"I am a queen, and as long as I live I will reign."-Zenobia Beauty is possessed by many, nevertheless, in the third century, a woman gave a whole different meaning to beauty and power. She was known as Queen Zenobia, the third-century queen of Palmyra. The city of Palmyra is located in modern-day Syria and in the Greek translation Palmyra derived from the word “Tadmor” which means "palm tree”. This paper examines the life of Queen Zenobia, her success as well as her failures. Born in Palmyra in the early 240 CE, Zenobia was given the name Julia Aurelia Zenobia. Zenobia was described as being tall and beautiful with dark eyes, and dark complexion. She was half-Greek and half-Arab and claimed to be a descended of Cleopatra. In Hypatia's Heritage, Margaret Alic stated that …show more content…
Although in this époque, women rulers weren't accepted, Zenobia along with her husband led armies across Persia, winning a big battle at Carrhae and began to set up their presence in the Roman Empire. When Odaenthus and his eldest son were assassinated in 269 CE, Zenobia declared herself queen. She began to do the so-called "man's job" She will walk miles alongside the troops, and believed that staying insight would help the warriors win victories. She immediately took over and began to begin to control the Palmyran Empire. She quickly assumed control and power over Egypt and invaded Persia and Rome. With her presence and power in the area. She created a platform for a balanced economy and begins to build temples, palaces, and massive buildings. (Jake, Bargain. Queen of Palmyra) She begins to forged alliances with Armenia, and Persia. This alliance erupted the vulnerability of the Roman empire, as she used those helping hands to demolished the Egyptian army, took Alexandria (which she claimed was her "ancestral home" due to her descent from Cleopatra), and sent a second army north to capture Ankara in
The birth of an eastern circus woman attracted no attention at all in mid-millennium year 500. No one could ever imagine that this baby would grow up to be one of the most remarkable women in history of the World. She was the daughter of the bear keeper, a public performer,wife of Justinian, Empress of the Byzantine Empire and a natural beauty whose name became the one name in the voluminous annals of the Byzantine empire known to almost everyone; Theodora. Once the former show girl settled down to respectable married life, she touched every branch of life in the Empire. She had her finger on everything including military campaigns, architectural developments, and government policy and law reforms. With her intelligence and charm and her indomitable willpower she became the backbone of Justinian by being the partner in power. Her supremacy and authority over Justinian and her role in the empire made her a significant woman in the history and the empress of one of the great civilizations of the world. She brought Justinian a stabilizing influence and helped him shaped his policies and became the foreground of every picture of the period. For all the long series of masterful empresses none is as astonishing and stunning as the consort of Justinian. This essay will analyze the dynamic of the marriage between Justinian and Theodora and it will argue the importance of this marriage for the strength of the Byzantine Empire.
Mary Queen of Scots, also known as Mary Stuart, was born on December 8th, 1542 to James V of Scotland and Mary of Guise. Just six days after Mary’s birth, her father died. She was crowned queen of Scotland within a year. Her regents originally arranged an engagement between her and Henry the VIII of England’s son, but after continuing to send his army north and encouraging the execution of a well-known Scottish patriot, they were determined to avoid marriage. So, in 1548, they sent Mary to France, where her mother was from. Mary was the engaged to the heir of the French throne, Francis of Valois, the son of Henry II of France and Catherine de Medicis. She grew up in the French court as a result of this. When she was 7, her mother came to visit her in France, unfortunately this
The author of this article aims to show how Sor Juana defended women’s right and links female suffering with the acquisition of knowledge. At the same time, the author also redefines female body, which is always excluded power structures. Apart from this, Krik discusses how Sor Juana uses references from Katherine of Alexandria and Lucretia in her works, since they are emblems of the female knowledge and defended their dignity as women in Antiquity.
This paper will discuss the well published work of, Pomeroy, Sarah B. Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity. New York: Schocken, 1975. Print. Sarah B. Pomerory uses this book to educate others about the role women have played throughout ancient history. Pomerory uses a timeline to go through each role, starting with mythological women, who were called Goddesses. She then talks about some common roles, the whores, wives, and slaves during this time. Pomerory enlightens the audience on the topic of women, who were seen as nothing at the time. Men were seen as the only crucial part in history; however, Pomerory’s focus on women portrays the era in a new light.
Despite Egypt’s provincial annexation to Rome after her death, Cleopatra managed to keep the Romans at bay for nearly twenty-two years. Unfortunately, much of her achievements have been disparaged and attributed to the utilization of her sexuality. To add, her image as a competent female ruler has been further distorted by the media and literature alike. Much of this misrepresentation can be accredited to the scarcity of reliable and unbiased accounts about her life. The Romans were afraid of Cleopatra’s power and the alliances she created with their generals. Therefore, accounts of her life in Roman scripture are not particularly in her favor.
