Stateira III and Drypetis – The last Princesses of the Achaemenid Empire and became hostages of Alexander the Great, one of whom became his wife

Queen Stateira III (also called Barsine^[1]) and Princess Drypetis were the last princesses of the Persian Achaemenid Empire.^[2] They were the daughters of King Darius III, the last King of the Achaemenid Empire.^[3] Queen Stateira III and Princess Drypetis became Alexander the Great’s hostages.^[4] Queen Stateira III married King Alexander the Great and became one of his queens.^[5] Princess Drypetis married one of King Alexander the Great’s top generals.^[6] However, both Queen Stateira III and Princess Drypetis met a tragic end at the hands of King Alexander’s first wife, Queen Roxane.^[7]

The birthdates of Queen Stateira III and Princess Drypetis are unknown.^[8] Modern historian Ernst Badian believes that Queen Stateira III may have been born in 345 B.C.E.^[9] He also believes that Princess Drypetis was born in 343 B.C.E.^[10] They were the daughters of Darius III and Stateira II.^[11] They also had a brother named Ochus.^[12] Their grandparents were Arsames and Sisigambis.^[13] In 336 B.C.E., Darius III became King of the Achaemenid Empire. Their mother, Stateira II Shahbanu, became queen.^[14] Their brother, Ochus, became a prince.^[15] Therefore, they became princesses of the Achaemenid Empire.^[16]

^{In 333 B.C.E., Princess Stateira III and Princess Drypetis, as well as Stateira II Shahbanu, Sisigambis, and Prince Ochus, accompanied King Darius III to war against King Alexander the Great.[17]} King Darius III was defeated at the Battle of Issus.^[18] The fate of their brother is unknown.^[19] Princess Stateira III, Princess Drypetis, Sisigambis, and Stateira II Shahbanu became King Alexander the Great’s hostages.^[20] They were treated well by King Alexander the Great.^[21]

During King Darius III’s final peace offering, King Darius III offered one of his daughters to marry King Alexander the Great.^[22] However, King Alexander the Great refused and said that his daughters were already his.^[23] In 331 B.C.E., Stateira II Shahbanu died.^[24] The princesses were by her side.^[25] Before King Alexander the Great left to fight the Uxii, the princesses and Sisigambis were left behind in Susa.^[26] 

According to the ancient historian Curtis, King Alexander the Great accidentally offended Sisigambis.^[27] He sent her clothing material from Macedonia.^[28] This was so she and her granddaughters could make them into dresses.^[29] This was seen as an insult to her because royal Persian women did not make their own clothes.^[30] However, Sisigambis was able to forgive King Alexander the Great once he explained Macedonian women’s customs to her.^[31]

In 324 B.C.E., King Alexander the Great returned to Susa. He married Princess Stateira III in a great marriage ceremony.^[32] Stateira III became his second wife and queen.^[33] The marriage was solely due to political reasons. King Alexander the Great arranged for Princess Drypetis to marry his general, Hephaestion.^[34] Princess Drypetis’s marriage only lasted four months. Hephaestion died, and she became his widow.^[35] She had no children.^[36] 

In 323 B.C.E., King Alexander the Great died. The fact that they were royal widows of the Achaemenid Empire threatened both Perdiccas and Queen Roxane (King Alexander the Great’s first wife).^[37] Perdiccas did not want the princesses to marry any of King Alexander the Great’s successors.^[38] Queen Roxane was pregnant and thought that they were a threat to her future child’s inheritance.^[39] Therefore, they conspired to kill Queen Stateira III and Princess Drypetis.^[40] Queen Roxane lured them, murdered them, and threw them into the well.^[41] Modern historian Elizabeth Donnelly Carney believes that it was Queen Parysatis II and not Princess Drypetis who was murdered alongside Queen Stateira III.^[42] However, all other historians agree that it was Princess Drypetis.^[43] The deaths of Queen Stateira III and Princess Drypetis ended the royal line of the Achaemenid Dynasty.^[44]

The deaths of Queen Stateira III and Princess Drypetis ended the royal Achaemenid Empire.^[45] They both had sad lives.^[46] They became King Alexander the Great’s hostages.^[47] They both had illustrious husbands, but they both died shortly after their marriages.^[48] Once King Alexander the Great died, they became vulnerable and were murdered.^[49] Therefore, they are tragic royal figures during the Macedonian Empire.^[50]

Sources:

Badian, E. (2015). “STATEIRA”. Encyclopædia Iranica. Retrieved on December 24, 2024 from https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/stateira.

Carney, E. D. (2000). Women and Monarchy in Macedonia. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press.

Pailing, M. (n.d.). “Stateira”. Pothos.org: All About Alexander the Great. Retrieved on December 24, 2024 from https://web.archive.org/web/20070820114340/http://pothos.org/alexander.asp?paraID=138&keyword_id=9&title=Stateira,%20mother%20and%20daughter.