roxana

Roxana was born as the daughter of a Bactrian nobleman named Oxyartes, the satrap of Bactria and Sogdia, who served Bessus, and thus probably also involved in the murder of the last Achaemenid king Darius III. The exact date of her birth is unknown, but she was of childbearing age by 326 BC, placing her birth before 336 BC.

After Bessus was captured by the Macedonian ruler Alexander the Great, Oxyartes and his family fled north, and continued to resist the Macedonians. Along with other notables such as the Sogdian warlord Spitamenes, they took up a defensive position in a fortress known as the Sogdian Rock.{{sfn|Badian|2015}}

They were eventually defeated by Alexander, who attended a celebration,{{Cite journal|last=Bosworth|first=A. B.|date=1981|title=A Missing Year in the History of Alexander the Great|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/629841|journal=The Journal of Hellenic Studies|volume=101|page=31|doi=10.2307/629841|jstor=629841|s2cid=161365503 |issn=0075-4269}} and reportedly fell in love with Roxana on sight.{{sfn|Horn|Spencer|2012|p=40}} The location of the celebration took place is disputed, possibly in the Sogdian Rock or another fortress of Chorienes (also called Sisimithres by Quintus Rufus Curtius), but according to the Metz Epitome it was in the house of Chorienes in which Roxana was introduced to Alexander as the daughter of Oxyartes.{{Cite web |last=Chaumont |first=Marie-Louise |date=1991-12-15 |title=CHORIENES |url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/chorienes-sogdian-nobleman-and-opponent-of-alexander |access-date=2022-02-11 |website=Encyclopædia Iranica |publisher= |language=en-US}} Curtius apparently misrepresented Roxana as a daughter of Chorienes. Arrian states that Oxyartes surrendered to Alexander when he became aware of the good reception Alexander awarded his daughter Roxana. A.B. Bosworth mentions the possibility of Roxana being captured at the Sogdian Rock, but that the two married at the fortress of Chorienes. The marriage was in 327 BC, and according to the majority of the sources it was in the Macedonian rite rather than the Persian.{{Cite journal |last=Carney |first=Elizabeth Donnelly |date=1996 |title=Alexander and Persian Women |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1561949 |journal=The American Journal of Philology |volume=117 |issue=4 |pages=575–577 |jstor=1561949 |issn=0002-9475}} The sources agree that Alexander fell passionately in love with her, but considering that he had difficulties in occupying and controlling Sogdiana his decision to marry Roxana may also have been motivated by the advantages of a political alliance.

File:The wedding of Alexander and Roxane by Andre Castaigne (1898-1899).jpg.]]

File:Alexander The Greate and Roxane by Rotari 1756.jpg.]]

Alexander married Roxana despite opposition from his companions,Young, Andrew (2014), p. 145 who would have preferred a Macedonian or other Greek to become queen.{{Cite journal |last=de Mauriac |first=Henry M. |date=1949 |title=Alexander the Great and the Politics of 'Homonoia' |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2707202 |journal=Journal of the History of Ideas |volume=10 |issue=1 |page=111 |doi=10.2307/2707202 |jstor=2707202 |issn=0022-5037}} However, the marriage was also politically advantageous as it made the Bactrian and Sogdian armies more loyal towards Alexander and less rebellious after their defeat.{{Cite book|last=Young|first=Andrew|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oNMunwEACAAJ|title=The Lost Book of Alexander the Great|date=2014|publisher=Westholme Publishing|isbn=978-1-59416-197-1|pages=144–145|language=en}} Alexander thereafter made an expedition into India and while there he appointed Oxyartes as the governor of the Hindu Kush region adjoining India. Roxana accompanied Alexander into India, where their first child died at or soon after birth near the banks of the Acesines RiverMetz Epitome 70 in November 326 BC.

When Alexander returned to Susa in spring 324 BC, he promoted a brother of Roxana to the elite cavalry.{{sfn|Badian|2015}} To encourage a better acceptance of his government among the Persians, Alexander also married Stateira II, the daughter of the deposed Persian king Darius III.

After Alexander's sudden death at Babylon in 323 BC, Roxana is believed to have murdered Stateira. According to Plutarch, she also had Stateira's sister, Drypetis, murdered with the consent of Perdiccas.Plutarch. Alex. 77.4 Roxana was pregnant, which caused some discussions between Alexander's loyalists around Perdiccas and PtolemyAnson, Edward M. (14 July 2014), pp. 16–17 who suggested waiting to see if Alexander's posthumous child was a son and naming either a caretaker regent or a council to govern on his behalf, and the Macedonian soldiers who opposed a so-called persianization of the Macedonian court.{{Cite book|last=Anson|first=Edward M.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZWdiAwAAQBAJ|title=Alexander's Heirs: The Age of the Successors|year=2014|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-4443-3962-8|pages=14–17|language=en}}

