View source for Damaspia

{{Short description|Queen of Persia}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name            = Damaspia
| title           = Queen of Persia
| more            = 
| image           = 
| caption         = 
| successor       = 
| birth_date      =
| birth_place     = 
| death_date      = 424 BC
| death_place     = 
| spouse          = [[Artaxerxes I]]
| full name       = 
| house           = [[Achaemenid]]
| father          = 
| mother          = 
| issue           = [[Xerxes II]]
| religion        = [[Zoroastrianism]]
| type            = consort
| succession1     = 
| place of burial = 
}}
'''Damaspia''' (from [[Old Persian]] *''Jāmāspi''- <ref>Schmitt.</ref> or *''ðāmāspyā''-<ref>Hinz.</ref>) was an Achaemenid queen, wife of the king [[Artaxerxes I]] and mother of [[Xerxes II]], his legitimate heir.

==Biography==
According to the Greek historian [[Ctesias of Cnidus]], King Artaxerxes and his wife died the same day (424 BC, perhaps during a military expedition), and their corpses were carried to Persia. Xerxes succeeded his father, but was murdered not much later (423 BC) by his half-brother [[Sogdianus]].

The [[epitome]] made by [[Photios I of Constantinople|Photius]] of Ctesias' book is the only source that mentions Damaspia by name.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.livius.org/ct-cz/ctesias/photius_persica2.html#%A74747 |title=Photius' excerpt of Ctesias' Persica (2) |website=www.livius.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161205231632/http://www.livius.org/ct-cz/ctesias/photius_persica2.html#%A747 |archive-date=2016-12-05}}</ref> Documents from [[Babylon]] dating in Artaxerxes' reign, refer to certain [[Estate (land)|estates]] as "the house of the woman of the palace". This anonymous woman could be Damaspia, or the [[queen mother]] [[Amestris]].<ref>Brosus, pp. 127, 129.</ref> In an episode from the biblical book of [[Nehemiah]] (2:6) Artaxerxes is mentioned as being in the company of a royal wife, who could be identified with Damaspia or a consort of lower rank.<ref>Eskenazi 2000, pp. 285-286</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://biblehub.com/commentaries/nehemiah/2-6.htm |title=Nehemiah 2:6 Commentaries: Then the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him, "How long will your journey be, and when will you return?" So it pleased the king to send me, and I gave him a definite time. |access-date=2021-06-23 |website=biblehub.com}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
{{refbegin}}
*Brosius, M: ''Women in Ancient Persia, 559-331 BC'', Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1998.
*Schmitt, R: "Damaspia", in ''[[Encyclopaedia Iranica]]''. {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20071006080305/http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v6f6/v6f6a044.html]}}
*Hinz, W: ''Altiranisches Sprachgut der Nebenüberlieferungen'', Wiesbaden, 1975
{{refend}}

{{Queens of Ancient Egypt}}

[[Category:5th-century BC women]]
[[Category:Queens consort of the Achaemenid Empire]]
[[Category:424 BC deaths]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:5th-century BC Iranian people]]
[[Category:Artaxerxes I]]