Artystone

Artystone (Elamite Irtašduna) was the daughter of the Persian king Cyrus the Great (559-530 BCE) and a wife of king Darius I the Great (522-486).

Achaemenid woman (or a beardless prince)
Achaemenid woman (or a beardless prince)

Artystone's marriage to Darius the Great, briefly after his coup d'état in 521 BCE, was important because it connected two lines of the Achaemenid dynasty, which was necessary because the elder branch had died out and Darius belonged to the younger branch. A similar marriage was concluded between Darius and Artystone's elder sister Atossa.

According to the Greek researcher Herodotus of Halicarnassus, Artystone was Darius' favorite wife; he erected a golden statue of her.note The couple had three children: Arsames, Gobryas, and Artozostre.

In the Persepolis Fortification Tablets, this queen is called Irtašduna. She appears to have been one of the most influential women at the Achaemenid court, and owned large estates in Persis.

This page was created in 1999; last modified on 27 April 2019.