Puran Dokht, the Queen Who Preached Egalitarianism

http://www.chn.ir/en/news/?id=5507&section=2

Puran Dokht, who ascended to the throne of Sassanid Empire despite the male dominant trend of the time, was a preacher of sexual egalitarianism.

Tehran, 25 August 2005(CHN) -- Ruling the Persian Empire about 1400 years ago, Puran Dokht, The queen of Sassanid dynasty, is now ranked among the very first harbingers of sexual egalitarianism as she is quoted in a letter to her troops writing, �A monarch, regardless of being a queen or a king, must defend his or her land and treat the people with justice.�

Plotting against his reigned father, King Khosrow Parviz, who was murdered in 628 AD, Shiruyeh�s ascent to the throne lasted only for six months and once he was toppled, Puran Dokht, the eldest daughter of Khosrow Parviz was crowned as the first Queen of Persia.

�Unlike Achaemenid era, during which sexuality was not considered so important, Sassanids believed in male dominance,� said Mohammad Bagher Vosughi, a professor of Ancient History at Tehran University. �In Achaemenid era, women, just like men, headed the workshops in charge of Persepolis construction and even some of them earned salaries twice as men�s. These women were either engineers or designers who created the finest patterns and designs in the Achaemenid palace complex. Women in that era were even entitled an extra maternity ration.�

�However, Sassanid era was totally different,� added Vosughi, �in Sassanid Empire women were not considered as independent individuals and were completely under the custody of �Katak Khowatai� or the patriarch of their family.�

Venerating Puran Dokht, who, regardless of her gender, reigned in such male dominant conditions, he went on, �When Shiruyeh and his son, Ardeshir were murdered, it seems as if neither a man nor even a male child of the king�s clan survived the bloody rivalries for the throne to become the king, so the courtiers, though reluctantly, opted for Puran Dokht, who reigned in Ctesiphon and tried to revive the sovereignty of Sassanid dynasty.�

Despite all opposing views against the female monarch of the empire, Puran Dokht exercised some reforms to better the situation. She ordered a public tax exemption for one year and exchanged a peace treaty with Heraclius, the Roman emperor. She also returned the sacred cross of Jesus Christ to Jerusalem which followed splendid festivities around the city in appreciation.

The reign of Puran Dokht, whose name is synonymous to �a girl with a rosy face� was contemporary to Abu-Bakr and Omar caliphates.

In ancient books and resources she is described as a wise, just, and a good natured woman, whose outstanding characteristics were even undeniable to the greatest Persian poet, Ferdowsi (935-1020); despite his own favor against women in power, Ferdowsi, in his masterpiece, Shahnameh or �the Book of Kings�, noted her justice and the welfare that peasants enjoyed during her reign.

But after 16 months, when preparing for the deployment of her troops to confront the Arabs, Puran Dokht got sick and passed away in Ctesiphon to be the only monarch in the last chaotic days of Sassanid reign to die naturally.

I know nothing about that painting but this is a Sassanid princess (some say Parthian wife of Shapur) in the Palace of Shapur I at Bishapur, however Greek infulence is obvious in this early Sassanid painting:

Persian girls in the US are all spoiled little brats....I speak from expierence.

What other famous Persian women can you tell us about Cyrus?