Empress Zenobia is an example of a strong and ambitious woman of the ancient world. Unfortunately, not many sources survive to tell her story. Zenobia ruled the city-state of Palmyra from around 267 AD to 272 AD and, after leading a rebellion, she united much of the Eastern portion of the Roman empire under her banner. Though she was defeated in the end, her legacy lives on throughout history and she is viewed as an iconic leader.
Continue reading “Empress Zenobia: Rebel Queen”Category: Asian History
Women and the Evolution of Writing
I started to learn Japanese a couple months ago. It has always been something I wanted to do, but I had never really had the motivation until now. I have always wanted to travel to Japan and that is one of my main goals in studying the language (it is also something to look forward too once the COVID pandemic has died down). I believe it is really important to learn at least some parts of the language and culture of the place you want to travel to. It will enrich the overall experience.
One important part of studying Japanese is familiarizing oneself with the writing system. A combination of three different systems are used: hiragana, katakana and kanji. I wanted to know more about why three systems were used, so I began to research. To my surprise, I actually discovered a very interesting piece of women’s history.
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The Trung Sisters and the use of Morality Laws in Empire
Throughout history, morality laws have been used by empires to place restrictions on society in order to create a specific image and enforce power. Many times, these laws would especially affect a specific group within the population. The post this month will compare two different ancient cultures and reveal how ancient morality laws were used to place controls on women. It will explore how these restrictions were to help create the ideal society that the leaders envisioned. In the process, some amazing heroines, The Trung sisters of Vietnam, will be highlighted. Even in the current era, morality laws can still be found. In the past decade there have been many debates which affect marriage rights, healthcare, and the choices of particular groups in our society. Many of the ancient laws that are discussed here will seem outdated, but it is interesting to compare to the discussions happening in our world today.
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The Rise of Roxelana
Roxelana’s notoriety has lasted long after the end of her life. Despite her status as a female slave in a patriarchal society, she would go on to make her mark in politics, break traditions, and create an example for royal women in the future of the Ottoman Empire. She also founded many charitable foundations throughout Istanbul and beyond. Roxelana would gain the title Haseki Sultan of and become the wife of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. To many, Roxelana may be an unknown figure in history, but she has always been a person of interest to me. I had watched the first season of the Turkish drama, Magnificent Century, and was inspired to learn more. I have been very excited to create this post and hope to bring more awareness to Roxelana’s impact in Ottoman history and women’s history.
The Undefeated Khutulun
Today I wanted to spotlight a really awesome (yet, forgotten) woman from history. She was the great-great granddaughter of Genghis Khan, one of the most famous conquerors in history. Her father was Kaidu Khan and was descended from the third son of Genghis. She was born in 1260 and had fourteen male siblings. Her name was Khutulun meaning light of the moon.
Khutulun was a unique woman in the scope of world history. Her father raised her alongside her brothers where she became an expert horsewoman, learned the art of battle, and became a proficient wrestler. Mongol women in general lead a different lifestyle than Western woman. Mongol women were taught from a young age how to ride a horse proficiently (very important in a nomadic society) and taught to fight with a bow and arrow. The main weapon in a Mongol army was the bow and often women did fight alongside their men as cavalry archers. Most importantly, their fighting ability would be able to protect their homestead. Continue reading “The Undefeated Khutulun”
The Controversial Empress Wu
I have yet to figure out this blogs main theme, but I am looking to research what I am most interested in (European medieval/renaissance/baroque history and women’s history), but I found the Empress Wu so fascinating I had to post this blurb that I wrote about a month ago. I hope you all will enjoy!
I was listening to a podcast this month and became fascinated with Empress Wu, the only female ruler of China. She was born during the Tang dynasty and lived from 624-705. This is a very early period and it surprised me how such an ambitious woman could become the sole ruler of China and remain the only one for centuries. Wu Zetian had a very interesting life and broke many of the social norms for women during her day, but she is also remembered for her corruptness and ruthlessness when she did take power.
Travel Through Time 