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Early Priestesses B.C. B.c.-2501 B.c. Venus figurines-small statuesof facelesspregnant women, with greatly exaggeratedbreasts and buttocks-were among the small carvings(mobilin, or portable art) createdin Eurasia and Africa (from ca. 35,000 B.c.or earlier). Some have taken these as evidenceof fertility cults,and of earlygoddess worship. Both women and men wereemployed as professionaldancers, attached to Eglptian temples(as earlyas 3000 n.c.). Techniquesof raising silkworms and spinning silk thread were developedin China; in ancient China, discoverieswere traditionally creditedto the emperor,at this time HuangTi, but silk making (aswell asweaving) was creditedto the emperor'schief wife, ki-tzu (ca. 2600 r.c.), popularly called Si Ling-chi (Iady of the Silkworm). She is supposedto havediscovered the art after picking up a sillauorm'scocoon in her mulberry garden and idly pulling it apart. China would keepsilk making techniquessecret for millennia. B.c.-2001 B.c. Ritual dancesinvolving sophisticatedacting by professionalperformers, both women and men, seemto have been important in Egryt's religious observance(by 25OOn.c.). By that time, Egyptianrecords also suggesta dancingtradition outside Eg5pt,probably in Ethiopia; cer. tainly professionaldancers were employed by royal courtsin China and India. Enheduanna(active ca. 2300 n.c.),Assyrian princess, priestess, and poet, daughterof King Sargon of Akkad; she is the earliestwriteq, male or femalg whose name and work havesurvived. n.c.-1501 r.c. Oldest referencesto contraceptionfound in EgSrytianmanuscripts (ca. 1900 n.c.),though how widely it wasused, and how effectiveor harmful, is unclear. The law code of the Middle Assyrianempire (ca. 1750 n.c.)was the first known regulation requiring women to be veiled, including daughters,wives, widows, concubines,and sacredprostitutes, Early Priestesses ln the secondand third millennia n.c.in Mesopotami4 daughtersof kingpwere, like Enheduanna, appointedto be moon-priestessesof Inanna'Ishtal wearingspecial garments, living in and man- aglngthe temple, and performing religious ceremonies.The goddessIshtar was herselfpossibly derivedfrom the earlier Eglrptiangoddess Isis. Priestessesoperated in other temples aswell; some participatedin an annual "sacredMarriagg " relatedto fertility rites, probably the origin of later 'temple prostitution." They generallycame from wealthy families, joining the temple when young and bringing to it a dowry. Generallyunmarried and forbidden to bear children, they would often adopt daughters,to whom they would leavetheir dowries, often much increasedthrough their commercialactivities. With activitiesat different levels,a major temple might include severalhun- dred women. Though such worship would gradually decline priestessescontinued to operatein the Mediterraneanregion for manycenturiegperhaps mostlynotablythe Greeks'powerfrrlDelphic oracle-calledllthia, DragonPriestess of Earth(alwap a woman of at least50)-and the Romans' Vestalvirgins, who tended the sacredhearth of Vesta,goddess of the hearth. 2000-1501n.c. The Wilson Chronology of Women's Adrievemenc Wilson Chrom eventhose who later manied; common prostitutes,however, were not allowed to weara veil d- Athaliah (3-ce wereobliged to leavetheir headsuncovered. of leham, kir Hatshepsut(1503-1482 Y.c.),Eg5ptian queen, daughter of ThutmoseI; wife of her half-brother her son" Ahr rvas Thutmose II; regent for her son, Thutmose III; ind then herself pharaoh, ruling Eg5pt for 2l Arhalie b years,one of the most powerful and historicallyimportantwomen of the Bronzi ^e,!*a*ong Sammuramat (& her accomplishmentswere the establishmentof triding relationswith punt, on thi Redsea Shamsi-Add and the commissioningof severalmassive monuments. as Semirami Dido (actftrc ca- t 1500 s.c.-1001"n.c. fsslding ftr At leastsome women studied medicine at the medicalschool in Heliopolis,Eg5pt (by ca. 1500n.c.). founded bo One female phpician, Peneshet,became director of physiciairs;othli'*d."n are shown preparingdrugs. In addition, some women worked as-embalmers,especially to handle the rc.-501 e.c bodies of aristocraticwomen; beforethe adventof femaleembalm"rrj ,o..'families would Early Hindu rd$ hold women's bodies in the home for severaldays so they would not be misusedby male as sourcesd embalmers, somewith necrophiliactastes. als, notablyi Secularprofessional dancers,many of them women, wereemployed in Egypt,primarily to enter- Sappho (activecr tain the nobility (by ca. 1500 o.c.); they were often impbrtia from"Airici and India, many all the eadtt probably asslaves. notably FIlr Nefertiti (activeca.