Amastris
Ἄμαστρις
Didrachm of Amastris. Amastris was the first woman to issue coins in her own name. British Museum.
Born
Persia
Diedc. 284 BC
Heraclea Pontica
(modern-day Karadeniz Ereğli, Zonguldak, Turkey)
SpousesCraterus
Dionysius
Lysimachus
ChildrenClearchus II and Oxyathres
Parent

Amastris (Greek: Ἄμαστρις; c. 340/39- 284 BC) also called Amastrine, was a Persian princess, and Tyrant-ruler of the city of Heraclea from circa 300 to her death. She was the daughter of Oxyathres, the brother of the Persian King Darius III.[1] She was the first woman in the Mediterranean publicly identified as the political, economic, and administrative royal authority.[2]

Life

Little is known about Amastris's life before her first marriage. From her paternal namesake, it can be concluded that she did not have brothers.[3] As a Persian royal woman, she would have been trained in managerial duty.[2]

Amastris was given by Alexander the Great in marriage to Craterus.[4] However, in 322 BC, she married Dionysius, tyrant of Heraclea Pontica, in Bithynia and Craterus married Phila, one of the daughters of Antipater. The instigator of this separation is unclear, with some sources claiming it was instigated by Craterus,[5] while others argue the opposite.[6] Through this marriage, Dionysus was able to greatly increase his wealth, expand his power, and improve the welfare and loyalty of his subjects.[6] They had three children together: Amastris, born around 321/0, Clearchus, born 320/19, and Oxyathres, born 319/8.[3][5]

Stater issued by Queen Amastris. The lunar god Men is featured on the left in Phrygian cap, whereas on the right a seated Aphrodite-Anahita is seen, holding in extended right hand Eros

After the death of Dionysius in 305, Amastris became guardian of their children and regent queen of Heraclea.[7] Several others joined in this administration, including, temporarily, Antigonus I Monophthalmus.[3]

Amastris married Lysimachus in 302. Together, they may have had a son, Alexander (son of Lysimachus), though Alexander's maternity is controversial.[3] After the Battle of Ipsus, Lysimachus summoned Amastris to Sardis. Shortly after, they separated and Lysimachus and married Arsinoe II, one of the daughters of Ptolemy I Soter, the first Pharaoh of Ptolemaic Egypt.[7]

After her marriage to Lysimachus ended, Amastris retired to Heraclea, which she governed as tyrant in her own right. She remained an ally of Lysimachus.[8] She also founded shortly after 300 a city called after her own name Amastris, on the sea-coast of Paphlagonia, by the fusion (synoecism) of the four smaller towns of Sesamus, Cromna, Cytorus and Tium. Tium later regained its autonomy, but the other three remained part of the city of Amastris' territory. She was involved in the city's resettlement. She likely received religious honors as founder and protector of the city.[8]  Either through her rule, heritage, or one of her marriages, she was considerred Basila, as is written on her coinage.[3]

She was drowned by her two sons about 284[9][7] but the matricide was avenged by Lysimachus, who made himself master of Heraclea, and put both Clearchus and Oxyathres to death.[9]

References

  1. ↑ Arrian, Anabasis Alexandri, VII. 4.
  2. 1 2 Monica D'Agostini. (2020). Can Powerful Women Be Popular?: Amastris: Shaping a Persian Wife into a Famous Hellenistic Queen. In Celebrity, Fame, and Infamy in the Hellenistic World. Edid. Riemer Faber. Canada: University of Toronto Press.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 van Oppen de Ruiter, Branko F. (2020). "Amastris: The First Hellenistic Queen". Historia (in German). 69 (1): 17. doi:10.25162/historia-2020-0002. ISSN 0018-2311. S2CID 213903613.
  4. ↑ Harders, Ann-Cathrin (2016). "Seleukos Nikator and His Wives". In Coskun, Altay; McAuley, Alex (eds.). Seleukid Royal Women. Historia - Einzelschriften 240. Franz Steiner Verlag. pp. 25–38. ISBN 9783515112956.
  5. 1 2 Chris Bennett, "Three Notes on Arsinoe"; in: A Delta Man in Yebu, edited by A. K. Eyma
  6. 1 2 Badian, Ernst (October 2006). "Amastris". Brill's New Pauly. doi:10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e117300.
  7. 1 2 3 Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca, XX. 109
  8. 1 2 Bagnall, Roger S; Brodersen, Kai; Champion, Craige B; Erskine, Andrew; Huebner, Sabine R, eds. (2013-01-21). The Encyclopedia of Ancient History (1 ed.). Wiley. doi:10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah30433. ISBN 978-1-4051-7935-5.
  9. 1 2 Memnon, History of Heracleia, 4-6

Sources

  • Henry Gardiner Adams, ed. (1857). "Amastris". A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography: 35. Wikidata Q115651705.
  • Heckel, Waldemar (2006). Who's Who in the Age of Alexander the Great: Prosopography of Alexander's Empire. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 978-1405188395.
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