Amazons was in Homer’s Iliad. Ancient historians Herodotus (5th cent. BC), Polybius (3rd cent. BC), Strabo (1st cent. BC), and Plutarch (1st cent. AD) all wrote of these ‘warrior women’ who were remembered as skilled horsewomen; man-haters, who were fierce and unforgiving in battle. It is easy to dismiss them as a myth. However, with the discovery in recent years of female warrior graves on the Russia-Kazakhstan border, there is now evidence that the Amazons could have existed. The frontispiece of Pierre Petit’s work on Amazons features a breastless Amazon, seated in the foreground, while a battle rages in the background. The most modern iteration of the women is, of course, Wonder Woman (2017), with Gal Gadot in the lead role.]]> Pierre Petit]]> Books]]> Murasaki Shikibu (born c. 978) is not the real name of the Japanese woman who wrote, what some believe to be, the first ever novel. Unconventionally, Murasaki was raised in her father’s household, and in a time when women were considered to lack real intelligence, she learnt the difficult language of Chinese alongside her brother. After leaving home, Murasaki became a lady-in-waiting in the Empress’s Court, and began writing The Tale of Genji in about 1000. On completion, the novel had over 1000 pages and 400 characters. Although the plotline of the book is lacking, the characters are well-developed, and it is considered to be a masterpiece. Uniquely, this ‘first novel’ was written by a woman, ostensibly for, other women. This copy is sinologist, Arthur Waley’s, translation.]]> Murasaki Shikibu (Translated by Arthur Waley)]]> Book covers]]> Christine de Pisan (1364-c.1430) grew up in Charles’s V’s court in Paris, where her father was a physician and astrologer. Unusually, for the time, she received an education, and began to write. Most scholars and authors were unmarried men, but the widow de Pisan managed to make a living from her writing; the first woman to do so in Europe. In her lifetime, de Pisan produced at least 30 books of essays and poetry, her most well-known is The Book of the City of Ladies (1405). In her works, she promoted equality of education for the sexes, objected to the ‘trivialisation of women’s domestic work’, and celebrated female virtues. Despite promulgating these proto-feminist ideas, she never demanded that society change or reform. De Pisan knew her limits.]]> ___]]> Books]]> Queen Victoria (1819-1901) gave her name to an entire era. Born in Kensington Palace, London, Victoria endured an isolated childhood and was heavily controlled by her mother. She ascended the throne at the age of 18 and ruled Great Britain and Ireland for the next 64 years. Victoria had nine children, popularising the use of the anaesthetic chloroform along the way. Unusually for the time, all her offspring survived childhood. She was a prolific letter and journal writer and in all, it is thought Victoria wrote 60 million words in her lifetime. Here is a letter in her hand, to the Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley (1769-1852), approving the continuation of Sir John Murray’s command in Nova Scotia, among other things.]]> Queen Victoria]]> Correspondence]]> Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) grew up poor in Maine. Her writing career launched proper when she entered her poem ‘Renascence’ (1912) in a competition. She did not win, but her reputation as an independently minded woman who wrote about female sexuality, and played with the ‘conventional gender roles in poetry’, began to form. Millay, a bisexual, insisted on being called Vincent, and she became ‘a spokesperson for women’s rights and social equality’. She married in 1923, the same year that she won the Pulitzer Prize, and her feminist husband took care of all the domestics of life so Millay could concentrate on her writing. Harriet Monroe, an editor of this Anthology, described her as the ‘greatest woman poet since Sappho’.]]> Edited by Harriet Monroe and Alice Corbin Henderson]]> Books]]> Zelda Fitzgerald (1900-48) grew up in Alabama, where women were expected to be meek, mild, and decorous. She was nothing of the sort. Zelda met her future husband, Scott, in her late teens, and the married pair became celebrity New York drunks, the life of any party. Zelda was Scott’s muse, but from her diaries she unwittingly supplied Scott with material for his novels, like This Side of Paradise. At times, he uplifted whole lines of prose. Zelda found this out, and commented, in a review of one of her husband’s books, that ‘plagiarism begins at home’. However, Zelda was an author in her own right, and spent much of her life trying to come out from behind the shadow of her husband’s success. Largely unappreciated in her own time, Zelda became a feminist icon in the 1970s.]]