Parysatis

Who is Parysatis?

Parysatis was the 5th-century BCE illegitimate daughter of Artaxerxes I, Emperor of Persia and Andia of Babylon.

She was the half-sister of Xerxes II, Sogdianus and Darius II. She married her half-brother Darius and had four sons, Artaxerxes II, Cyrus the Younger, Ostanes and Oxathres. Her favorite was Cyrus and it was on account of her influence that the then teenager was given supreme command in western Anatolia in around 407 BCE. When her husband died, she supported her younger son Cyrus. When Cyrus was defeated in the Battle of Cunaxa she blamed the satrap Tissaphernes for the death of her son. She later had Tissaphernes assassinated.

Asteroid 888 Parysatis is named after her.