Invisible Figures: Achaemenid Royal Women in Egypt

Abstract This contribution aims to reexamine the frequently stated assertion that Achaemenid royal women were not involved in Egypt and its affairs during the periods of Persian rule on the Nile. The evidence is considered against the Persian concept of queenship rather than focusing solely on the Egyptian perspective on the role of royal women within the ideology of power. It is proposed that, instead of reflecting a lack of interest by the Achaemenids in cultivating Egyptian traditions in this regard, the existing corpus of sources, small though it may be, is a result of a combination of selective preservation of evidence and contemporary perceptions of the position and prerogatives of the royal women in the Persian court.