| My interest in the life of Atusa, (more often spelled, Atossa), was inspired buy a description of her, found on a web page entitled, Historical Persian Queens, Empresses, Warriors, Generals of the Ancient Persia. Below I have reproduced part of the text from this page. (www.persepolis.nu/queens.htm) |
| Atusa Shahbanu was the Queen of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, wife of the mighty Persian Achaemenid King Darius the Great (522-486 B.C.E.), daughter of Cyrus the Great and Queen Cassandane, a half-sister of Cambyses II and the mother of Xerxes the Great (Kheshayar Shah). Ancient Greek historians of the era remarks that the formidable Atossa "had all the power". Atusa, had a great authority in the Achaemenid royal house and her marriage with Darius I is suggested to be because of her power and influence and also the fact that she was a direct descendent of Cyrus the Great. When her mother Cassandane died all the nations of the Persian empire observed a great mourning that lasted for several weeks. Atossa was the director of palace affairs. She had a saying in deciding who would be sent on military missions. The invention of old Persian script is attributed to her. According to the legends Atusa also had a very strong women's intuition and sixth sense which the King strongly admired and followed. Atusa is well mentioned in the Persepolis Fortification Tablets, an administrative archive from Persepolis. She was very wealthy with her own administration and massive personal army. Darius the Great followed in the footsteps of Cyrus the Great, and respected the culture, language and religion of subdued nations and considered all nations equal in terms of their rights. The name "Atusa" means: "Beautiful body." (Alternative spellings are: Atoosa, Atousa, or Atossa.) |
| According to reliable sources Atusa was born around 550 B.C.E. So long ago that we do not have any faithful representations of her, with the possible exception of one bust shown on Wikipedia. and this is described simply as "Probably an Iranian Persian Queen." It strikes me that this Queen, one the most powerful the World has ever known, has been poorly remembered by historians... how many readers have even heard of her? Look at this page about Darius I, found in the online version of Encyclopaedia Britannica, there is not a single mention of his wife! |
| Therefore I have taken the liberty of creating a virtual Atusa Shahbanu in Second Life, to help promote her story which is probably one of the most important and fantastic in the entire history of Civilization. Not only was she rich and powerful but her name has become to be known as meaning "beautiful body" I like to think she had it all... rich, intelligent and beautiful! |
| I started looking at every source of information about Atusa Shahbanu, and discovered some shocking discrepancies. We cannot fail to notice that Atusa was the daughter of Cyrus the Great, this fact alone gives to her enormous prestige, yet we find certain authors, supposed authorities, who manage to write lengthy articles about the life Darius I, without ever once mentioning her. Take for example a page found on The Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies web site. In an article entitled "Darius The Great" by a certain Prof. A Shapur Shahbazi, we find a lengthy and detailed description of everything that Darius ever did, with dozens and dozens of references, and yet in the midst of this vast display of historical information, we find not a single reference to his wife, her name is never even mentioned! One is tempted to suspect some sort of conspiracy to try to explain such a blatent discrepancy! |
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Therefore in the next few pages I am going to endevour to show that Atusa may be as historically important as Darius I himself. When there is an intelligent and beautiful woman behind a powerful Ruler, it will be very hard to know what kind of influence she may of had. It goes without saying that some men will do anything to try to please or impress their wives. |
| We are just starting out on this journey to try to discover more about the life of Atusa. Probably someone is going to write to me complaining that my virtual Atusa is not dressed in the traditional fashion of Persian Queens. For this I must apologise and promise to research the matter more fully! |
