Stateira I

Who was Stateira I?

Stateira I was the wife of Darius III of Persia of the Achaemenid dynasty. She was known as the most beautiful woman in the land and, as was the custom for royal Persian women, accompanied her husband while he went to war. It was because of this custom that she was captured by Alexander the Great after the Battle of Issus, in 333 BC at the town of Issus. Her husband abandoned his entire family at the site as he fled from Alexander, including his mother Sisygambis and his daughters Stateira II and Drypteis. Alexander is reported to have treated them with great respect.

Stateira I died giving birth around 332 BC. Some rumors speculated the father of the child might not have been Darius'. Darius' mother Sisygambis had a lifelong respect and genuine friendship with Alexander.

In 324 BC, her daughter, Stateira II, married Alexander, and her other daughter, Drypteis, married one of his lifetime companions, Hephaestion. When Alexander died one year later these royal Persian women mourned his death, further indicating personal relationships rather than merely diplomatic ones. Both of her daughters and their families were assassinated by another wife of Alexander, Roxana, who sought to remove any competition and assure that her son would succeed him. Upon hearing the news of Alexander's death, Sisygambis said farewell to her family, turned to the wall, and fasted herself to death.