women in ancient and medieval europe lecture 2 - osher lifelong learning at unm

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