Born: 550 BCE (circa), Iran
Died: 475 BCE
Country most active: Iran
Also known as: Atusa Shahbanu, Utauθa, Hutauθa
This biography was originally published in the World History Encyclopedia and was written by Joshua J. Mark. It is shared in line with the Encyclopedia’s policies under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The daughter of Cyrus the Great, wife of Cambyses II, Bardia (also known as Smerdis, r. 522 BCE), and Darius I (the Great, r. 522-486 BCE). Atusa is better known as Atossa, the name she appears under in Herodotus, and was considered a great prize as a wife since she was the daughter of Cyrus and Cassandane. Herodotus (in Book III.133) relates the story of Atossa finding a painful growth on her breast and enlisting the aid of the Greek physician (and slave to Darius I) Democedes to cure her (the first recorded case of mastitis in history). This part of Herodotus’ narrative is accepted by scholars without challenge but it continues with a tale universally rejected as anything close to truth: the story of how Democedes only cured Atossa on the condition that she talk Darius I into sending him as an advance scout back to his homeland in preparation for Darius I’s invasion in 490 BCE and Atossa suggesting the invasion in the first place in order to bring back more Greek slaves of the quality of Democedes. Democedes is sent to scout, cleverly tricks his Persian guards, and escapes (III.134-137). This is one of the most often-repeated stories concerning Queen Atossa in western sources but, in the Persian tradition, this tale is dismissed, and she is known as a strong, independent woman, wife of three kings and mother of Xerxes I, who operated her own business and maintained her own court and military.