Xerxes: About his Mother Atossa

(Taken from "History of Xerxes the Great" 1878 Jacob Abbott)

About the mother of Xerxes:

*mother = Atossa, a daughter of Cyrus the Great (founder of the Persian Empire)
- Cyrus was killed in Scythia & succeeded by his son Cambyses

"Divine Providence, however, the mysterious power that overrules all the passions and impulses of men, and brings extended and general good our of local and particular evil, has made the ambition and the selfishness of princes the great means of preserving order and government among men. These great ancient despots, for example, would not have been able to collect their revenues, or enlist their armies, or procure supplies for their campaigns, unless their dominions were under a regular and complete system of social organization, such as should allow (...). In fact, the greater their ambition, their selfishness, and their pride, the stronger will this interest be (...)." (pages 14-15)

"But to return to Atossa. Her father Cyrus, who laid the foundation of the great Persian empire, was, for a hero and conqueror, tolerably considerate and just, and he desired, probably, to promote the welfare and happiness of his millions of subjects; but his son Cambyses, Atossa's brother, having been brought up in expectation of succeeding to vast wealth and power and having been, as the sons of the wealthy and the powerful often are in all ages of the world, wholly neglected by his father in the early part of his life, and entirely unaccustomed to control, became a wild, reckless, proud, selfish, and ungovernable young man. (...) Cambyses's career was short, desperate, and most tragic in its end. In fact, he was one of the most savage, reckless, and abominable monsters that have ever lived." (page 19)

*common custom for a Persian monarch to have many wives and to inherit his predecessor's family as well as his throne (page 20)
- Cyrus had only 2 sons, but several distinguished daughters
- when Cambyses came to the throne, he saw and fell in love with one of his father's
daughters, and consulted some Persian judges as to the laws about marrying one's sister;
eventually he married her as well as Atossa
- Later Cambyses killed his brother Smerdis and one of his sisters, and eventually was killed
~ for awhile an impostor named Smerdis, pretended to be the real Smerdis who had been murdered
- Darius I succeeded his brother Cambyses to the throne, and also took Atossa as his wife
- During Darius' reign Atossa grew sick, and being embarrassed to tell others, she went to a Gr. physician who had been captured
- The physician said he would undertake her case, if she promised to grant him a request that would 'not be derogatory to her honor'
- she agreed, and after she was cured, he asked for her to find a way to persuade Darius to send him back to his land; she proposed to Darius that he should engage in some plans of foreign conquest; Darius liked her suggestions and in fact had already been planning some conquests, which included building a bridge across the Hellespont to unite Europe and Asia and making an incursion into the country of the Scythians (they had defeated Cyrus); Atossa convinced him to instead first conquer the Greeks, saying that they were a more worthy prize and that she had been wanting some slaves from Greece; In the end, Darius decided to send a commissionto Greece led by the Gr. physician as the guide of the expedition (he pretended not to want to go at first, but in the end he cunningly did not return)

*Atossa had 4 sons, and Xerxes was the oldest (although not the oldest of Darius' sons, as he had been married and had sons before becoming monarch) - there arose debate about whether Xerxes or Artobazanes was the rightful heir to the throne
- During the prosecution of a war, he "formed the design of accompanying his army," which
by Persian law made it necessary for him to "regulate" his successor
- some said Artobazanes should be king as the oldest of Darius' sons
- Atossa thought that since Xerxes was the grandson of Cyrus, he had the highest hereditary rights (Darius had not hereditary claims), which Darius did not like because it would seem to deny the 'existence of any real and valid title to the sovereignty in him. It assigned the crown, at his death, not to his son as such, but to his predecessor's grandson."
- a Greek named Demaratus arrived in Susa about that time (had been a dethroned prince in Sparta), who was seeking refuge in Darius' capital; he helped Darius reconcile his pride with his preference, by telling the king "according to the principles of hereditary succession which were adopted in Greece, Xerxes was his heir as well as Cyrus's, for he was the oldest son who was born after his accession." He adopted this view, and actually did not live long enough to even embark on his campaign; however, the arrangements he had previously made were still debated.