|
Empress | |
| Predecessor | Kir II |
| Successor | Sanaz I |
| Born | 349 Nineveh |
| Died | 266 |
Parvaneh I was the first Empress of the Persian Empire, living to be eighty-three years old. She made major achievements in her life, and lived to see many people pass by and die due to the Desert Plague. She was forced to take over the reigns of Persia, and rebuild an entire nation.
Childhood[]
Alive during the life of Dariush I, Parvaneh was alive during a time of great peace. However, her long life would bring her through many subsequent disasters and strife in her nation. Raised mostly by an advisor to her father, she was brought up to be second in line to the throne after Jahangir, and a potential ambassador to other nations. She exhibited great fighting skill, even going to help Dariush's troops by delivering supplies. When her father died in 334 BCE, she helped her brother take up the throne. After that, however, things went downhill. She became much less of a high advisor to Jahangir, and was married off to another man by him against her will. This didn't work out, however, and her husband died soon afterwards. It was rumored to be a planned murder, but the records of his death say he died of natural causes. After this, Parvaneh attempted to reconcile her former relationship with the Emperor. By 322 BCE, she managed to become an ambassador to the nation-states in India.
Adulthood[]
Time as Ambassador[]
Parnaveh went through many trade expeditions when she was in her twenties and thirties. Her most famous mission was to the Maurya city of Benares, where she helped nobles build a religious center, even though it was against her religion. She was known to be very open to other types of religious stances, due to her discrimination as a high-ranking female. After Jahangir died in 313, she had a much better relationship with Kir I, his son. They became good friends, and she moved her living space into his residence. She became a high advisor once again, and made much less trips into India.
Middle Life[]
In her mid-to-late forties, she spent most of her time in the home of Kir II, due to her believing she was very late in her life. However, she still went on long walks every day, far outside the aristocratic region of the Persian capitol. During this time, she was known to give small sums of money to every poor person that she met, which made many people think of her as benevolent. She inspired Kir II to lower his collections from the poor, which skyrocketed his approval levels. However, she soon realized that her physical condition was not deteriorating, and decided to get back into work once more. After deciding to leave her residence, she made trips to Alexandria and the city of Eneti. While not achieving too much, she did make agreements and peace with the neighboring nations. She was known by this time as a living legend due to her amazing life and philanthropic deeds. She made a trip to Macedonia in her most meaningful trade mission, even though it isn't well known to historians studying it today. By this time she was in her mid-sixties, and resided in Macedonia for years afterwards. Parvaneh started to believe she couldn't die at all, and believed she could return to Persia at any time.
Late Life[]
Desert Plague and Reign as Empress[]
When the Indian-born "Desert Plague" swept through Maurya and Persia, Parvaneh was called back to the capital. Being one of the only living relatives to the deceased Kir II, she ascended to the throne at the ripe old age of seventy-four. She raised Sanaz, and treated her like her daughter. While making major strides in female equality, it would defect back to being an only ruling-male Empire in the near future. Her reign was concise but effective, and focused majorly on giving help to the poor class, and those affected by the Plague that killed so many. She was rumored to have caught a small bout of it around the time of her seventy-eighth birthday, but was active after resting for around two weeks. By age eighty, however, she was forced to stop her daily walks and retire entirely to her residence, ruling from the inside. She was last seen in public in late June, 266 BCE, two days before her death (the only reason she was outside so late in her life was due to her recognizing her elderliness). She died of natural causes on July 1st, 266 BCE, soon after she turned eighty-three.
Death[]
After her death, Sanaz I organized a week of mourning in her honor. The week concluded with her burial beside the path where she always walked, on top of which there is now a monument built. All of the public was devastated. Both Macedonia and Egypt sent people to console her family, and recognized her great achievements. Books were written about many aspects of her life, and flowers were planted near Parvaneh's former residence in her name. Today, she is known to have been far ahead of her time, making great female and religious strides. She survived eighty years and a great plague, and helped rebuild an entire nation after its near-collapse.
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