> F. Scott Fitzgerald]]> Book covers]]> Kate Sheppard (née Malcolm; 1848-1934), whose face graces New Zealand’s ten dollar bill, was instrumental in making that happen. The campaign for women’s suffrage was fuelled by the realisation that temperance and welfare reforms could be passed through legislation more easily if women had the vote, and representation in Parliament. So, Sheppard, as the National Superintendent of Franchise and Legislation Department of the New Zealand Women’s Christian Temperance Union, helped to gather 30,000 petition signatures. As a result, all women aged over 21 gained the right to vote in 1893 – a long wait for women since democracy had begun in Athens some 2500 years before.]]> The Reserve Bank of New Zealand]]> Money]]> Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928) grew up on a diet of activism. Both her parents were political animals. Pankhurst first began to notice disparities between the sexes, when she saw that her education was not considered as important as that of her brother. She attended her first Suffrage meeting with her mother aged 14, and so began her lifelong career as a political and social activist. A self-professed ‘hooligan’, Pankhurst was arrested many times, all in the name of gaining the vote for women in England. Here is Pankhurst with fellow Suffragettes, Christabel, her daughter, and Flora Drummond (1878-1949), at her ‘First Conspiracy Trial’. They look decidedly bored with proceedings.]]> Emmeline Pankhurst]]> Books]]> Sappho (c.630-570 BC) was a talented poet, known for her technical skill in verse. She was much loved and honoured by her contemporaries, and because she wrote about female love and desire, she was ahead of her time. Sappho portrayed women in love rather than as objects desired by men. In the last two hundred years or so, the content of Sappho’s poetry has meant that she has become an embodiment of female homosexuality – think of the words ‘sapphic’ and ‘lesbian’. She may have been gay, straight, or bisexual. Whatever her sexual orientation, Sappho should be remembered for the ‘outstanding technical and aesthetic quality of her poetry’. Despite only 650 lines surviving of the 10,000 Sappho composed, her work has influenced poets from antiquity right through to modern times.]]> [Anacreon and Sappho]]]> Books]]> Boudica became Queen of the Iceni, a Celtic tribe, after her husband died in 60 AD. Under the command of the Roman general, Suetonius (b. 10 AD), all Icenian lands were consequently confiscated. A woman in charge was a ‘Roman’s worst nightmare’, so Boudica was publicly flogged, and her daughters were raped. Humiliated, Boudica sought revenge by amassing an army, and sacking the Roman stronghold of Colchester. She then made her way to London, razing Roman towns along the way. In London, Boudica met with Suetonius and his army. The Roman ‘killing-machine’ went into action, and the Celts were annihilated. Here is Tacitus’s account (c.100 AD) of Boudica’s pre-battle speech. The Roman historian is probably putting words in her mouth.]]> Cornelius Tacitus]]> Books]]> Auctor….femina fuit’ – ‘The author…was a woman’ – so says the preface to this reprint of Itinerarium Egeriae – ‘The Travels of Egeria’. The text is a detailed account of Egeria’s three-year journey from Western Europe, probably France or Spain, to the Middle East. It is the earliest written example of a Christian pilgrimage. Egeria wrote for a female audience, and described her stay in Jerusalem, from where she visited many Holy Places, like Mount Sinai. She also recorded detailed descriptions of religious practices in the Holy Land. It is uncertain whether Egeria was a nun, but she was certainly educated, and a pious Christian, with the means and strength to travel – a difficult task for anyone in the 4th century.]]> [Egeria] ]]> Books]]> Lady Hester Stanhope (1776-1839) left England for the Middle East, never to return. This forceful and opinionated (according to William Pitt, her uncle) woman was a risk taker, certainly in a world dominated by male social and religious customs. En route to Cairo, Stanhope lost all her possessions. She refused to wear a veil, and adopted male attire. Indeed, she met the local Pasha wearing a purple velvet robe, embroidered trousers, waistcoat, jacket, and a sabre. Known as ‘Queen Hester’, she undertook the first archaeological dig in Palestine, excavating the ruins of Ashkelon, north of Gaza. She retired to Sidon, halfway between Tyre and Beirut, reclusive, but still forceful. This is volume one of Stanhope’s Memoirs.]]