Traditionally, classes and textbooks on Western history have had little to say about the lives of women in Western civilization. This lack of attention was largely due to the fact that women were officially excluded from politics and the military in such formative civilizations as Classical Greece and Rome, as well as being excluded from official positions within the early Christian Church. In fact, when women did draw the attention of historians in the Classical and Medieval eras, it was usually because these women were transgressing accepted norms in these male-dominated, hierarchical societies. However, as we now know, women contributed to these early societies in very important ways, not just as wives and mothers but, occasionally, as political leaders and even military figures. In this class, we’ll examine the political, social, and cultural forces that shaped women’s lives, and we’ll examine the lives of a few of the remarkable women who challenged these forces, both successfully and unsuccessfully.
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Egyptian Queenship Early bust of Hatshepsut as queen, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA. • Meritneath • Final ruler in the 1 st dynasty c. 2890 • Neithikret, r. 2184-2181 • Final ruler in the 6 th dynasty • “King of Upper and Lower Egypt” • Sobeknefru, r. 1777-1773 • Final ruler in the 12 th dynasty • Depicted as feminine but dressed as a king in statuary • Hatshepsut, r. 1473-1458 • Daughter of Thutmose I, half-sister and wife of Thutmose II, stepmother and regent for Thutmose III (1504-1492; 1492-1479; 1479-1425) • From “God’s wife of Amun” to regent to co-ruler • Depicted as king in statuary
Transcript
Egyptian QueenshipEarly bust of Hatshepsut as queen, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA.
• Meritneath• Final ruler in the 1st dynasty c. 2890
• Neithikret, r. 2184-2181• Final ruler in the 6th dynasty• “King of Upper and Lower Egypt”
• Sobeknefru, r. 1777-1773• Final ruler in the 12th dynasty• Depicted as feminine but dressed as a king in statuary
• Hatshepsut, r. 1473-1458• Daughter of Thutmose I, half-sister and wife of
Thutmose II, stepmother and regent for Thutmose III (1504-1492; 1492-1479; 1479-1425)
• From “God’s wife of Amun” to regent to co-ruler• Depicted as king in statuary
Hatshepsut as pharaohLeft—statue of Hatshepsut, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; center-statue of Hatshepsut
holding a symbol of Ma’at, from Deir el-Bahri; right—hieroglyphic of Hatshepsut (r) and Thutmose III (l) at the Red Chapel, Karnak, Egypt.
Meritaten, wife of Tutankhamun (r. 1336-1327), with cobra crown. Agyptisches, Museum, Berlin.
The Amarna queen• Nefertiti, wife of Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten (r. 1352-
1336)• Nefernefuraten-Nefertiti = “the perfect one of the Aten’s
perfection”-”the beautiful one is here.”• “Lady of all women”• “Great wife of the king whom he loves”• “Daughter of Geb”• “Mistress of the two lands”• Religious revolutionary?• Co-ruler with Akhenaten
Akhenaten (l), Nefertiti (r), and daughters. Agyptisches Museum, Berlin.
Idealized image of Nefertiti. Agyptisches Museum, Berlin.
The women of ancient Greece• Women in mythology• Penelope, wife of Odysseus• Clytemnestra, wife of Agamemnon
• Women in historical sources• Gorgo, daughter of Spartan King Cleomenes I and wife of
Spartan king Leonidas (half-brother of Cleomenes), fl. 480 BC• Artemisia of Caria, queen of Halicarnassus, fl. 480 BC
• The only female commander during the Persian War
• Aspasia, Athenian hetairai and companion of Pericles (d. 429), fl. 430 BC
Stills of Gorgo (l) and Artemisia (r) from 300: Rise of an Empire.
Alexander the Great’s empire and the Hellenistic world (336-31 BC). Map from Lynn Hunt, The Making of the
West, Volume 1.
Macedonian queensGold medallion depicting Olympias as an ancestor of Roman Emperor Caracalla,
Walters Art Museum.
• Olympias of Epirus, wife of Philip II, d. 316 BC• Cleopatra, d. 336• Europa, d. 336• Amyntas IV, d. 336
• Roxane, princess of Bactria and wife of Alexander the Great, fl. 330
Hellenistic queensEgyptian coin depicting Arsinoë II and a cornucopia, forumancientcoins.com.
• Laodice, wife of Antiochus II, d. circa 240-230• Arsinoë II, wife of
Ptolemy II, d. 270
Hellenistic queensLeft—tetradrachm of Cleopatra (Antony on obverse side), British Museum;
right—bust of Cleopatra, Altes Museum, Berlin.
• Cleopatra VII, d. 30• Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, d.
48• Gaius Julius Caesar, d. 44• Caesarion• Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony),
d. 30• Octavian/Caesar Augustus, d.
14 CE
Women, politics, and the Hellenistic Age
• Phile of Priene, 1st century BC• Aristodama of Smyrna, granted honorary citizenship of
Lamia, Thessaly, 2nd century BC
Women and politics during the Roman Republic (509-30 BC)
Statue of Lucretia and Brutus, by Ignaz Platzer, c. 1750, Schönnbrun Gardens, Vienna.
• The Rape of Lucretia, c. 509 BC• The Oppian Law, 215-195
BC• Cornelia and sons
Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, fl. 150-120 BC• Sempronia and the
Catiline Conspiracy, c. 62 BC• Hortensia and the
triumvirs, 42 BC
Women of the Roman EmpireBust of Livia, Louvre Museum, Paris.
• Livia, d. 29 AD• Wife of Caesar Augustus, r.
30 BC-14 AD• Mother of Tiberius, r. 14-37
AD
Women of the Roman EmpireAureus depicting Nero and Agrippina, 54 AD, National Archaeological
Museum, Naples.
• Agrippina the Younger, d. 59 AD• Wife of Claudius, r. 41-54 AD• Mother of Nero, r. 54-68 AD
Women of the Roman EmpireLeft—portrait of Julia Domna, Septimius Severus, Geta (effaced) and Caracalla, Staatliche
Museem, Berlin; right—statue of Julia Domna as Ceres, Ostia Museum, Rome.
• Julia Domna, d. 217• Wife of Septimius Severus, r.
192-211• Mother of Caracalla, r. 211-218
Women of the Roman EmpireDenarius depicting Julia Maesa as Juno, Ebay.com.
• Julia Maesa, d. 224• Sister of Julia Domna• Grandmother of Elagabalus, r.
218-222• Grandmother of Severus
Alexander, r. 222-235• “Mother of the armies and the
Senate”
Women of the Roman EmpireBrass medallion of Julia Mamaea, naming her “Mother of Augustus and the
military camps,” c. 224, Museum für Vor und Frühgeschichte, Berlin.
• Julia Mamaea, d. 235• Aunt of Elagabalus• Mother of Severus Alexander, r.
222-235• “Mother of Augustus, and of the
Camps, and of the Senate, and of the Fatherland”
Women of the Roman Empire• Theodora, d. 547/8• Wife of Emperor Justinian I, r. 529-565• Nika Revolt• Procopius’ Secret History, published after 565
Justinian and Theodora mosaics from the church of San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy.
Women outside the Roman EmpireLeft—Boudicca coin, c. 61 AD, historyfiles.co.uk; right—map of pre-Roman Britain,
from Nora Chadwick, The Celts.
• Cartimandua, fl. 40-50 AD• Queen of the Brigantes tribe in Britain
• Boudicca, d. 61 AD• Queen of the Iceni tribe in Britain
• Amalasuintha, d. 535 AD• Regent of the Ostrogothic kingdom of Italy, 525-534• Queen of the Ostrogothic kingdom of Italy, 534-535
