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Musa (also spelled Mousa), also known as Thea Musa, was a ruling queen of the
Parthian Empire The Parthian Empire (), also known as the Arsacid Empire (), was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe in conque ...
from 2 BC to 4 AD. Originally an Italian slave-girl, she was given as a gift to the Parthian monarch
Phraates IV Phraates IV (also spelled Frahad IV; xpr, 𐭐𐭓𐭇𐭕 ''Frahāt''), was King of Kings of the Parthian Empire from 37 to 2 BC. He was the son and successor of Orodes II (), and was given the throne after the death of his brother Pacorus I. ...
() by the
Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
Emperor
Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...
(). She quickly became queen and a favourite of Phraates IV, giving birth to Phraataces (
Phraates V Phraates V ( xpr, 𐭐𐭓𐭇𐭕 ''Frahāt''), also known by the diminutive version of his name, Phraataces (also spelled Phraatakes), was the King of Kings of the Parthian Empire from 2 BC to 4 AD. He was the younger son of Phraates IV () a ...
). In 2 BC, she had Phraates IV poisoned and made herself, along with Phraates V, the co-rulers of the empire. Their reign was short-lived; they were forced to flee to
Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...
after being deposed by the Parthian nobility, who crowned Orodes III as king. Musa is the first of only three women to rule as
monarch A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority ...
s in
Iranian history The history of Iran is intertwined with the history of a larger region known as Greater Iran, comprising the area from Anatolia in the west to the borders of Ancient India and the Syr Darya in the east, and from the Caucasus and the Eurasian Step ...
, the others being the two 7th-century
Sasanian The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...
sisters
Boran Boran (also spelled Buran, Middle Persian: ; New Persian: پوران‌دخت, ''Pūrāndokht'') was Sasanian queen (or ''banbishn'') of Iran from 630 to 632, with an interruption of some months. She was the daughter of king (or '' shah'') Khos ...
() and
Azarmidokht Azarmidokht ( Middle Persian: ''Āzarmīgdukht''; New Persian: , ''Āzarmīdokht'') was Sasanian queen regnant (''banbishn'') of Iran from 630 to 631. She was the daughter of king ( shah) Khosrow II (). She was the second Sasanian queen; her s ...
(). Additional women,
Rinnu Rinnu (2nd century BC) was a queen consort of the Parthian Empire by marriage to Mithridates I of Parthia (r. 171–132 BC). She was the mother of King Phraates II (r. 132–127 BC) and ruled the Parthian Empire as regent during the minority of he ...
,
Ifra Hormizd Ifra Hormizd (Modern fa, ایفرا هرمز) or Faraya Ohrmazd (Modern fa, فرایه هرمز) was a Sassanid noblewoman, spouse of Hormizd II and mother of Shapur II. She was the regent during the minority of her son between 309 and 325. F ...
and
Denag Denag (fl. 459), was a Sasanian queen (''banbishn''). She was the wife of the king (''shah'') Yazdegerd II (), and functioned as queen regent in Ctesiphon during the civil war between her sons in 457-459. Life Her origins are unknown, though gi ...
, ruled only as regents of their sons and not as full monarchs in their own name.


Rise to power

Musa was an Italian slave-girl who was given to the
Parthian Parthian may be: Historical * A demonym "of Parthia", a region of north-eastern of Greater Iran * Parthian Empire (247 BC – 224 AD) * Parthian language, a now-extinct Middle Iranian language * Parthian shot, an archery skill famously employed by ...
monarch
Phraates IV Phraates IV (also spelled Frahad IV; xpr, 𐭐𐭓𐭇𐭕 ''Frahāt''), was King of Kings of the Parthian Empire from 37 to 2 BC. He was the son and successor of Orodes II (), and was given the throne after the death of his brother Pacorus I. ...
() as a gift by the
Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
Emperor
Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...
(). Phraates IV received her around the time a treaty was made in 20 BC, whereby he received his kidnapped son in exchange for several Roman legionary standards captured at Carrhae in 53 BC, and the surviving Roman
prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...
. The Parthians viewed this as a small price to pay to regain the prince. Emma Strugnell (2008) has suggested that Augustus may have sent Musa in an attempt to obtain information or influence the Parthian king to the advantage of the Romans. According to the
Parchments of Avroman The Parchments of Avroman (or Awraman) are three parchment documents, found in 1909 in a cave in the Hawraman region of Iranian Kurdistan. They were found in Tang-i Var, Kuh-e Salan Mountain, near the village of Shahr Hawraman. The documents were f ...
, Phraates IV already had at least four other queens at that time: Olennieire, Cleopatra, Baseirta and Bistheibanaps. Musa quickly became queen and a favourite of Phraates IV, giving birth to Phraataces (
Phraates V Phraates V ( xpr, 𐭐𐭓𐭇𐭕 ''Frahāt''), also known by the diminutive version of his name, Phraataces (also spelled Phraatakes), was the King of Kings of the Parthian Empire from 2 BC to 4 AD. He was the younger son of Phraates IV () a ...
) about 19 BC. Seeking to secure the throne for her son, she convinced Phraates IV in 10/9 BC to send his four first-born sons to
Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...
in order to prevent conflict over his succession.


