Atosa

Atosa or Atossa (Greek version of the Old Persian *Utauθa, and this of the Avestan Hutaosā) was a queen consort of Persia (550-475 BC) She was the daughter of Cyrus II the Great and his wife Cassandana.

Her brother Cambyses II insisted on marrying her and her sister Roxane, even though there was no legal precedent in Persia for such a marriage between siblings; To avoid offending the king, Cambyses' advisors told him that Persian laws allowed him to do whatever he wished.

Later, Atossa was taken as a wife by her brother Smerdis, who overthrew Cambyses.

In 522 BC. C. she remarried Darius I, when he in turn overthrew Smerdis. Atossa had several children with Darius I: Masistes, Achaemenes (future satrap of Egypt), Hystaspes and Xerxes, her firstborn and her successor on the throne of her father.

Athossa probably died before Xerxes came to power, possibly before 515 BC. C., because she is not mentioned in the Tablets of the Persepolis Fortress. However, Herodotus considers that she was still alive during the reign of Xerxes, as does Aeschylus, who introduces Atossa (without naming her) as a main character in his tragedy The Persians. Little is known about the real Atosa, although it is speculated that she could have come from a Zoroastrian family, since 'Atosa' She is a mythical figure in that religion. According to Herodotus, she owned Greek slaves, which she preferred over Persian slaves.

One of the reasons why she is famous refers to her ability to interpret dreams as the inheritance of Cyrus according to Aeschylus. In the Atossa dream she interpreted the disastrous end of Xerxes' campaign against the Greeks and identified the Eagle (Achaemenid empire) and the falcon (Helais) when the latter kills the former. She was also cited by Herodotus, although on this occasion as the instigator of said incursion.