Atossa was the ancient Persian queen and mother of King Xerxes I.
Atossa was a daughter of Cyrus the Great and later became the wife of Darius I. Her marriage linked the new ruling house of Darius with Cyrus’s royal family, strengthening dynastic legitimacy. She was the mother of Xerxes, who succeeded Darius as king in 486 BCE.
Her importance appears in both historical and literary sources. Herodotus presents her as influential at court, though some details in his account are difficult to verify independently. The Greek playwright Aeschylus also portrays her in The Persians, but that drama is not a neutral biography. Atossa is sometimes confused with Amestris, Xerxes’ wife and the mother of his successor, Artaxerxes I.