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Concept
Roxana
Summary
Roxana (340 – 310 BC, Ῥωξάνη; Old Iranian: *Raṷxšnā- "shining, radiant, brilliant"; sometimes Roxanne, Roxanna, Rukhsana, Roxandra and Roxane) was a Sogdian or a Bactrian 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 to Alexander the Great.
Roxana was born in c. 340 BC as the daughter of a Bactrian nobleman named Oxyartes who served Bessus, the satrap of Bactria and Sogdia. 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.
They were eventually defeated by Alexander, who attended a celebration, and reportedly fell in love with Roxana on sight. Where the celebration took place, if in the Sogdian Rock or another fortress of Chorienes (also called Sisimithres by Quintus Rufus Curtius) during which Alexander met Roxana is disputed 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. Curtius apparently misrepresented Roxana as a daughter of Chorienes and Arrian claims, Oxyartes surrendered to Alexander the Great when he became aware of the good reception Alexander awarded his daughter Roxana. A.B. Bosworth mentions the possibility of Roxana being captured at the Sogian Rock, but that the two married at the fortress of Chorienes. The marriage was in 327 BC, and according to the majority of the sources it was in Macedonian rite not the Persian.
Alexander married Roxana despite opposition from his companions who would have preferred a Macedonian or any other Greek Queen. But the marriage was also of political advantage as it made the Sogdian army more loyal towards Alexander and less rebellious after their defeat.
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