The Top Ten Women of Antiquity There are plenty of famous men of
antiquity that immediately come to mind. Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great,
Nebuchadnezzar, and Trajan are but a few. Since history has often been written by men,
men have gotten the lion’s share of the attention. However, it’s vitally
important to address the many powerful women that had an impact on ancient history.
Many of these women were more powerful than the men who surrounded them, and their names echo
through the ages. Let’s examine this list of the top ten notable women of antiquity.
Number 10 Nefertiti
Neferneferuaten Nefertiti was a queen of the 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt,
the Great Royal Wife of Pharaoh Akhenate. nNefertiti is, along with Cleopatra,
one of the most famous women of ancient Egypt. The famous bust of her currently housed in the
Egyptian Museum of Berlin, shows her to have been a woman of truly extraordinary beauty and,
indeed, that’s probably all that most people know about her.
However, it’s important to recognize that she happened to live and rule
during the Amarna Period, one of the most tumultuous eras of ancient Egypt.
During this time the old religion was abandoned in favor of the worship of the sun god Aten.
Additionally, there’s good reason to believe that, after the death of her husband Akhenaten,
that she assumed the throne under a male name and continued to rule.
Number 9 Livia
Livia Drusilla was Roman empress from 27 BC to AD 14 as the wife of Emperor Augustus.
She was known as Julia Augusta after her formal adoption into the Julian family in 14 BC.
Livia was the daughter of Roman Senator Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus and his wife Alfidia.
She married Tiberius Claudius Nero around 43 BC, and they had two sons, Tiberius and Drusus.
In 38 BC, she divorced Tiberius Claudius Nero and married the political leader Octavian.
The Senate granted Octavian the title Augustus in 27 BC, effectively making him emperor.
Livia then became the Roman empress. In this role, she served as an influential confidant
of her husband and was rumored to have been responsible for the deaths of a number of
Augustus' relatives, including his grandson Agrippa Postumus. Augustus eventually adopted
her son Tiberius as his heir. After Augustus died in 14 AD,
Tiberius became emperor. Livia continued to exert political influence as the mother of the emperor.
She died in 29 AD. She was the great-grandmother of the emperor Caligula,
grandmother of the emperor Claudius, and the great-great-grandmother of the emperor Nero.
In 42 AD, Livia was deified by Claudius, who acknowledged her title of Augusta.
Livia was a woman who managed to survive the brutal civil wars of the late Roman Republic and,
through her marriage to Octavian, became the most powerful woman in the Mediterranean world.
Though she hasn’t had quite the afterlife in popular culture as Cleopatra,
she does make a very memorable appearance in the hugely popular BBC miniseries I,
Claudius, in which she appears as a shrewd and machiavellian manipulator
capable and willing of doing away with members of her own family in order to maintain control.
Whether or not she was actually quite as ruthless as all that is unclear, but there’s no doubt that
she was a canny politician in her own right, surviving when so many others did not.
Number 8 Hatshepsut
Hatshepsut was the fifth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt.
She was the second historically confirmed female pharaoh,
after Sobekneferu Various other women may have also ruled as pharaohs regnant or at
least regents before Hatshepsut, as early as Neithhotep around 1,600 years prior.
Hatshepsut was a woman who managed to subvert all of the expectations of her gender and ruled Egypt
as a pharaoh in her own right. What’s more, it appears that she was wildly successful,
and the kingdom flourished under her rule. Hatshepsut was also a master of public relations,
and she was canny enough to know that appearances matter a great deal, and so she took care to have
herself shown wearing the traditional regalia of kingship in various pieces of iconography. Her
funeral temple is, to this day, one of the most imposing architectural marvels of Egypt.
Number 7 Agrippina the Younger
Like so many of the women of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Julia Agrippina,
also referred to as Agrippina the Younger, has developed quite a bad reputation among historians,
and most people probably know of the stories that she poisoned the doddering
Emperor Claudius to pave the way for her own son Nero to ascend to the throne.
Empress Agrippina functioned as a behind-the-scenes advisor in the affairs of
the Roman state via powerful political ties. Say what you will, though, you have to admire
her tenacity and her ability to stay alive in the viper’s nest that was the imperial family.
Like her mother Agrippina the Elder — famous for her defiance of Tiberius — she was a survivor to
the very end. You also can’t help but be in awe of a woman who, according to the ancient historians,
managed to survive Nero’s attempt to murder her in a collapsing ship by swimming to shore.
What’s more, when Nero’s soldiers arrived to dispatch her once and for all, she is said to
have asked them to strike her first in the womb, since she had given birth to such a monster.
