9 Awesome Ancient Women

In celebration of International Women’s Day, we’ve compiled a list of some truly fantastic and awe-inspiring ancient women! In no particular order…

1. Cloelia (Rome): One of our all-time favorites! According to the terms of a peace treaty

   

   following a war between Rome and Clusium in 508 BC, Cloelia was taken as a hostage by Lars Porsena. Legend says that she escaped the camp, freed the other hostages, and fled across the river Tiber back to Rome. The opposing general, Porsena, was so impressed by her bravery that he let half the hostages go free. After this, the Romans erected a statue of Cloelia on horseback at the top of the Via Sacra, an honor usually reserved for men.

2. Cleopatra (Egypt): Cleopatra belongs on this list for a number of reasons. We all

   

   remember her relationships with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, but sometimes we forget that Cleopatra ascended to the throne when she was only 18, and that she successfully ruled Egypt for nearly twenty years without a man by her side (unless you count her twerp brother, Ptolemy). Her charm and beauty were admired, but her diplomatic poise, intelligence, and multilingualism are what really set her apart. Because of her skill with languages, she didn’t need a translator, and often made political decisions without asking for approval first.

3.  Agrippina the Younger (Rome): Ah, yes. Infamous Agrippina. Younger sister of Caligula, niece and fourth wife of Claudius, descendant of Augustus, and mother of Nero,

   

   Agrippina was often described as ambitious and dominating. Indeed, after she married Claudius and became empress, she became the most powerful woman in the Roman world. In 50 AD, she was granted the honorific “Augusta,” the 3rd woman ever to receive the honor. She cleverly convinced Claudius to adopt her son, Nero, and make him his successor; she manipulated a marriage between Octavia (who was already engaged to someone else) and her son, Nero; and she may or may not have poisoned Claudius when she realized that he was favoring his own son, Britannicus, over Nero.

4. Penelope (Greece): Of course we had to include sweet

   

   Penelope on our list! Who could forget Odysseus’s faithful wife, who remained faithful to him for twenty years! Talk about commitment! Even more impressively, she ran the kingdom on her own while he was away and Telemachus, their son, was too young to rule. When the suitors began pressuring her to remarry, she concocted a plan to keep them at bay and buy Odysseus time. She told them she would remarry as soon as she finished weaving a funeral shroud for her husband. But every night, she un-did her progress of the day; thus she was able not only to remain loyal to her husband, but also protect her kingdom from the greedy suitors.

5.  Dido (Carthage): Long before she was Aeneas’s lover, Dido established herself as a strong and resourceful leader. She was the founder and first queen of Carthage, and she

   

   single-handedly led her people from Tyre after the death of her husband, Acerbas. When they arrived on the northern coast of Africa looking for a place to settle, Dido negotiated with King Iarbas for land. According to legend, he told her, “You can have as much land as a cowhide covers.” So Dido cleverly cut a cowhide into strips and encircled a large swath of land. Later, when Iarbas demanded her hand in marriage, she killed herself in order to remain faithful to her first husband and protect the independence of her people.

6. Hypatia (Egypt): Your history books probably forgot to mention Hypatia, an Alexandrian

   

   scholar and intellectual who lived during the 4th and 5th centuries AD. Hypatia was awesome because she not only studied philosophy and astronomy, but taught them. She even went out into the streets, alone and unescorted, to give lectures to the public. She was murdered by a mob in 415 AD and is often called a “martyr of philosophy.” Hypatia might have been the basis for the legend of St. Catherine of Alexandria, and some scholars symbolically link her death to the destruction of the Library of Alexandria, which is interesting if not entirely accurate.

7. Aspasia (Greece): You’re probably thinking, Aspasia

   

   who? She was a foreigner who lived in Athens in the 5th century BC. She owned a salon where all the major intellectual thinkers of the time (like Socrates, Plato, Aristophanes, and Xenophon) would gather and discuss philosophy, politics, etc. As a very educated and independent woman, she had a lot of influence. She even paid taxes and participated in public life in the city. The Greek statesman, Pericles, was her partner, and she may or may not have started the Peloponnesian War, according to Aristophanes and Eupolis.

8. Vestal Virgins (Rome): The cult of Vesta, goddess of the hearth, and the order of the Vestal Virgins dates all the way back to the 7th century BC. These priestesses of Vesta were responsible for protecting the sacred fire and performing other rites in honor of the goddess. There were

   

   usually only 4-6 priestesses, chosen between ages of 6-10. The Vestal Virgins occupied the sole female priesthood in Rome, and they had to have complete sexual purity during 30 years service (hence, virgin). During their first 10 years they learned rites, the next 10 they performed them, and the last ten they taught others. After their 30 years of service, they were allowed to marry, but none really did. Most kept in service to Vesta until they died. The Vestal Virgins were noteworthy because they operated outside the control of men. When a girl was handed over to the pontifices to become a Vestal, she left the control of her father’s household and acquired the ability to vote, own property, and make a will. To harm a Vestal Virgin was tantamount to treason and was punishable by death.

9. Zenobia (Palmyra): Talk about badass! This queen of Palmyra was legendary. She led

   

   armies on horseback and wore full armor into battle. In 270 AD, she launched an attack that forced the Roman legions to retreat from most of Asia Minor. After her resounding success, Arabia, Armenia, and Persia allied themselves with her, and with their help she annexed Egypt, too. The Romans retaliated, sending their best and most competent legions to subdue Zenobia, but it still took almost four years of battles and sieges before Palmyra fell.

Notable mentions: Amazons (Greece), Artemisia (of Halicarnassus), Hatshepsut (Egypt), Veturia (Rome), Telessilla (Greece), Arachidamia (Sparta), Triaria (Rome), Helen of Troy, and Medusa.

Check out these sources if you’re curious to learn more!

Women in Greek Myth by Mary R. Lefkowitz, On the Trail of the Women Warriors: Amazons in Myth and History by Lyn Webster Wilde, Ancient.eu, Women’s Classical Caucus (wccaucus.org), Livy Ab Urbe Condita, Virgil’s Aeneid, Homer’s Odyssey.