Queen Phaedymia Shahbanu was queen consort to three Persian Kings of the Achaemenid Empire.[1] They were King Cambyses II, the False Smerdis, and King Darius the Great. She was also the niece of King Cyrus the Great.[2] Queen Phaedymia Shahbanu was known for her involvement in overthrowing the False Smerdis.[3] She also helped enthrone King Darius the Great.[4]
The birthdate of Queen Phaedymia Shahbanu is unknown.[5] She was the daughter of Otanes, who was a Persian nobleman and brother of Queen Cassadane Shahbanu.[6] Her mother is unknown.[7] She was also the half-sister of Queen Amestris Shahbanu.[8] Phaedymia was also the niece of King Cyrus the Great.[9]
Phaedymia married King Cambyses II of the Achaemenid Empire and was made queen.[10] King Cambyses II also married his own sister, Princess Atossa Shahbanu and made her queen.[11] King Cambyses II married his sister in order to follow the Egyptian customs of kings marrying their own sisters. [12]
In 525 B.C.E., King Cambyses II launched a successful military campaign against Egypt. When King Cambyses II returned home, he became suspicious of his brother, Prince Smerdis.[13] He had Prince Smerdis assassinated and kept his murder a secret.[14] Keeping Prince Smerdis’s death a secret would prove to be King Cambyses II’s most fatal mistake.[15] In 522 B.C.E., an imposter, who claimed to be Prince Smerdis, rebelled against him.[16] The imposter, who is recorded in history as the False Smerdis, became increasingly popular and seized control of the provinces.[17] King Cambyses II tried to stop the rebellion but failed.[18] When he returned to his palace, King Cambyses II died.[19] Many historians believe that he committed suicide.[20]
The False Smerdis ascended the Achaemenid throne.[21] He married Queen Phaedymia Shahbanu, and she became queen for the second time.[22] The False Smerdis also married Queen Atossa Shahbanu.[23] Shortly afterwards, Queen Phaedymia Shahbanu’s father, Octanes, suspected that the False Smerdis was an imposter.[24] He asked Queen Phaedymia Shahbanu to check the False Smerdis to see if he was truly an imposter.[25]
One night, while Queen Phaedymia Shahbanu and the False Smerdis were making love, Queen Phaedymia Shahbanu felt his ears and found that he had none.[26] Queen Phaedymia knew that the real Prince Smerdis had ears, but the False Smerdis didn’t have any.[27] She reported her findings to her father, Otanes.[28] Otanes, along with six other noblemen named Aspathines, Gobryas, Intaphernes, Megabyzus, and Hydarnes, overthrew the False Smerdis.[29] They also installed Prince Darius on the throne.[30] He became known as Darius the Great.
Queen Phaedymia Shahbanu married King Darius the Great and was made queen for the third time.[31] King Darius the Great also married Queen Atossa Shahbanu, Queen Artystone Shahbanu, and Queen Parmys Shahbanu and also made them queens.[32] There is no information about what happened to Queen Phaedymia Shahbanu after she married King Darius the Great.[33] She disappeared from historical texts.[34]
Queen Phaedymia Shahbanu may not have been King Darius the Great’s favourite wife.[35] Historians believe that it was Queen Artystone Shahbanu who was his favourite wife because her name appears the most out of his wives in the surviving historical texts.[36] It is unknown if Queen Phaedymia Shahbanu had any children with King Darius the Great.[37] It is also unknown if she ever owned any palaces.[38] The death date of Queen Phaedymia Shahbanu is also unknown.[39] Her father, Otanes, remarried King Darius the Great’s sister.[40] She gave birth to a daughter named Amestris.[41] Amestris would later be queen consort to King Xerxes I and was the mother of King Artaxerxes I of the Achaemenid Empire.[42]
There is very little information known about Queen Phaedymia Shahbanu.[43] She was queen to three Persian kings.[44] However, her life remains mostly unknown.[45] She has been largely eclipsed by her fellow queen, Atossa Shahbanu.[46] However, Queen Phaedymia Shahbanu still played a key role in political events.[47] She used her feminine wiles and sex appeal to help overthrow a king and enthroned another.[48] Hopefully, there will be more research about this little-known but important Persian queen in the future.
Sources:
Kershaw, S. P. (2022). The Harvest of War: Marathon, Thermopylae, and Salamis: The Epic Battles that Saved Democracy. NY: Pegasus Books.
Lendering, J. (2019, April 27). “Amestris.” Livius.org. Retrieved on September 29, 2025 from https://www.livius.org/articles/person/amestris/.
Llewellyn-Jones, L. (2022). Persians: The Age of the Great Kings. NY: Basic Books.
Myers, A. (2023). “Atossa”. Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia.
[1] Kershaw, 2022
[2] Kershaw, 2022
[3] Kershaw, 2022
[4] Kershaw, 2022
[5] Kershaw, 2022
[6] Kershaw, 2022
[7] Kershaw, 2022
[8] Lendering, 2019, April 27
[9] Kershaw, 2022
[10] Kershaw, 2022
[11] Myers, 2023
[12] Myers, 2023
[13] Myers, 2023
[14] Myers, 2023
[15] Myers, 2023
[16] Myers, 2023
[17] Myers, 2023
[18] Myers, 2023
[19] Myers, 2023
[20] Myers, 2023
[21] Myers, 2023
[22] Kershaw, 2022
[23] Myers, 2023
[24] Kershaw, 2022
[25] Kershaw, 2022
[26] Kershaw, 2022
[27] Kershaw, 2022
[28] Kershaw, 2022
[29] Kershaw, 2022
[30] Kershaw, 2022
[31] Kershaw, 2022
[32] Myers, 2023
[33] Kershaw, 2022
[34] Kershaw, 2022
[35] Llewellyn-Jones, 2022
[36] Llewellyn-Jones, 2022
[37] Kershaw, 2022
[38] Kershaw, 2022
[39] Kershaw, 2022
[40] Lendering, 2019, April 27
[41] Lendering, 2019, April 27
[42] Lendering, 2019, April 27
[43] Kershaw, 2022
[44] Kershaw, 2022
[45] Kershaw, 2022
[46] Myers, 2023
[47] Kershaw, 2022
[48] Kershaw, 2022
The article sounds as if she was a “femme fatale”, I suspect she was doing her best to stay alive.