"The news of Alexander's death was quickly brought to the mother of Darius," Quintus Curtius Rufus (X: 5.17) wrote. "She rent the garments she was wearing, put on mourning garb and, tearing her hair, threw herself on the ground."
Now, why would Queen-mother Sisygambis, an Achaemenid Royal Woman, whose entire family had been wiped out by Alexander, mourn his death?
The veracity of these peculiar lines written in the Latin Historiae Alexandri Magni, a biography of Alexander by this first century Roman historian has never been questioned, not even by more sober modern historians of Alexander, assuming the 'nature' of women. Alexander, either arrogantly or genuinely considered himself the heir to the imperial Achaemenid throne, particularly after all the Royal Women of the Great King had fallen into his hands after the Battle at Issos. So it was 'normal' for his women to mourn his death. Curiously enough, there was no mention of how Alexander's own mother and sisters had reacted emotionally to his death.
Magnanimity to the prisoners of war was not a characteristic of Hellenic warfare and Alexander's record of bloody massacres have been covered in Roxanâ Romance.
So with the usual bias and ignorance of the ancient Hellenic writers about the important role of the Royal Women in the Imperial Achaemenid court, it was accepted without a question that the 'Women of Darius' simply traded their own son, husband and father, indiscriminately for Alexander, who gladly kept a golden palace roof over their imperial heads.
That the Royal Women of the Imperial Achaemenids were just 'captive women' of the Hellenic conquerors, prizes of war, and they were treated as such is entirely ignored by the ancient writers.
Then a few words needs to be said about the view of women and the issue of gender bias.
There is no need to dwell on the obvious gap of historical records about the neglected half of the world's population. History, more or less, has been written by men, for men, and about the accomplishments of men; when and where they failed, it was mostly due to the revenge of jealous gods or acts of vengeful women.
While modern historians, and indeed most scholars, see no connection between the ancient and modern cultures of today's Middle East, their views of the ancient women is often influenced directly or indirectly by the western views of the Islamic women: oppressed but lustful, kept out of the public eyes and hidden in harems and behind the veils, while being simultaneously sexually alluring.
Modern archaeologists have arbitrary designated any areas in palatial ruins with restricted access as 'harems', and modern translations of 'Women of the King' meaning royal mothers, aunts, wives, sisters, and daughters of the king, and 'Women of the Palace', meaning teachers, scribes, cooks, maids, singers, and any non-royal woman in the court, as 'harem women', meaning an undifferentiated mass of women available for the sexual pleasure of an 'oriental' king, guarded jealously by hoards of castrated eunuchs.
Even modern female scholars have not brought a touch of sanity to such pervasive masculine views of the ancient women. Those 'Eastern girls', ancient or modern, have captured the fantasies of the 'Western boys' and evoked the pity or jealousy of the Western women. The ancient Hellenic dividing concept of the 'Others' still rules the day: the 'other' woman...
Here is an English translation of an 11th century BCE Assyrian clay fragment by a female scholar published in 1995:
"Royal court attendants or dedicatees of the palace personnel who have access to the palace shall not enter the palace without an inspection; if he is not properly castrated, they should turn him into a castrated court attendant for a second time."
Well, with this kind of insane royal policy, Assyrian royalty would have been annihilated in a few generations. Here is a more sober interpretation within the context of Assyrian royal court protocol:
"All men will be denied access to the royal palace if they are not checked properly at the gate," for example for hidden weapons to threaten the safety of the person of the king and his royal family?
So, the modern historians are skeptical of the role of women in ancient societies, just as the ancient Hellenes and Romans were appalled by the 'Asian' women rising to great prominance in the royal courts of 'Asia' and wrote what they wrote to veil their own biases and protect their own primitive societies back home from such perverse Asian practices.
Women in the ancient Greek world had no political, legal, or economic rights. Athenian writers like Aischylos portrayed women as mere incubators for the male seed while the men had to attend to more important matters like wars.
According to Oswyn Murrey in the Oxford History of Greece and the Hellenistic World:
"It is not easy to come to terms with such attitudes, however common they maybe in peasant societies, if only because we idealize the Greeks as the originators of western civilization. But we should remember that the position of Athenian women was as that of 200,000,000 women who today live under Islam."
And so, here is a fragment of the story of "Death in Çűšâ, the old Royal City of Elamites..." from the lost pages of Roxanâ Romance:
...
"The Makedonian is dead," Oštana says in a low voice, as he kneels down in front of Queen Sisygambis, trying to summon all his courage to bear the rest of the horrid news.
Queen Sisygambis takes a deep breath.
So it was true.
Rošanak had done what she was bidden to do.
Death of Alexander had settled the royal blood feud.
"How is my granddaughter?"
Oštana pales.
He wore the belt of a warrior, but the frail old queen made him feel like a small boy of seven.
"Rošanak," Queen Sisygambis says quietly.
Oštana hesitates.
"She is hanging by a thread between the Land of Eternal Light and utter darkness."
Queen Sisygambis leans back on her golden couch. Her face disappears in the darkness. Words of prayer leaves her lips. She curses Alexander again under her breath.
Was it wrong to avenge the murder of her blood? Even if it damned her own soul to hell?
"Grandmother."
Queen Sisygambis leans forward.
"You have your mother's eyes."
Oštana bites his lip.
"Have you brought them home?"
Stunned silence.
Oštana loses his words. He pushes back a tear.
The royal messengers had already brought her the news of the death of the Royal Daughters.
"Grandmother."
Queen Sisygambis raises her hand and the old Ârtavaxš quickly steps forward and bows his head.
"Dukšiš."
Queen Sisygambis breathes in pain. Her voice flickers.
"They should be buried next to their mother."
The old Ârtavaxš bows his head and disappears without uttering a word.
Haunted silence.
Tears flow down Oštana's face.
Queen Sisygambis runs her old fingers carefully on the soft surface of her Persian purple gown. Her fingers feel wet.
Her head felt light and her gown felt heavy, soaked through with her own royal blood.
" I wore this at the royal ceremony when my son became the Great King."
She looks straight at Oštana.
"You will protect your royal sister and her unborn, yes?"
"With my life," Oštana says, as he reaches and takes her two small hands into his to kissed them as his pledge of honor. Her blood rubs on his hands and face.
"Grandmother!" He moans in horror and pain as he pulls her toward him into the light of the lamp.
Death and darkness had travelled with him from Bâb-ilim.
"No!" He cries as he pulls her dying body into his arms.
His grandmother's pain was bleeding out of her.
"Grandmother," he moans desperately and holds her tighter as the Women of the Queen run out of the royal room in search of the royal wound-healer.
He had seen the face of death on the killing fields so many times...
But this time it was so different, it was as if a part of him was dying with her...
....
What more is there to say?
A.J.
2008
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