Reign

In 2 BC, Musa had Phraates IV poisoned and made herself along with Phraates V the co-rulers of the Parthian Empire. The reverse of Phraates V's later coins notably has an image of his mother, Musa, with a circular legend labelling her as "heavenly", contrary to the square legends which had been typical on Parthian coins, implying that they were at least co-rulers. Furthermore, the title of '' basilissa'' ("queen") was given to her by Phraates V, which was not necessarily only used by the wife of the king in the
Hellenistic era In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in 3 ...
, but also other royal women. The 1st-century Roman historian
Josephus Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for ''The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly d ...
noted allegations that Musa married her son. However, there is no other evidence that supports or contradicts Josephus' claim; and neither under the Parthians, nor their Iranian predecessors—the
Achaemenids The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Based in Western Asia, it was contemporarily the largest emp ...
—is there reliable evidence that marriage was practiced between parents and their children. The modern historian Joan M. Bigwood calls the report of Josephus "seriously misleading", and points out its striking similarities to the story of the
Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the A ...
n queen
Semiramis ''Samīrāmīs'', hy, Շամիրամ ''Šamiram'') was the semi-legendary Lydian- Babylonian wife of Onnes and Ninus, who succeeded the latter to the throne of Assyria, according to Movses Khorenatsi. Legends narrated by Diodorus Siculus, who dre ...
, deducing that his account of Musa was most likely derived from a common folk tale. Leonardo Gregoratti likewise questions the historicity of Josephus' report, calling it "pseudo-historical." He argues that the latter created a "fictional role for the Parthian women to prove the institutional weakness of the Arsacids." After a short rule, the Parthian nobility, angered by Phraates V's recent acknowledgement of Roman suzerainty in Armenia and his mother's Italian slave descent, deposed them both from the throne and installed a certain Orodes III as king. Phraates V and Musa fled to Rome, where Augustus welcomed them.;


Alleged portraits

Some portraits have been attributed to Musa, including a gold ring and a gem. However, these links with Musa have subsequently been questioned. A bust of a female figure from
Susa Susa ( ; Middle elx, 𒀸𒋗𒊺𒂗, translit=Šušen; Middle and Neo- elx, 𒋢𒋢𒌦, translit=Šušun; Neo-Elamite and Achaemenid elx, 𒀸𒋗𒐼𒀭, translit=Šušán; Achaemenid elx, 𒀸𒋗𒐼, translit=Šušá; fa, شوش ...
—uncovered in 1939 by the archeologist Roland de Mecquenem—made by a Greek artist named Antiochus, was first attributed to Musa by the Belgian archeologist
Franz Cumont __NOTOC__ Franz-Valéry-Marie Cumont (3 January 1868 in Aalst, Belgium – 20 August 1947 in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre near Brussels) was a Belgian archaeologist and historian, a philologist and student of epigraphy, who brought these often isolated ...
. This attribution was agreed by several other scholars. The facial characteristics of the bust, however, has little in common with that of the coins of Musa. The bust is wearing a crown with crenellations, resembling those worn in the Achaemenid era, while the coins of Musa portrayed her wearing a
diadem A diadem is a type of crown, specifically an ornamental headband worn by monarchs and others as a badge of royalty. Overview The word derives from the Greek διάδημα ''diádēma'', "band" or "fillet", from διαδέω ''diadéō'', "I ...
along with a jewelled crown with three layers. The crown with crenellations, albeit often worn by members of the royal family, was also worn by deities. The Greek goddess
Tyche Tyche (; Ancient Greek: Τύχη ''Túkhē'', 'Luck', , ; Roman equivalent: Fortuna) was the presiding tutelary deity who governed the fortune and prosperity of a city, its destiny. In Classical Greek mythology, she is the daughter of Aphrodite a ...
is sometimes portrayed with a similar crown on Parthian coins. As a result, some scholars have suggested the bust is a portrayal of Tyche.


References


Sources

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Further reading

* {{Authority control 1st-century BC Parthian monarchs 1st-century BC women rulers 1st-century women rulers 1st-century BC Roman women 1st-century BC Romans Iranian people of Roman descent 1st-century Parthian monarchs Former slaves 1st-century BC births 1st-century deaths Parthian queens Imperial Roman slaves and freedmen Empresses regnant