Stateira I

Stateira I (died circa 332 BC) was the wife of Darius III of Persia of the Achaemenid dynasty. She was known as the most beautiful woman on Earth and, as was the custom for royal Persian women, accompanied her husband while he went to war. It was because of this that she was captured by Alexander the Great after the Battle of Issus, in 333 BC at Issus. Her husband abandoned his entire family at the site as he fled from Alexander, including his mother, Sisygambis, and his daughters Stateira II and Drypteis. Alexander is reported to have treated them with great respect.

Stateira I died giving birth around 332 BC. Some sources suggest the father of the child might not have been Darius, but Alexander perhaps. Since Darius' mother referred to Alexander as her only son after having been abandoned by Darius and captured by Alexander, it is likely that he took over the household and may have assumed the role of king to Queen Stateira. In 324 BC, her daughter Stateira II, married Alexander and her other daughter, Drypteis, married one of his chief warriors.

When Alexander died one year later these royal Persian women mourned his loss, further indicating personal relationships rather than merely diplomatic ones. Both of her daughters and their families were assassinated—by another wife of Alexander, Roxana, seeking in vain, to assure that her son would succeed him—and their grandmother committed suicide.

Fictional representations
In the 2004 film Alexander by Oliver Stone Stateira is portrayed by the French actor Annelise Hesme.