ABSTRACT
Our view of women in the Achaimenid period (550–330 BCE) is predominantly shaped by Greek sources which tend to stereotype these women as interfering in politics and committing acts of revenge. The image serves to emphasize the political and moral weakness of the Persian king who is repeatedly described as being dependent on women’s advice. Near-Eastern and Persian sources, however, reveal a more subtle image of Achaimenid royal and noble women. Exercising a degree of power depended on their position within the court hierarchy. Women such as the King’s Mother and the King’s Wife took exceptional positions and their actions were determined by their duty to safeguard the members of the royal family. Similarly, sisters and daughters of the king acted on behalf of their family. The royal women’s ability to hold audiences enabled them to intervene with the king. As estate owners and employers of diverse workforces they acted in a free and independent manner. By extension, the power held by royal women was most likely exercised by the wives of satraps, themselves often sisters and daughters of the king. The level of power they held at the Achaimenid court most likely evolved from that of their Elamite, Babylonian and Assyrian predecessors.
