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Tomyris- The woman who brought down Cyrus the Great
Tomyris was the empress of the Massagetae people, who were herders and nomads in Central Asia, east of the Caspian Sea. There is not much known about the Massagetae, however, it is thought their way of life was similar to the Scythians. They kept herds of cattle and fought from horseback as well as from foot. There are also stories they sacrificed and ate their elders. This is not concrete, but gives you an idea of what was thought of them.Around this time, Cyrus the Great was at the [...]
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Swiss Folkhero William Tell
We all know the story about how William Tell shot an apple off his son’s head. With that one shot of his crossbow he supposedly started a series of events that turned a few poor isolated settlements into what we now know as Switzerland. According to Swiss Chronicler Aegidius Tschudi, Tell was known as a strong man, a mountain climber, and an expert shot with the crossbow. During this time Habsburg emperors of Austria were seeking to dominate Uri and Tell became one of the conspirators of Werner Stauffacher vowing to resist Habsburg rule. Gessler, the newly appointed Austrian Vogt of Altdorf, raised a pole under the village linden tree,…
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Hatshepsut- His Majesty, Herself
Long before the time of Cleopatra, there was another woman who ruled with absolute power along the Nile. Unfortunately, because of reasons unknown, her legacy was hidden until the 19th century. Hatshepsut was born at the beginning of the New Kingdom around 1504 BCE. Although women were granted a higher status in Egypt than in other ancient civilizations, the idea of a female Pharaoh was unheard of so Hatshepsut was not trained to rule. Her father, Ahmose I, was a great military leader and brought home a Nubian chieftain on the prow of his ship as a warning to his enemies. Since the throne of Egypt could not pass to…
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Lagertha
She was a woman not to be taken likely. Strong willed, fearless, and one-time wife of the famous Viking Ragnar Lodbrok. Lagertha was, according to legend, a Danish Viking shieldmaiden from what is now Norway. Lagertha’s tale is recorded in passages in the ninth book of the Gesta Danonum, a 12th century work of Danish history by Saxo Grammaticus. According to the Gesta, Lagertha’s career as a warrior began when Frø, king of Sweden, invaded Norway and killed the Norwegian king Siward, Frø put the women of the dead king’s family into a brothel for public humiliation. Hearing of this Ragnar Lodbrok came with an army to avenge his grandfather…
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Freydis Eiriksdottir – Legend of a Viking Woman
Everything that is known about the life of Freydis is based in legend(s), however, we do know that she really did exist and she was the daughter of Erik the Red. As can be noted, Eiriksdottir is translated into Erik’s daughter in much the same way that Leif Eiriksson is translated to Erik’s son. The infamous viking, Erik the Red, was relocated from Norway to Iceland as a result of his father’s banishment for crimes of murder along with the rest of his family. Erik later followed in his own father’s footsteps when he found himself banished from Iceland for crimes of murder as well. The viking had stumbled across…