> Hester Stanhope]]> Books]]> Lady Mary Montagu’s famed ‘Embassy Letters’ were the result of her two years in Turkey, when she accompanied her husband, the British ambassador, to his post in Constantinople. Her Letters, written from a then uniquely new female perspective, describe the Turkish men and women encountered, their dress, habits, traditions, limitations, and liberties. Montagu happily wore the veil (yashmak), which enabled her greater freedom of movement denied to other uncovered Christian females. She was the first to favourably describe polygamy. Montagu (1689-1762) was well equipped for her travels. She had read Arabian Nights, de la Croix’s Milles et un jours (Persian Tales), and the Koran (in French). She had Latin, and understood Turkish in the original. This third edition appeared in 1763, the same year as the first.]]> Lady Mary Wortley Montagu]]> Books]]> Ida Pfeiffer (1797-1858), wrote in her Visit to Iceland (1852) ‘When I was but a little child, I had already a strong desire to see the world’. Released from an unhappy marriage, and with the education of her sons finalised, Pfeiffer eventually realised her dream of travelling to the Holy Land. In 1842, she travelled to Istanbul and continued on to Palestine and Egypt. After arriving home, she did not stop. Over her lifetime, Pfeiffer visited Scandinavia and Iceland; made a first trip around the world taking in Brazil, Tahiti, and Greece; and a second visiting equatorial Borneo (the first Western woman to do so), California, and Peru. Despite all Pfeiffer’s courageous activities, and writings, she was never accepted into the Royal Geographical Society. This book is an 1852 reprint of her Holy Land adventures.]]> Ida Pfeiffer]]> Books]]> Baroness (Lady) Anna Brassey (1839-1887), who finally got the opportunity in November 1878 to visit Cyprus, Constantinople, and Greece in her motor schooner Sunbeam. Illustrated throughout, the text in journal form is packed full of social comment; individuals met and described; places of interest (Temple of Theseus; Messina); and notes on local customs and traditions. Prior to this trip, in 1876 and 1877, Brassey and her husband circumnavigated the world, and her account, A Voyage in the Sunbeam (1878), was so successful that it made her famous. The cover design of this first edition is by the French artist, Gustave Doré.]]> Mrs Brassey]]> Books]]> Gertrude Bell was one of the most potent British influences in the Near East & one of the greatest women travellers of all time.’ Bell (1868-1926) was like her compatriot in the desert, T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia): an Oxford graduate, archaeologist, secret agent, Foreign Office employee, and inveterate traveller. Indeed, to Lawrence (and others) she was ‘Bell of Baghdad’. Bell’s early expeditions in the Middle East, which included meeting and conversing with Bedouin tribesmen, resulted in her Syria: The Desert and the Sown (1907), of which this is a later reprint. Bell continued to have immense influence in Arab and Iraq affairs until her death in 1926.]]> Gertrude Lowthian Bell]]> Books]]> Isabella Bird Bishop (1831-1904) in the beginning of her, Life in the Rocky Mountains. While ‘rough travelling’, she met outlaw Jim Nugent, climbed Long’s Peak (the highest mountain in the region), and lived rough at Estes Park. Bishop’s book, along with twelve other travel books she wrote, gained her the distinction of being the first woman Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1892.]]> Isabella Lucy Bird]]> Books]]> Freya Stark (1893-1993) travelled to remote ‘blank spots’ in and around Luristan (western Persia), and the Valley of the Assassins on the Caspian Coast. Her first book, The Valley of the Assassins (1934), earned her high praise. The Middle East captivated her, and Stark really did take up the mantle of traveller extraordinaire vacated by Gertrude Bell. Seen in the Hadhramaut was the result of two ground-breaking expeditions she undertook in unexplored areas of Arabia in 1935 and 1938. She travelled with little or no baggage, and was renowned for her attire: bold French designer dresses, including a compulsory silk one. Dame Freya Stark died in 1993, aged 100.]]