Darius' wife! (was it 9 months later?)

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smittyzback
Posts: 17
Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2003 1:27 pm

Darius' wife! (was it 9 months later?)

Post by smittyzback »

Captured at Issis , died giving childbirth some time around the of seige at Tyre. Wondering if the macedonians were as respectfull of the Persian royalty as it is made out!
smittyzback
Posts: 17
Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2003 1:27 pm

Re: Darius' wife! (was it 9 months later?)

Post by smittyzback »

Oh! by the way, hi everyone!:)
smittyzback
Posts: 17
Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2003 1:27 pm

Re: Darius' wife! (was it 9 months later?)

Post by smittyzback »

Having gone through the forums search engine, have realized this subject matter has been raised before. No need to respond, although some confusing theories thrown about by the sounds of it.bye
Tre

Re: Darius' wife! (was it 9 months later?)

Post by Tre »

Elizabeth Carney brings this up in her book on Macedonian Women, but comes to no conclusive answer. Women could and did die of gynecological complications even then, some of which could have been construed to be 'death in childbirth' i.e. bleeding from the womb, i.e. Fibroids et al.Alexander was more than capable of keeping his hands off the royal females. He harbored a very dim view of rape. This is one area of his life where arguably, one could make a case that Alexander was somewhat derelict in his duty as King. He failed to produce numerous heirs or heirs that might have been old enough to survive the Diadochi wars.
susan
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Re: Darius' wife! (was it 9 months later?)

Post by susan »

Curtius describes her death at some length, (4.10) and puts it down to exhaustion due to the hardships of the journey and dejection at her circumstances - which I think is more likely than childbirth. I think it was more a case of Plutarch jumping to conclusions.
Alexander might rightly have felt guilty about her death, if it was due to the hardships of the journey. Susan
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