Number 6 Cleopatra the Seventh
Cleopatra was both the last Pharaoh of Egypt and the last of the Ptolemy dynasty
of Egyptian rulers. As she tried to maintain power for her dynasty,
she made famous connections with Roman rulers Julius Caesar and Marc Antony.
Like many of her ancestors, she was determined to seize her destiny.
In all of antiquity, there is probably no woman whose name
is more well-known than Cleopatra’s. Cleopatra was the last of the Ptolemaic Dynasty of Egypt,
and with her death the control of that ancient land passed into the hands of the Romans.
In the Liberators' civil war of 43–42 BC, Cleopatra sided with the Roman Second Triumvirate
formed by Caesar's grandnephew and heir Octavian, Mark Antony, and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus.
After their meeting at Tarsos in 41 BC, the queen had an affair with Mark Antony. He carried out the
execution of Arsinoe at her request, and became increasingly reliant on Cleopatra for both funding
and military aid during his invasions of the Parthian Empire and the Kingdom of Armenia.
The Donations of Alexandria declared their children Alexander Helios, Cleopatra Selene II,
and Ptolemy Philadelphus rulers over various erstwhile territories under
Antony's triumviral authority. This event, their marriage, and Antony's divorce of
Octavian's sister Octavia Minor led to the Final War of the Roman Republic.
Octavian engaged in a war of propaganda, forced Antony's allies in the Roman Senate to flee Rome
in 32 BC, and declared war on Cleopatra.
After defeating Antony and Cleopatra's naval fleet at the 31 BC Battle of Actium,
Octavian's forces invaded Egypt in 30 BC and defeated Antony, leading to Antony's suicide.
When Cleopatra learned that Octavian planned to bring her to his Roman triumphal procession, she
killed herself by poisoning, although in legend she allowed herselft to be bitten by an asp.
She has appeared in countless representations: painting, poetry, film, television, novels,
and historiography, and she continues to haunt the popular imagination. All of these cultural
representations have tended to obscure her true genius as a political leader, a woman who,
despite all of the obstacles thrown in her way, managed to not only survive numerous threats to
her life but came tantalizingly close to remaking the Mediterranean in her own image.
Number 5 Zenobia
It takes a pretty strong spirit to go up against the might of the Roman Empire, and yet
that’s exactly what Zenobia, who ruled over the short-lived Palmyrene Empire, managed to do.
Septimia Zenobia was a third-century queen of the Palmyrene Empire in Syria.
Her husband became king in 260, elevating Palmyra to supreme power in the Near East by
defeating the Sassanians and stabilizing the Roman East. After Odaenathus' assassination,
Zenobia became the regent of her son Vaballathus and held de facto power throughout his reign.
In 270, Zenobia launched an invasion that brought most of the Roman East under her sway
and culminated with the annexation of Egypt. By mid-271 her realm extended from Ancyra,
central Anatolia, to southern Egypt, although she remained nominally subordinate to Rome.
However, in reaction to the campaign of the Roman emperor Aurelian in 272,
Zenobia declared her son emperor and assumed the title of empress
(declaring Palmyra's secession from Rome). The Romans were victorious after heavy fighting;
the queen was besieged in her capital and captured by Aurelian, who exiled her to Rome,
where she spent the remainder of her life. Zenobia was a cultured monarch and fostered
an intellectual environment in her court, which was open to scholars and philosophers.
She was tolerant toward her subjects and protected religious minorities.
The queen maintained a stable administration which governed a multicultural multiethnic empire.
Zenobia died after 274, and many tales have been recorded about her fate. Her rise and fall have
inspired historians, artists and novelists, and she is a patriotic symbol in Syria.
Number 4 Olympias
Olympias was the eldest daughter of king Neoptolemus the first of Epirus,
and the fourth wife of Philip II of Macedon, and the mother of Alexander the Great. She had
a reputation as both sacred as a snake handler in a mystery cult of Dionysus, and violent.
Olympias was a very subtle political operator, and it’s nothing short of a miracle that she managed
to survive so many years in the Macedonian court which was, by most accounts, a very dangerous
place for royalty. She was extremely influential in Alexander's life and was recognized as de facto
leader of Macedon during Alexander's conquests. After Alexander's death, she seized power as
regent for Alexander's posthumous son and had many of her enemies killed. Olympias was very ruthless
when it came to defending her son’s life and legacy. But she didn't rule for long.
She attempted everything in her power to secure the lives of Alexander’s wife Roxane
and her son Alexander but, alas, they were all defeated and ultimately executed.
Number 3 Sappho
Sappho was an Archaic Greek poet from Eresos or Mytilene on the island of Lesbos.
