Atossa was the daughter of Cyrus the Great and a wife of Darius I in the Achaemenid royal family.
Her parentage gave her exceptional dynastic importance. After Darius seized the throne, marrying Atossa helped connect his rule with the line of Cyrus, the empire’s founder. Ancient sources also identify her as the mother of Xerxes I, who succeeded Darius in 486 BCE.
Atossa appears in Greek historical and literary traditions, especially in Herodotus and Aeschylus. These sources portray her as influential, but they were written from outside the Persian court and should be read critically. Details about her political role are therefore less certain than her family relationships.
Atossa is sometimes confused with Artemisia I of Caria, who commanded ships for Xerxes at Salamis. They were different women: Atossa was an Achaemenid queen, while Artemisia was a regional ruler and naval commander allied with Persia.