Studies concerning the lives of women in classical Athens have sparked much controversy because, despite the apparent fascination with femininity manifested in art and drama, we have no evidence voicing the opinions of the actual women themselves. This presents a paradox between an Athenian woman's everyday life and her prominence in art and literature. (Just: 1989; Gomme: 1925, Gould: 1980; Pomeroy: 1976).
Around the time of fifth century B.C.E. a well-known and controversial woman came into the spotlight. She was well educated and could keep conversation with almost everyone she met. Unlike other Athenian women of that time, she was not kept out of most parts of public life but rather welcomed in some measure. She had great wisdom and beauty. Her name was Aspasia - a lover and companion to the statesman and leader of Athens, Pericles. She was very different from women of that time. Given the position women normally played in the fifth century B.C.E., Aspasia's position in society was astonishing.
of the book. USA: Simon and Schuster, Inc. 2000. The.. Print. The.. Blundell, Sue. Women in Ancient Greece.
The society in which classical myths took place, the Greco-Roman society was a very patriarchal one. By taking a careful gander at female characters in Greco-Roman mythology one can see that the roles women played differ greatly from the roles they play today. The light that is cast upon females in classical myths shows us the views that society had about women at the time. In classical mythology women almost always play a certain type of character, that is to say the usual type of role that was always traditionally played by women in the past, the role of the domestic housewife who is in need of a man’s protection, women in myth also tended to have some unpleasant character traits such as vanity, a tendency to be deceitful, and a volatile personality. If one compares the type of roles that ladies played in the myths with the ones they play in today’s society the differences become glaringly obvious whilst the similarities seem to dwindle down. Clearly, and certainly fortunately, society’s views on women today have greatly changed.
Arsinoe of Egypt and Macedon by Elizabeth Donnelly Carney is an analysis of Arsinoe II during the Hellenistic Period of ancient Greece. In this book, readers read about Arsinoe II who is a woman who became a part of the Ptolemaic Dynasty of Egypt. She is known to have promoted gender equality, since other countries outside of Egypt did not think women should be on the same level as men. Especially in Greece, the role of women was to stay in the shadows of the men. In her book, Carney shows how Arsinoe II was able to build a strong reputation for herself through her marriage to Ptolemy II, colleagues and very tight nit family. With her strong reputation was she then able to show the small world at that time that women were capable of being just
She attributes her exceptional education, captivating oratory skills and intellectual abilities to have merited both the hearts of the Roman leaders. Through the latter she elevated her Empire from the path of ruin and into world supremacy, using the influence and might of the Roman Empire to do so. After all as Cleopatra displayed to have understood- Why be the conquered when you are able to be the conqueror. Read page 129
Around 69 B.C, one of the most famous female rulers ever known was born, she was Cleopatra. She was the descendent of the Egyptian ruler, Ptolemy XII, and she would eventually become the queen of ancient Egypt herself. She was known for being extremely intelligent and very charming, and because of this many romans feared her and viewed her as a threat. When her father died the throne of Egypt was left to her and her brother, Ptolemy XIII, and rivalry formed between the two, making her even more determined to become the sole ruler of Egypt. Cleopatra had trained all her life to be the successor of Egypt, and she hungered for power.
Women in antiquity did not have an easy lot in life. They had few, if any, rights. Surviving early records of the civilizations of antiquity from ancient Greece, Egypt, China, and Rome suggest the diversity of women’s roles differed little from region to region. There were a few exceptions, mostly concerning women of nobility and the city-state of Sparta. Excluding the rare instances mentioned most antique women were generally limited on education, mobility, and almost all possibilities interfering with domestic or childbearing responsibilities. The limited social roles of women in antiquity suggest the perceived c...
The ancient Greek culture when deeply examined reveals much turmoil on the basis of gender rights and personal roles within the society, as examined by Aristophanes, Plato, Bingen, and Pizan, each seemingly ahead of his or her time with respect to femini...
I begin my study of the comparison of Cleopatra and Octavia with Plutarch's The Life of Marcus Antonius, a so-called "historical text." Although Plutarch's writing is perhaps our most trusted source on Cleopatra, his "factual" manuscript is by no means unbiased. Plutarch, as we will see with Shakespeare, Mankiewicz, Dryden, and Fielding in the ensuing pages, presents Cleopatra as the opposite of Octavia. While Octavia represents the Roman ideal of a woman, Cleopatra is a self-seeking Egyp...