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Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

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Monks, Hermits and Ascetics: The Little-Known History of Women in Desert Asceticism

Monks, Hermits and Ascetics: The Little-Known History of Women in Desert Asceticism

Theodoret of Cyrrhus (423–457) tells us that when little girls played games in forth-century Syria, they played monks and demons. One of the girls, dressed in rags, would reduce her little friends...
‘La femme Préhistorique’ (The prehistoric woman) (1895) by James Tissot Reproductions of some Lascaux artworks in Lascaux II.

Creating Prehistoric Culture: Were the First Artists Women?

The first researchers of Paleolithic caves and sites related to the earliest humans called the people who left paintings and other pieces of early art “men.” Due to this decision, people created an...
A Quadriga, with woman riding in a triumphal chariot. France.

Worshipers, Rule-Breakers and Champions: Women and the Ancient Greek Olympics

One of the aspects of culture regarded as distinctive to the ancient Greeks was their pursuit of sport. Apart from its function as the act of worship to Zeus, athletic competition, particularly at...
This royal tomb, the eighth discovered in 25 years, is believed to have belonged to a Moche priestess buried 1,200 years ago. The great quantity of artifacts and the complexity of the burial reveal the power and influence this woman wielded in life.

Where Women Once Ruled: Excavated Tombs of Moche Priestesses Provide Archaeologists with Troves of Artifacts

When archaeologists unearthed a large chamber tomb in San José de Moro, a ceremonial center of pre-Columbian Moche civilization on the northern coast of Peru, they found the remains of a woman who...
‘The Harem’ by Gustave Boulanger

In a Forbidden Place: Hidden Lives in a Harem

The term harem comes from the Arabic haram meaning forbidden place . This defines the sphere of women in a polygynous household and makes reference to their enclosed quarters being forbidden to men...
Feminism and the Battle for Women’s Rights in Ancient Egypt

Feminism and the Battle for Women’s Rights in Ancient Egypt

It is often assumed that women in the ancient world held little power or influence. However, women in ancient Egypt could become highly influential physicians, political advisors, scribes, or even...
13 year old Asholpan, Eagle Huntress.

The Eagle Huntress: New Generations of Eagle Huntresses in Kazakhstan and Mongolia – Part II

Nomad Women Have Hunted with Eagles since Antiquity The ancient practice of eagle hunting is carried on today by a few hundred nomadic Kazakhs in Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Xinjiang (...
FIG 1.2. Tuva monument, mounted nomad archeress and falconer

The Eagle Huntress: Ancient Traditions, and Evidence for Women as Eagle Hunters – Part I

Evidence that Nomad Women Hunted with Eagles since Antiquity "A fast horse and a soaring eagle are the wings of a nomad." --Kazakh proverb Falconry, training raptors to hunt for game, is particularly...
Stonehenge, located near Salisbury in the English county of Wiltshire.

Researchers Say Stonehenge had More Gender Equality than Commonly Believed

Analysis of remains from the famous megalithic site of Stonehenge, in Wiltshire, England, have revealed the relics of 14 wmen. According to researchers, the women were very important to the society...
Portrait of Caterina Sforza (1483) by Lorenzo di Credi.

Caterina Sforza: A Renaissance Warrior Woman That Knew How to Get What She Wanted

Caterina Sforza was a powerful force to be contended with in Renaissance Italy. She has been called a Renaissance virago (woman who fights like a man), a lioness, tigress, and a warrior woman. One of...
A segment of the Egyptian papyrus containing a prenuptial agreement.

Eight foot long scroll reveals Ancient Egyptian prenup

A rather interesting Ancient Egyptian document is currently being exhibited in the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago , which you might think, at first sight, is an example of Egyptian...
Recent Excavations at Kultepe, Turkey

4,000-Year-Old Tablets with Evidence of Bronze Age Rights for Women Discovered in Turkey

Great finds continue to be unearthed at the Bronze Age site of Kültepe-Kaniş-Karum, in Turkey. The latest discovery includes millennia old cuneiform tablets referring to commercial interests as well...
The Ride of the Valkyries (1890), William T. Maud

The Powerful Valkyries as Icons of Female Force and Fear

The Valkyries of Norse mythology were women of vast prestige and power. They were one of the few factions of warrior women from ancient lore recognized as having any power over the mortal realm...
Roman women bathing

Swans Fat, Crocodile Dung, and Ashes of Snails: Achieving Beauty in Ancient Rome

Now learn, my dears, the art of beautifying your faces; learn by what means you can retain your charms. This line, taken from Publius Ovidius Naso's (Ovid's) Medicamina Faciei Femineae , or The Art...
The 2500-year-old vase with Amazon woman depiction.

Amazon Warrior Woman on Horseback Discovered on 2,500-Year-Old Vase

The 2,500 year old figure of an ancient Amazon woman has been discovered on a small vase preserved in an American museum. The figure was found painted on to a white pyxis , a cylindrical box often...
The Oseberg Ship Burial

The Oseberg Ship Burial Astounded Archaeologists with Excellent Preservation and Hoard of Artifacts

In AD 921, the Arab traveler and Islamic theologian Ahmad ibn Fadlan was sent by the Abbasid caliph, al-Muqtadir to the court of the king of the Volga Bulghars as part of a diplomatic party. During...
An oil painting of Queen Tin Hinan.

The Monumental Tomb of Queen Tin Hinan, Ancient Ancestress of the Tuaregs

Queen Tin Hinan is renowned in Tuareg history as a fourth century matriarch of great prestige – named “Mother of Us All”. Her monumental tomb was located in 1925 in the Sahara desert, but dramatic...
Ingólfr Arnarson, the first settler of Iceland, newly arrived in Reykjavík

New study shows Viking women accompanied men on voyages to colonize far-flung lands

The reputation of the Scandinavian Vikings presents the men as brutal warriors that went off marauding and pillaging from the 800s to 1100s AD along the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean...
23,000-year-old statuette found in France adds to mysterious collection of ‘Venus figurines’

23,000-year-old statuette found in France adds to mysterious collection of 'Venus figurines'

Archaeologists in France made a rare and important discovery when they unearthed a statuette of a woman dating back some 23,000 years during excavations in Amiens. The precious relic, which matches...
Empress Theodora

Theodora: From humble beginnings to powerful empress who changed history

It is often said that ‘behind every great man is an even greater woman’. Justinian I was one of the most powerful emperors of the Byzantine Empire. During his reign, he sought to revive the empire’s...
Ancient Virupaksha temple

Art historian unlocks secrets of the ancient Virupaksha temple

The Virupaksha Temple in Pattadakal is one of the most stunning landmarks in India and the main center of pilgrimage at Hampi, the capital of the ancient Vijayanagar empire. Dating back 1,300 years,...
Amazon warrior women

Scholars decipher names of Amazon warrior women from ancient pottery

A new study published in the journal Hesperia claims to have deciphered the names of ancient warrior women from Greek pottery dating back 2,500 years. According to the National Geographic , linguists...
Illyrian women

Ancient ivory tablets reveal high status of Illyrian women

Five 1800-year-old ivory tablets found in the Albanian city of Durres have just been deciphered shedding new light on the role that women played in ancient Illyrian culture, according to a report in...
Women and Medicine in Rome

Women and Medicine in Rome

Anyone who has interest, even minimally, in the history of medicine in classical antiquity, knows the names of Hippocrates and Galen. The two Greek physicians were the pillars on which the entire...

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