Sappho is known for her lyric poetry, written to be sung while accompanied by music. In ancient
times, Sappho was widely regarded as one of the greatest lyric poets and was given names such
as the "Tenth Muse" and "The Poetess." As with so many other women of antiquity,
there’s very little that we know for sure about the life of Sappho. According to legend,
she killed herself by leaping from the Leucadian cliffs due to her love for the ferryman Phaon.
What we do know is that she was one of the most well-respected poets of
the ancient world and, though her work largely exists in bits and pieces.
If you’ve ever read the work of Sappho, you’ll know that there are few artists,
working in either prose or poetry, who have been as able to capture the
contradictory nature of human desire as well as Sappho. Her expressions of
love for women are especially notable and are often heartbreakingly expressed.
Number 2 Artemisia the First of Caria
When Xerxes went to war against Greece in 480-479 B.C.E., Artemisia, ruler of Halicarnassus,
brought five ships and helped Xerxes defeat the Greeks in the naval battle of Salamis.
She was named for the goddess Artemisia, but Herodotus, born during her time of rule,
is the source of this story. Artemisia fought as an ally of Xerxes the first,
King of Persia against the independent Greek city states during the second Persian invasion
of Greece. Xerxes held her in high regard. She personally commanded her contribution of five
ships at the naval battle of Artemisium and in the naval Battle of Salamis.
Her efforts in the campaign was described by Herodotus:
Artemisia, who moves me to marvel greatly that a woman should have gone with the armament against
Hellas; for her husband being dead, she herself had his sovereignty and a young son withal,
and followed the host under no stress of necessity, but of mere high-hearted valour.
Artemisia was her name; she was daughter to Lygdamis, on her father's side of Halicarnassian
lineage, and a Cretan on her mother's. She was the leader of the men of Halicarnassus and Cos
and Nisyrus and Calydnos, furnishing five ships. Her ships were reputed the best in the whole fleet
after the ships of Sidon; and of all his allies she gave the king the best counsels. The cities,
whereof I said she was the leader, are all of Dorian stock, as I can show, the Halicarnassians
being of Troezen, and the rest of Epidaurus. Artemisia of Halicarnassus later erected a
mausoleum that was known as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
Number 1 Boudicca
Boudicca, also known as Boudicea, is an iconic hero of British history. Queen of the Iceni,
a tribe in East England, she led a rebellion against Roman occupation in about 60 C.E.
Her story became popular during the reign of Queen Elizabeth the first;
another English queen who headed an army against foreign invasion.
Though the Roman Empire thought of itself as invincible, the fact is that it faced quite
a few rebellions, many of which came perilously close to succeeding.
Boudica's husband Prasutagus, with whom she had two children, ruled as a nominally independent
ally of Rome, and left his kingdom jointly to his daughters and to the Roman emperor in his will.
However, when he died, his will was ignored, and the kingdom was annexed and his property taken.
According to Tacitus, Boudica was flogged and her daughters raped.
When the Roman governor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus was campaigning on the island of
Mona (modern Anglesey) on the northwest coast of Wales, Boudica led the Iceni, the Trinovantes,
and others in revolt. They destroyed Camulodunum (modern Colchester), earlier the capital of
the Trinovantes but at that time a colony for discharged Roman soldiers and site of a temple
to the former Emperor Claudius. Upon hearing of the revolt, Suetonius hurried to Londinium
(modern London), the 20-year-old commercial settlement that was the rebels' next target.
He did not have sufficient numbers to defend the settlement, and he evacuated and abandoned
Londinium. Boudica led a very large army of Iceni, Trinovantes, and others against a
detachment of the Legio Nine Hispana, defeating them, and burning Londinium and Verulamium.
An estimated 70,000–80,000 Romans and Britons were killed in the three cities by those following
Boudica. Suetonius, meanwhile, regrouped his forces, and, despite being heavily outnumbered,
he decisively defeated the Britons. Suetonius's victory over Boudica confirmed Roman control
of the province. Boudica then either killed herself to avoid capture (according to Tacitus),
or died of illness (according to Cassius Dio). The figure of Boudicca looms large, and with good
reason. After all, this is a woman who managed to lead a full-scale revolt against the Empire,
stirring up many British tribes to throw off the Roman yoke. The fact that she was ultimately
defeated shouldn’t blind us to the fact that she was truly a force to be reckoned with.
Clearly, the women of antiquity were a major force of history.
They understood the world that they lived in — one dominated by men,
who wielded almost all of the political power — and yet they were determined to rule,
to overcome the limitations imposed on them and to live on their own terms.
What did you think of our list? Should we have included Helen of Troy?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments. We would love to hear what you have to say!
If you enjoyed this list of the top ten women of antiquity, please let us know by hitting the like
and subscribe buttons. It would really help the channel. We appreciate your support!
See you next time!