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Roxana (dead 310 BC,[1]Ancient Greek: Ῥωξάνη; Old Iranian: *Raṷxšnā- "shining, radiant, brilliant") sometimes known as Roxanne, Roxanna and Roxane was a Sogdian[2][3] or a Bactrian[4] princess whom Alexander the Great married after defeating Darius, ruler of the Achaemenid Empire, and invading Persia. The exact date of her birth is unknown, but she was probably in her early teens at the time of her wedding.
Roxana was born as the daughter of a Bactrian nobleman named Oxyartes, who served Bessus, the satrapofBactria and Sogdia.[1] He was thus probably also involved in the murder of the last Achaemenid king Darius III. After Bessus was captured by the Macedonian ruler Alexander the Great, Oxyartes and his family continued to resist the Macedonians, and, along with other notables such as the Sogdian warlord Spitamenes, took up a defensive position in a fortress known as the Sogdian Rock.[5]
They were eventually defeated by Alexander, who attended a celebration,[6] and reportedly fell in love with Roxana on sight.[7] The location of the celebration took place is disputed,[6] 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.[8][6] Curtius apparently misrepresented Roxana as a daughter of Chorienes.[6]Arrian states that Oxyartes surrendered to Alexander when he became aware of the good reception Alexander awarded his daughter Roxana.[6] A.B. Bosworth mentions the possibility of Roxana being captured at the Sogdian Rock, but that the two married at the fortress of Chorienes.[6] The marriage was in 327 BC, and according to the majority of the sources it was in the Macedonian rite rather than the Persian.[9] 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.[10]
The Wedding of Alexander and Roxane (1898–1899), an engraving by André Castaigne.Alexander the Great and Roxana, a 1756 painting by Pietro Rotari.
Alexander married Roxana despite opposition from his companions[11][9] who would have preferred a Macedonian or other Greek to become queen.[12] However, the marriage was also politically advantageous as it made the Sogdian army more loyal towards Alexander and less rebellious after their defeat.[13] Alexander thereafter made an expedition into India and while there he appointed Oxyartes as the governor of the Hindu Kush region adjoining India.[1] Roxana accompanied Alexander into India, where her first son died at or soon after birth near the banks of the Acesines River [14] in November 326 BC.
When Alexander returned to Susa in spring 324 BC, he promoted a brother of Roxana to the elite cavalry.[5][1] 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.[1]
After Alexander's sudden deathatBabylon 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.[15] Roxana was pregnant, which caused some discussions between Alexander's loyalists around Perdiccas[16] and Ptolemy[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.[16]
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.[18] By 317 though, Roxana's son, called Alexander IV lost his kingship as a result of intrigues started by Philip Arrhidaeus' wife, Eurydice II.[1] Afterwards, Roxana and the young Alexander were protected by Alexander the Great's mother, Olympias, in Macedonia.[19] Following Olympias' assassination in 316 BC, Cassander imprisoned Roxana and her son in the citadel of Amphipolis.[20] Their detention was condemned by the Macedonian general Antigonus in 315 BC.[21] In 311 BC, a peace treaty between Antigonus and Cassander confirmed the kingship of Alexander IV but also Cassander as his guardian,[21] following which the Macedonians demanded his release.[22] However, Cassander ordered Glaucias of Macedon to kill Alexander and Roxana.[23] It is assumed that they were murdered in spring 310 BC, but their death was concealed until the summer.[24] The two were killed after Heracles, a son of Alexander the Great's mistress Barsine, was murdered, bringing the Argead dynasty to an end.[20]
At the Acropolis, there were found inscriptions of offerings Roxana shall have dedicated as Alexander's wife to Athena.[26]
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 OlympicHellanodike Proxenidas to marry his daughter.[26]
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 his mother Olympias. The marriage takes then place in Darius' palace.[26]
