Compare Royal Women and Non-Royal Women in Ancient Perisa?

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Describe the role and status of royal and non-royal women in Persia society of this period. Supported by many historians and sources found, the Persian empire during the reign of Darius and Xerxes was strongly patriarchal. This is evident through the lack of sources of women during that time as the images that exist are mostly of men. Many Greek writers such as Herodotus did mention and name some Persian women of the court but these accounts are coloured by Greek prejudices of the authors so can’t always be reliable source of evidence. Thus, understanding of women in Persia during the reign of Darius and Xerxes is limited as sources found only briefly add to our understanding of the economic and social roles of non-royal and royal women throughout the empire. Royal women during the Persian Empire/ or the Achaemenid period, generally not recorded nor mentioned neither in inscriptions nor in palace reliefs. However stated by Brosius, they were able to own their own property and hire slaves to work for them. We can identify that during Darius’ reign, women were considered very important in acquiring authority as a king. Darius was the only Persian king marrying the women of the previous king to establish legitimacy and authority over Persia. Herodotus gives us a great deal of information about Atossa , the daughter of Cyrus and wife of Cambyses and Gaumata before marrying Darius, she was also the mother of Xerxes. Supported by other source Darius gained power through his marriages to all the female descendants of Cyrus, probably so that they could not marry anyone else who might challenge his leadership. This portrays the role of royal women, although women did not have political influence they instead helped to protect their family. Unlike royal women non-royal women were mentioned in the treasury tablets from Persepolis as weavers or stone workers. From the

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