Atossa’s unparalleled position in Persian history is underscored by her title as “Lady,” a religious honorific previously granted only to Anahita. Since Atossa, this title was gradually yet still rarely granted to Persian queens.
Atossa’s dignified presence is immortalized in Aeschylus’ tragedy The Persians, where she is portrayed as a central and respected figure. Aeschylus first described Atossa during her entrance in the play as having “light in her eyes like that of gods,” and the chorus referred to her as “supreme among deep-girdled Persian women.” In the play, the late Darius I, summoned from Hades by the chorus, explicitly endorses her influence over Xerxes.
In by Siddhartha Mukherjee, an Indian-born American physician and oncologist, he imagines Atossa travelling through time, encountering various diagnoses and treatments for her breast cancer. Today, Queen Atossa continues to be the emblematic figure of breast cancer sufferers across history.
Atossa is a central character in Aeschylus's tragedy The Persians.
She is also one of the major characters in the Gore Vidal's epic historical fiction novel Creation.
Atossa is represented as a breast cancer patient in Siddhartha Mukherjee's book .
Dr.Jason Fung references Atossa's inflammatory breast cancer in his book The Cancer Code.
Poet Matthew Arnold named his Persian cat "Atossa". She is celebrated in his 1882 poem Poor Matthias, which is about the death of a pet canary.
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