-1379 n.c.), Eg;ptian queen,wife of KingAkhenatonand a supporterof his new ing women: religion, worshiping the sun-god Aton. Surviving pillars t The oldest books in the Old Testamentof the Bible-Genesis, Exodus,Leviticug Numbers,and in Ienrsalem Deuteronomy, collectivelycalled the Pentateuchor (among fews) the Torah-were written Theano (actiw k (by 91..1200P.c.).These introduced the story of Eve,Adam,-and the Gardenof Eden,which original wrili would help shapesocial attitudestoward women in the ludeo-Christiantradition, and codi- thought to I fied various social assumptionsabout women, including the idea that a wife washer husbandt Ijrthagorean ProPerry,as much as were his ox, his ass,and his servants;that a woman had virtually no Myrtis (active 5th independentlegal standing;and that woment bodily processeswere "unclean,', with ritual lyric poet Hir purification required after menstruation, sorual inteicourse, and childbirth. Ttreseand later books of the Bible also introduced-manyother women, some of them historical (or histori- cally based)figures. Among those from this shadowyperiod were: ec.-401 s.c. With the rise of o Sarah,Abraham's wifg who pretendedto be his sisterso he would not be killed for her resPonseto I beauty; both Sarahand Abraham were sent away her true identity was "motherryhen revealed;long an ascaic lift childless,she bore Isaacand was later called of the nation." o not considen Deborah,who as a prophet warned of an impending Canaaniteinvasion, and then with (therLs)begro her general, Baralgled Israelitroops againsta Canaanltearmy; another Israeli woman, Iael, Though appr reportedlykilled the Canaanitegeneral. Sous andpft o Ruth, a widow who caredfor her widowed mother-in-law Naomi, and arrangedfor her Corinna (aaiw ! welfare, th-en hgrs-elfremarrying becoming the ancestor of King -only "Whither David. It was to 36s61ding to Naomi that Ruth said the famous lines: thou goest,I will 96; and where thou Cleopatra (actire lodgest,.rwill lodge:thy p?g-pleshall be my people, and thy God mjr God: where thou Alexandria; I diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the foia do sq to me, and'more also, if aught but deathpart theeand me." (Ruth l:16-17) reproductiw Agamede(aqtive 1?!1.:n.c.), Diotima of Mam Greekphys-ician ryho, accordingto Homer, lived beforethe Trojan war and wasskilled in using plants for medicinalpurpos-es. priestessand Greek poet TiC6i 1000 n.c.-751 s.c. resist inva& lezebel (aaive ca. 9th c. r.c.), princessof Tlte who, accordingto the Old Testamengmarried At the Battle of lt Ahab, who b.ecameking of israel; their diughter wasAthah;h. A worshiper of the phoenician forces, Arteu gods,lezebel was murderedby Israeli army commanderIehu. Herodotrrs s Troupesof seculardancers, many of them women,-workedas independent professionals in Eg5pt, Phaenaratebegn touring to perform in the major cities (tst millennium B.c,). deliveredchi ca. 469 nc-), Companiesof dancers,mimes, acrobats, and jugglerstoured Greece(as early as 9th c. B.c.);these included both men and women, though women would be baned from the stagein ireece,s Aspasiaof Miletq classicera. sophical, arti said shehad Achievements 500 s.c.-401 n.c. r of Women's Acttievements Wilson Chronology of Women's (?-ca.837 n.c.),queen of daughterof lezebeland Ahab,king of Israel,and wife L \r'erenot allowedto wear a veil but d. Athaliah Judah, of Jeham,king of ludah. Accordingto the Old Testament,she took power afterthe death of her son, Ahaziah,and ruled for sevenyears, becoming Judah's only queen.Racine's 1691 play hutmoseI; wife of her half-brother Athatiewas based qn this biblical story. rerselfpharaoh, ruling EgYPtfot 27 n.c.),possibly mythical queen of Assyria,wife of King t rvomenof the BronzeAge. Among Sammuramat(Semiramis, active ca. 800 Adad-nirariIII. Historian Diodorus Siculusidentified her elationswith Punt, on the RedSea, Shamsi-AdadV and mother of King asSemiramis, who allegedlyruled-alone for decades,founding Babylon. Dido (activeca. 800 r.c.), princessofTlrre who, accordingto the ,\eneid,fled to North Africa,there founding the city of -arthage; archaeologicalevidence suggests_that the Phoeniciancity was date (814 n.c.) and the mid-8th centuryB.c. Heliopolis,Eg5pt (by ca.1500 n.c.). foundedberweenthe traditional r,lsicians;other women are shown mbalmers,especially to handlethe B.c.-501 B.c. e embalmers,some families would EarlyHindu religioustexts criticized prostitution (ca.8th c. n.c.);wom-en were generally.regarded re-vrr'ould not be misusedbY male assources oltemptation and pollution, but prostituteswere involved in some religiousritu- als, notably in fertility cults. of ploled in Eg1pt,primarily to enter- Sappho^ 'all (active ca. 610B.c.-ca. 580 n.c.),Greek poet from the island of Lesbos,the bestknown orted from Africa and India, many the early Greekwomen who woe poets,though only fragmentsof her work survivg most notably Hi*" to Aphrodite,seeking that goddess'shelp in seducinga young girl. Women-lov- after her.
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