Ancient Women

Writer, activist and journalist Joan Smith has worked for years to raise awareness of violence against women and girls, and has been instrumental in bringing the innate misogyny of the police to public attention. Unfortunately, She Was a Nymphomaniac reinterprets the bloody, violent story of twenty-three women closely associated with the Julio-Claudian emperors of Rome. Fewer than half a dozen of them can be said with any confidence to have died of natural causes.

Any exploration of the lives of women in classical Athens has to take into consideration the legal framework which governed such matters as marriage, inheritance and basic rights within society, as well as the woman, herself, within the oikos. However, as a starting point, the simple issues relating to the day to day lives of the women in this period provide an initial understanding of how all of these other factors played a part in the overall pattern of life for an Athenian, upper class, woman.

In Athens, crowds flock to witness the most shocking trial of the ancient world. The royal family is mired in scandal. Phaedra, young bride of King Theseus, has accused her stepson, Hippolytus of rape. He's a prince, a talented horseman, a promising noble with his whole life ahead of him. She's a young and neglected wife, the youngest in a long line of Cretan women with less than savoury reputations. The men of Athens must determine the truth. Who is guilty, and who is innocent? But the women know truth is a slippery thing. After all, this is the age of heroes and the age of monsters.

In the stratified world of ancient Rome, there are citizens and slaves, soldiers and senators, priests and priestesses - and Caesar Augustus rules them all. Yet his authority holds only as long as the people believe the gods of Rome support him, particularly the beloved goddess of the home and hearth, Vesta. As chief Vestal Virgin, Pomponia continues to devote her life to protecting her order and the eternal flame of Vesta. She has risen to a position of esteem in Rome and is a valued member of Caesar’s inner circle. But now a contagion ravages the city and tension rises....

Miriam! What a fascinating person. What a joy it has been to unpack her life story. I do hope you find her as enthralling as I did. The previous book, Miriam Part I: Devoted Sister, told of a little girl who saved the life of her baby brother, Moses. We traced her girlhood years as she faced the horrors of belonging to a large and rapidly-growing nation of slaves, owned and ill-treated by the Pharaoh of Egypt. Despite their conditions her parents, Amram and Jochebed, managed to instill in their daughter a rich faith in the one true God, Yahweh. This book takes up Miriam's story at around ...

Unlock the power of women's leadership and make a lasting impact on your life with the 2024 edition of Women & Leadership, which includes new chapters on #MeToo, The Strongman Problem, Conservative Women Leaders, Black Women Leaders, and First Ladies. Berkshire's Women & Leadership is a unique resource for students, citizens, and executives. Its 54 chapters were written by some of the world’s foremost leadership scholars, who explain fundamental concepts in leadership studies and apply them to today’s most pressing issues. In this volume you will: Gain a deeper understanding of the ...

If you love paranormals, westerns, and romance, then saddle-up and take a ride into Saguaro Gulch. Three women fed up with the hustle of Los Angeles take a leap of faith. They land in a world of rebellion and immortals. The first, they can do without, the last, they can’t resist. Ariana, Lynn, and Tess can’t turn down the steal of a deal on a dilapidated ranch in Saguaro Gulch, Arizona. The moving boxes are barely unpacked when visitors drop by. Three immigrant brothers from Ireland own the neighboring ranch named Vyro Creek. While Tess and Lynn are infatuated by the bachelors, Ari ...

Charles was the general manager of the Pentonville Hotel and he ran every aspect of the business to his foreign owners’ complete satisfaction. He had stumbled upon the creature and its particular tastes several years back when investigating strange goings on in one of the ground floor suites. Since then, they had somehow reached an ‘understanding.’ Charles redesigned the suites and kept them supplied with a regular supply of pretty young woman, while the creature’s psychic influence kept all of the hotel’s women happy and willing.

Decoded is a mind-bending thriller that challenges everything we thought we knew about history, power, and the untold stories of remarkable women. When investigative journalist Amalia Rose stumbles upon a blog post claiming that the enigmatic Voynich Manuscript holds the key to a lost matriarchal civilization, she embarks on a thrilling journey to unravel the cryptic clues and decipher the manuscript's true meaning. Partnering with her brilliant but frustrating ex-boyfriend, Bastian Ham, Amalia races from the dusty archives of ancient libraries to cutting-edge ocean research facilities. ...

The Greek myths are among the world's most important cultural building blocks, and they have been retold many times, but rarely do they focus on the remarkable women at the heart of these ancient stories. Stories of gods and monsters are the mainstay of epic poetry and Greek tragedy, from Homer to Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, from the Trojan War to Jason and the Argonauts. And still, today, a wealth of novels, plays and films draw their inspiration from stories first told almost 3,000 years ago.

