Wife of Darius, king of Persia. She is mentioned by Herodotus, who narrates that she was the first, at the instigation of Demokedes, to propose to Darius the invasion of Greece.
This was at a time when the Greek states could hardly have resisted such an attack, and Herodotus argues that it was only the refusal of Darius at once to comply with the advice of Atossa, and his preference for the Scythian expedition, which saved Greece from falling under the Persian yoke. Cf. Herodotus, iii. 133,134.