Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
A companion video to the prior one on Roxana, Alexander's first wife. Here, I discuss the royal Persian women who fell into Alexander's control after the Battle of Issos in late autumn of 333 BCE, as well as the general status of Persian women versus Greek: their greater social influence and advisory capacities.
A popular-in-antiquity tale relates Alexander's first meeting with the women. In it, Sisygambus (queen-mother) accidentally bowed to Hephaistion, not Alexander. He reassured her with, "You weren't wrong, Mother. He is Alexander too." What's behind that story? Did it happen? And if he would go on to marry Statiera the Younger about nine years later, what was his relationship with Statiera the Elder between the Battle of Issos and her death almost two years later, shortly before the Battle of Gaugamela (Oct. 1 331 BCE). What killed her is the interesting piece.
Prior video on Roxana: youtu.be/AEoPsxv-R2o
NAMES MENTIONED:
Sisygambus (mother of Darius), Statiera the Elder (wife of Darius III), Statiera the Younger/Barsine (elder daughter of Darius, Alexander's second wife), Drypetis (younger daughter of Darius, Hephaistion's wife), Parysatis (granddaughter of Artaxerxes III Ochus, Alexander's third wife). Also, Barsine, daughter of Artabazus (Alexander's mistress). Roxana (daughter of Oxyartes, Alexander's first wife)
ANCIENT SOURCES:
Alexander meets the Persian Women after Issos:
* Curtius 3.12 & Diodorus 17.37, similar version, maybe from Kleitarchos
* Arrian 2.12.3-8, several versions, including meeting
* Plutarch Alex. 21.1-3 (ATG never meets Statiera)
Death of Statiera the Elder shortly before Gaugamela:
* Plutarch Alex. 30.1 (childbirth); Justin 11.12.6 (miscarriage)
* Curtius 4.10.18-19 (exhaustion)
(All agree on when, no other source mentions it.)
MODERN TEXTS:
* The Persians, Maria Brosius, 2006, Routledge
* Darius in the Shadow of Alexander, Pierre Briant, Harvard UP
* Women in Ancient Persia, 559-331 BC, 1996, Oxford UP
* "Alexander's Polygamy: Remarks on Alexander's Relationship(s) with Women," Monica D'Agostini, in Macedon and Its Influences: Narratives of Politics and War in Honor of Edward M. Anson, J. Reames & G. Wrightson, 2024, Peeters: 157-92.
(Cover image: lapis lazuli of Persian queen often identified as Atossa, c. 500 BCE, from Persepolis, now in the National Museum of Iran)
A companion video to the prior one on Roxana, Alexander's first wife. Here, I discuss the royal Persian women who fell into Alexander's control after the Battle of Issos in late autumn of 333 BCE, as well as the general status of Persian women versus Greek: their greater social influence and advisory capacities.
A popular-in-antiquity tale relates Alexander's first meeting with the women. In it, Sisygambus (queen-mother) accidentally bowed to Hephaistion, not Alexander. He reassured her with, "You weren't wrong, Mother. He is Alexander too." What's behind that story? Did it happen? And if he would go on to marry Statiera the Younger about nine years later, what was his relationship with Statiera the Elder between the Battle of Issos and her death almost two years later, shortly before the Battle of Gaugamela (Oct. 1 331 BCE). What killed her is the interesting piece.
Prior video on Roxana: youtu.be/AEoPsxv-R2o
NAMES MENTIONED:
Sisygambus (mother of Darius), Statiera the Elder (wife of Darius III), Statiera the Younger/Barsine (elder daughter of Darius, Alexander's second wife), Drypetis (younger daughter of Darius, Hephaistion's wife), Parysatis (granddaughter of Artaxerxes III Ochus, Alexander's third wife). Also, Barsine, daughter of Artabazus (Alexander's mistress). Roxana (daughter of Oxyartes, Alexander's first wife)
ANCIENT SOURCES:
Alexander meets the Persian Women after Issos:
* Curtius 3.12 & Diodorus 17.37, similar version, maybe from Kleitarchos
* Arrian 2.12.3-8, several versions, including meeting
* Plutarch Alex. 21.1-3 (ATG never meets Statiera)
Death of Statiera the Elder shortly before Gaugamela:
* Plutarch Alex. 30.1 (childbirth); Justin 11.12.6 (miscarriage)
* Curtius 4.10.18-19 (exhaustion)
(All agree on when, no other source mentions it.)
MODERN TEXTS:
* The Persians, Maria Brosius, 2006, Routledge
* Darius in the Shadow of Alexander, Pierre Briant, Harvard UP
* Women in Ancient Persia, 559-331 BC, 1996, Oxford UP
* "Alexander's Polygamy: Remarks on Alexander's Relationship(s) with Women," Monica D'Agostini, in Macedon and Its Influences: Narratives of Politics and War in Honor of Edward M. Anson, J. Reames & G. Wrightson, 2024, Peeters: 157-92.
(Cover image: lapis lazuli of Persian queen often identified as Atossa, c. 500 BCE, from Persepolis, now in the National Museum of Iran)