While many know of St Augustine and the Confessions, few know of the women whose hopes and dreams shaped his early life: his mother, Monnica of Thagaste; his lover; his fiancée; and Justina, the troubled empress of ancient Rome. Drawing upon their depictions in the Confessions, Historian Kate Cooper skilfully reconstructs their lives against the backdrop of the late Roman Empire to paint a vivid portrait of the turbulent society they and Augustine moved through.

Shelometh has become the protector and helper of women in the ancient world, fighting battles alongside her husband and seeking justice for women treated like property and worse. Shelometh lost the throne of the Hittite Empire, disgraced her husband, and forced the exile of Ephron and herself to Canaan. Yet she worked beside him and helped defeat the army of Sargon. As Queen of Hebron she helped unite the empire and almost died in childbirth. Can the friend of both Hagar and Sarah heal the breach created by running ahead of Adonai's will? Can Hagar help Shelometh uncover a shameful secret ...

"La locura es la libertad, nuestra libertad, la de las mujeres, la de las Ménades, la que nos libera de las ataduras de la existencia." Roma, 206 a. C. En el mercado de esclavos, los hombres observan con lascivia contenida a una niña desnuda de doce años. Uno puja por ella: Fecenio. Ha sido soldado y es proxeneta. A la esclava la llaman Hispala, La Hispana. Algún día, si se gana la libertad, quizá sea además Fecenia. Y entonces quedará doblemente marcada: por el estigma servil de tener dueño hasta en el nombre y por la mancha retadora con forma de hoja de hiedra.

Scottish noblemen with ties to the Knights Templar failed to find a trove of priceless icons hidden by the Knights of Rhodes. Centuries later, Katina Papamissios Bason makes discoveries of her own. With a lighthearted excitement, she discovers riddles left by the Scotsmen and a heartbreaking diary written during the blockade by Suleiman the Magnificent. These would give anyone what they needed to succeed. Almost.

Cléopâtre est la plus célèbre des reines de l’Antiquité et l’objet de tous les fantasmes : femme fatale, Égyptienne avide et cruelle, maîtresse et épouse des hommes les plus puissants de Rome... Elle fut en réalité la reine grecque d’un royaume prestigieux, dernier vestige de l’empire d’Alexandre le Grand. Avec un regard critique, utilisant textes, inscriptions, images et monnaies, Maurice Sartre écarte les mythes, brise les idées reçues et brosse le juste portrait d’une souveraine lucide et volontaire.

A legacy that sets her up for life from a relative she never knew existed…A secret that began at a boarding school and haunted someone who wanted revenge…An ancient circle of stones that unravels it all… On a cold March day, Ria Quinn, amateur archaeologist, arrives in Shokan Falls in upstate New York to claim an inheritance—but who was Aunt Harriet, her benefactor? No one she has ever heard of! Ria discovers there is a mysterious, prehistoric stone circle in the nearby woods that has an impossible connection to the girl’s boarding school her aunt attended thirty years before. ...

The work of a spy-woman is very different from that of a man. First, on the one hand it is easier, because you are less likely to be suspected of intelligence activities. On the other hand, it was harder for female spies, because they were required to gain the trust of high-ranking officials or people of power, by using their beauty, skills of seduction, and by attempting to make the person fall in love with them, so that they revealed their secrets. It could destroy destinies, but it was extremely useful for states and governments.

In this sixth book of the Orisha series, Tyrant King – Blood of the Forest,, secrets run deep, and loyalties are tested as power-hungry King Olufe grows ever more ruthless. Amid the political and personal machinations of the royal court, King Olufe is driven by dark desires, indifferent to the mourning for his late queen and fixated on finding a new bride—by any means necessary. High Priestess Tengdana, keeper of sacred rites and dangerous secrets, holds her own plans close, even as she orchestrates the protection of Efuna, the hidden firstborn daughter of King Gurara. As Olufe ...

In this, the fifth Orisha book, Tyrant King – Echoes of Betrayal, Queen Ayaba's pregnancy brings unexpected kindness from King Olufe, quickly souring as her morning sickness disrupts royal events. The king's cruelty emerges through prisoner executions and political scheming. Palace scandals erupt involving General Buburu and the king's illicit affairs. Lewa, a servant, becomes entangled in royal promiscuity, leading to a staged execution by High Priestess Tengdana. Queen Ayaba gives birth to twins before dying. King Olufe's indifference to her death and the surviving twin reveals his true...

In this last story of the Orisha series, The Queen’s Ascension, Queen Palina must navigate a web of secrets, betrayals, and shifting power dynamics to secure her rightful place as ruler of the Oyonan Empire. With her mother, High Priestess Tengdana by her side, Palina uncovers long-buried truths about her lineage, the empire's past, and her own role in its future. As rebellion brews and alliances are tested, Palina faces the ultimate challenge: to unify the empire under a new order or see it fall into chaos. Love, loyalty, and legacy collide in a gripping tale of ambition and redemption, ...