Born: Unknown, Iran (assumed)
Died: 538 BCE
Country most active: Iran
Also known as: Cassandana, Κασσανδάνη, Kassandánē
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.
Cassandane was the wife of Cyrus the Great (r. c. 550-530 BCE), founder of the Achaemenid Empire (c. 550-330 BCE). Shahbanu was a title meaning “King’s Lady” and was held by a monarch’s principal wife (mother of his heir). Details on Cassandane’s life are vague and she is best known as the mother of the second Achaemenid king Cambyses II (r. 530-522 BCE) and his sister (and later wife) Atusa. When she died, according to Herodotus, Cyrus was grief-stricken and decreed an empire-wide period of mourning lasting six days (II.1). As far as the evidence suggests, the various nations of the empire complied easily with this decree suggesting the respect they had for the late queen and her husband. Cassandane, like her husband, is thought to have set the standard of how Persian queens were to be respected. This high regard is evident in the depictions of later queens and, probably most famously, in the example of Queen Esther in the biblical narrative that bears her name. In the biblical account, Esther – though not of Persian birth – commands enough respect from her husband the king that she is not only able to save the Jews of Persia from genocide but turns the tables on their enemies so that they are, instead, eliminated by royal decree.