Women: Did you mean...?

Scythian women garnered leadership roles and a raised level of status in their day, which is perhaps without parallel until recent times. While many female figures rose to pivotal roles in history, their rise was not a reflection of systemic...

It was not only the Mughal emperors that left an indelible mark in the history of the Indian subcontinent but also the queens and princesses. The latter's contributions to art, architecture, literature, cuisine, refinement, and administrative...

The 8th November is celebrated as Archangels Day in Greece, but on that November day in 1977 CE something remarkable happened: an excavation team led by Professor Manolis Andronikos were roped down into the eerie gloom of an unlooted Macedonian-styled...

The Ecclesiazusae (aka Assemblywomen) is a comedy play written by Aristophanes, one of the great Greek comic playwrights. Written sometime between 393 and 391 BCE, it is, along with his play Wealth, one of only two he wrote after the Athenian...

Female gladiators in ancient Rome – referred to by modern-day scholars as gladiatrix – may have been uncommon but they did exist. Evidence suggests that a number of women participated in the public games of Rome even though this practice...

Illustration of what life may have looked like in ancient Pompeii. "Women at the Well" by Luigi Bazzani (1836-1927), oil on woodpanel.

The Rape of the Sabine Women, painting by Nicolas Poussin, 1637-1638 CE. Louvre, Paris Photo credit: Francisco Anzola

Cover of The Real Valkyrie: The Hidden History of Viking Warrior Women by Nancy Marie Brown.

Family planning was a topic of vital importance in the ancient Mediterranean. Some of the earliest medical literature from ancient Greece and Rome deals with fertility and reproductive health. Among the numerous treatments and procedures...

In many cultures of antiquity women had to battle the disadvantages of rules and conventions made for men and by men who dominated government, public life, and society. Nevertheless, many ancient religions had powerful female goddesses like...