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Heritage Floor Tags > period: Ancient
Abigail
Biblical, reputedly flourished circa 950 B.C., ancient IsraelAccording to the Old Testament, Abigail saved the life of her husband, Nabal the Carmelite, when King David tried to kill him for refusing to be hospitable to him and... Read more
Agatha
Flourished 3rd century A.D. (?), SicilyAccording to legend, the Christian martyr Agatha, after rejecting the advances of a Roman prefect (a civil or military official), was tortured and her breasts cut off. She was then... Read more
Aglaonice
Flourished by 3rd century B.C., Thessaly, ancient GreeceAglaonice (Aganice) is considered the first female astronomer in ancient Greece, known for her knowledge of the moon and its cycles. Her ability to predict lunar eclipses gained her a... Read more
Agnodice
Perhaps legendary, reputedly flourished circa 300 B.C., Athens, ancient GreeceAccording to the Latin scholar Hyginus (first century A.D.), Agnodice was an Athenian virgin who disguised herself as a man to learn midwifery. Apparently very skilled, her popularity incited the... Read more
Agrippina I
b. 14 B.C., Rome; d. A.D. 33, island of Pandateria (modern-day Ventotene)Julia Vipsania Agrippina, also known as Agrippina I or Agrippina the Elder, was the granddaughter of Emperor Augustus and played a key role in the succession struggles under Tiberius (ruled... Read more
Agrippina II
b. A.D. 15, Oppidum Ubiorum on the Rhine; d. A.D. 59, RomeJulia Agrippina, also known as Agrippina II, Agrippina the Younger, and Agrippinilla, was the daughter of Agrippina I and Germanicus, a Roman general. Like her mother, she was... Read more
Alexandra of Jerusalem
b. 139 B.C., Judea (modern-day Israel); d. 67 B.C., JudeaSalome Alexandra of Jerusalem took the throne as an independent queen of Judea in 76 B.C., after the death of her husband. During her reign, Alexandra effectively mediated internal tensions... Read more
Alukah
Mythic, exact dates uncertain, by 500 B.C.Biblical scholars describe Alukah as a succubus or vampire, perhaps a cognate of Lilith, a female demon in rabbinic literature who derives from Mesopotamian demonology. In Hebrew, alukah means... Read more
Amat-Mamu
Flourished circa 1750 B.C., Sippar, Babylonia (modern-day Iraq)Amat-Mamu was a priestess and temple scribe in Sippar, a city of ancient Babylonia. She was a member of the gagum, a walled precinct with hundreds of houses inhabited exclusively... Read more
Amyte
Flourished circa A.D. 225, Tegea, ancient GreeceThe correct spelling of this name is ANYTE.
Anyte was a third-century poet from the ancient Greek city of Tegea. She is known for her epigrams (short witty... Read more
Anahita
Mythic, worshipped in Persia, beginning circa 648 B.C.Anahita, literally "unstained" or "immaculate," was the Persian virgin goddess of fertility, love, and war. She is particularly associated with water and its life-giving powers. In Modern Persian, her name... Read more
Anasandra
Flourished 3rd century B.C., Sicyon, ancient GreeceThe correct spelling of this name is ANAXANDRA. Anaxandra was a Greek painter working in the 220s B.C., the daughter and disciple of Nealkes, a painter of mythological... Read more
Anastasia (Marcella group)
Flourished early 4th century A.D., RomeLittle is known about Anastasia except that she was a Christian woman from Rome, married to a pagan who died while traveling in Persia. In the year A.D. 303, the... Read more
Antigone
Literary, known in ancient Greece, dates vary, beginning circa 1600 B.C.Antigone, a tragic character from Greek literature, was the daughter of Oedipus. She defied King Creon by burying her brother, who had been put to death for attacking the Greek... Read more
Antiope
Mythic, known in ancient Greece, beginning circa 1200 B.C.Antiope was the sister of the Amazon queen Hippolyte and the daughter of Ares, god of war. There are several versions of her story in Greek myth. In one... Read more
Aphrodite
Mythic, worshipped in ancient Greece, dates vary, beginning circa 1600 B.C.Aphrodite was the goddess of love and beauty, the Greek equivalent of the Roman goddess Venus and also of Ishtar in Mesopotamia. Her name means "risen from the foam,"... Read more
Arachne
Mythic, worshipped in ancient Greece, dates vary, beginning circa A.D. 8Arachne, a Greek weaver who appears in Ovid's poem Metamorphoses (A.D. 8), angered Athena, the patron goddess of weaving, by bragging that her skills were greater than the deity's. When... Read more
Aretaphilia of Cyrene
Flourished circa 50 B.C., Cyrene, ancient GreeceThe correct spelling of this name is ARETAPHILA OF CYRENE. The story of the Cyrenean woman Aretaphila is told by Plutarch in his De mulierum virtutes (On the... Read more
Arete of Cyrene
Flourished circa 350 B.C., Cyrene, ancient GreeceArete, a philosopher of the fourth century B.C., was born in the Greek colony of Cyrene (in present-day Libya). Her father, Aristippus, was a follower of Socrates; her son, also... Read more
Ariadne
Mythic, worshipped in ancient Greece, exact dates uncertain, by the 6th century B.C.Ariadne was the daughter of the legendary King Minos of Crete. After helping her love Theseus defeat the Minotaur and escape the labyrinth, she was abandoned by him while asleep... Read more
Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum