Parysatis, the Kings Wife and then the Kings Mother of Persia, was a truly formidable woman. You really, really didn’t want to get on her bad side. The Persians had perfected the art of execution by inventive and brutal ways, and Parysatis made use of these. As well as being violent however, she was also intelligent and extremely capable, becoming an indispensable advisor to her son Artaxerxes 2nd. The Persians ruled over an enormous empire, at one point controlling 44% of the world’s population - still the largest empire ever by percentage of population.
Sources/Further Reading
Llewellyn-Jones, Lloyd: The Persians, the Age of the Great Kings
Briant, Pierre: From Cyrus to Alexander, A History of the Persian Empire
https://www.eavartravel.com/blog/2022/10/24/130563/persian-empire/
https://retrospectjournal.com/2022/11/27/did-women-have-real-power-in-the-achaemenid-court/
Hyland, John: Pharnabazos, Cyrus’ Rebellion, and the Spartan War of 399 http://www.achemenet.com/pdf/arta/2008.003-Hyland.pdf
Schmitt, Rudiger: Cyrus the Younger: https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/cyrus-vi-younger/
Greenwalt, William: Parysatis 1 https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/parysatis-i-fl-440-385-bce
Soteriou, Eleonora: Did women have real power in the Achaemenid court?https://retrospectjournal.com/2022/11/27/did-women-have-real-power-in-the-achaemenid-court/
Price, Massoume: Women's lives in ancient Persia https://www.iranchamber.com/history/articles/women_in_ancient_persia.php
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