For the Macedonian succession a temporary compromise was found as Philip Arrhidaeus was declared king of Macedon; if the unborn child was a son, he was to become a king as well.Anson, Edward M. (14 July 2014), pp. 20–21 By 317 though, Roxana's son, called Alexander IV lost his kingship as a result of intrigues started by Philip Arrhidaeus' wife, Eurydice II. Afterwards, Roxana and the young Alexander were protected by Alexander the Great's mother, Olympias, in Macedonia.Anson, Edward M. (14 July 2014), p. 106 Following Olympias' assassination in 316 BC, Cassander imprisoned Roxana and her son in the citadel of Amphipolis.Anson, Edward M. (14 July 2014), p. 116 Their detention was condemned by the Macedonian general Antigonus in 315 BC.{{Cite journal|last=Simpson|first=R. H.|date=1954|title=The Historical Circumstances of the Peace of 311|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/627551|journal=The Journal of Hellenic Studies|volume=74|page=28|doi=10.2307/627551|jstor=627551|s2cid=146837142 |issn=0075-4269}} In 311 BC, a peace treaty between Antigonus and Cassander confirmed the kingship of Alexander IV but also Cassander as his guardian, following which the Macedonians demanded his release.{{Cite book|last=Thirlwall|first=Connop|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tUwbAAAAYAAJ&pg=PT52|title=A History of Greece|date=1840|publisher=Longmans|page=318|language=en|author-link=Connop Thirlwall}} However, Cassander ordered Glaucias of Macedon to kill Alexander and Roxana.Thirlwall, Connop (1840), p. 319 It is assumed that they were murdered in spring 310 BC, but their death was concealed until the summer.Anson, Edward M. (14 July 2014), p. 149 The two were killed after Heracles, a son of Alexander the Great's mistress Barsine, was murdered, bringing the Argead dynasty to an end.

• Asteroid 317 Roxane is named in her honor.{{cite book |chapter=(317) Roxane |title=Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (317) Roxane |last=Schmadel |first=Lutz D.|author-link=Lutz D. Schmadel |publisher=Springer Berlin Heidelberg |page=42 |year=2007 |isbn=978-3-540-00238-3 |doi=10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_318}}
• At the Acropolis, there were found inscriptions of offerings Roxana dedicated as Alexander's wife to Athena.{{Cite journal |last=Förster |first=Richard |date=1894 |title=Die Hochzeit des Alexander und der Roxane in der Renaissance |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25167339 |journal=Jahrbuch der Königlich Preussischen Kunstsammlungen |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=182–183 |jstor=25167339 |issn=1431-5955}}
• Lucian describes a painting of Roxana's marriage to Alexander by the Greek painter Echion (also known as Aetion) which won the painter the consent of the Olympic Hellanodike Proxenidas to marry his daughter.
• In one of the versions of the Alexander Romances, Darius III is her father and dying gives his consent to the marriage in which she wears the royal jewelry Alexander had asked for at from his mother Olympias. The marriage takes then place in Darius' palace.

• Alexandre et Roxane, an opera that Mozart planned to write
• Ancient history of Afghanistan
• Balkh
• Roshanak
• Global Royal intermarriage

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite encyclopedia |title=Rhoxane ii. Alexander's Wife |last=Badian |first=Ernst |author-link= Ernst Badian |url= https://iranicaonline.org/articles/rhoxane-alexander-wife |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |year=2015|access-date=2021-03-11}}
• {{cite book | last=Renault |first=Mary |author-link=Mary Renault |title=The Nature of Alexander the Great |publisher=Penguin |year = 2001 |isbn=978-0-14-139076-5 }}
• {{cite book|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0243 |title=Plutarch, Alexander |editor-first=Bernadotte |editor-last=Perrin |editor-link=Bernadotte Perrin|last= Plutarch |author-link= Plutarch |year= 1919|publisher= Perseus Project | access-date =6 December 2011 }}
• {{cite book|url= https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/Fortuna_Alexandri*/ | title = On the Fortune of Alexander |last= Plutarch |publisher= Loeb Classical Library |editor-first = Frank Cole |editor-last=Babbitt |access-date=26 November 2011 |volume=IV |year= 1936 |pages = 379–487}}
• {{Cite book |editor-last1=Horn |editor-first1=Bernd |editor2-last=Spencer |editor2-first=Emily |year=2012 |title=No Easy Task: Fighting in Afghanistan |publisher=Dundurn Press Ltd |isbn=978-1-4597-0164-9 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=FxpOXqFnyMMC&pg=PA40 40]}}

{{Commons category}}

• {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Roxana}}
• [https://www.livius.org/ro-rz/roxane/roxane.htm Roxane] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121014144644/http://www.livius.org/ro-rz/roxane/roxane.htm |date=14 October 2012 }} by Jona Lendering
• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070406040143/http://ancientlibrary.com/wcd/Roxane%2C_daughter_of_Oxyartes Wiki Classical Dictionary: Roxane, daughter of Oxyartes]}}
• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20051026153448/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/2996.html Roxana]}} from Charles Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1867)

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