> Freya Stark]]> Books]]> Alexandra David-Néel’s autobiographical book on Lhasa is ‘The personal story of the only white woman who succeeded in entering the forbidden city’. In August 1911, dissatisfied with married life, David-Néel (1868-1969) travelled to the East. Her adventures had her living in a cave in Sikkim, Varanasi (Benares, India), and finally at Lhasa, Tibet. She was the first European woman to enter the city. While travelling, David-Néel adopted Tibetan dress, and was happy to beg, like other pilgrims. On returning to ‘civilisation’, she tirelessly promoted her three passions: women’s causes, theosophy, and Orientalism. The photograph shows ‘Lamp of Wisdom’, her Buddhist name, sitting in front of her retreat, Dechen Ashram, at 16,000 feet.]]> Alexandra David-Néel]]> Books]]> Cleopatra (69-30 BC), is often remembered for the wrong reasons. Represented over the centuries in various forms of art – paintings, poetry, plays (as above) – Cleopatra’s supposed beauty, her affairs with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, and her questionable suicide, are usually the focus. However, Cleopatra was an intellect who spoke nine languages; she was politically astute, governing Egypt for 18 years in turbulent times; and she was ruthless, killing three of her siblings to maintain her rule. Despite this, she has been described as a ‘whore’, ‘disgusting’, and ‘wicked’. Let us now remember Cleopatra for her intelligence and her achievements as a ruler.]]> John Dryden]]> Books]]> Caesar and Cleopatra: A History.
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Bernard Shaw]]> Books]]>
Queen Christina of Sweden (1629-1689) received all the educational advantages of being one in 17th century Europe. Described by her tutor as ‘not like a female’, Christina became ‘one of the most learned women’ of the time. She inherited the throne aged six when her father died, and from age 18, she ruled Sweden until her abdication in 1654. During her reign, Christina encouraged the sciences, arts, and culture in her Court; she insisted on dressing androgynously; and she refused to marry, apparently having several same-sex relationships in her life. As described in Henri de Valois’s piece, Christina was a ‘SERENISSIMA ac DOCTISSIMA REGINA’ – ‘fairest and most learned Queen’.]]> Henri de Valois]]> Books]]> Elizabeth I (1533-1603) was declared illegitimate after her father, King Henry VIII, had her mother, Anne Boleyn, executed in 1536. Despite this, and after the death of her half-brother and sister, Elizabeth became Queen of England in 1558. Elizabeth has been described as a ‘canny and utterly ruthless’ leader – she led England out of troubled times, and was a religiously tolerant monarch. Elizabeth never married, claiming in a speech to Parliament that she had married England and its people were her children. She gave her name to the Elizabethan Age, and ruled for 45 years. The literature on Elizabeth’s life and times is abundant. Here is Francis Osborne’s Historical Memoires, in which he describes her moderate and stable rule.]]> Francis Osborne]]> Books]]> Marie Curie (1867-1934) was born Marya Skoldowska in Poland. Initially educated in Warsaw, she attended the Sorbonne in Paris. In 1903, Curie won her first Nobel Prize (the first woman to do so), alongside her husband, Pierre, and a colleague, Henri Becquerel, for their researches into radiation. During her career, Curie also lectured at the Sorbonne; won another Nobel Prize – this time solo in 1911; and trained radiographers for WWI. She continued her studies into radium and radioactivity her whole life, all the while refusing to accept the dangers of radiation. This biography, written by her daughter Eve, paints Curie as a highly intelligent, selfless woman, who eschewed fame and fortune for the greater good. Curie, of course, died of radiation poisoning.]]> Eve Curie. Translated by Vincent Sheean]]> Books]]> Mary Somerville’s first love was mathematics. Self-taught in the family library, Somerville (1780-1872) studied mathematics in secret, as her father had forbidden her to do so. Her interests extended into science, and Somerville published her first scientific work, ‘The Magnetic Properties of the Violet Rays of the Solar Spectrum’, in 1826. She was involved in London’s educated scientific circles, and consulted with the likes of astronomer Sir John Herschel (1792-1871) and computer scientist Charles Babbage (1791-1871). Somerville continued to publish throughout her life on various topics: the mechanics of astronomy, physics, meteorology, and physical geography. This volume was published when she was 89 years old.]]> Mary Somerville]]> Books]]>