Women were not citizens in Ancient Greece and had limited roles outside the home. In Rome, the same thing took place in the early stages. In the later stages of the republic, women had a much more active role. They were able to own property amongst other things. Here are 10 important women in Ancient Greece & Rome who had influential and memorable roles.
1. Helen of Troy:
A whole war was fought over her for 10 years. She was abducted by the Trojan Prince, which led to the war between the Greeks and the inhabitants of Troy. The war is one of the most written about in Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey.
2. Cleopatra VII:
She was the last pharaoh in Egypt. She was a Greek and part of the Ptolemaic Dynasty who ruled Egypt after the death of Alexander the Great. She is quite popular today in art and literature, especially in Shakespearean literature.
3. Olympias:
The mother of Alexander the Great. She was a feared leader who had a skill for defeating snakes in religious ceremonies. After the death of her son, she became a regent to her grandson. While regent, she tried to seize control of Macedonia.
4. Saint Helena:
She was the Empress Consort of Emperor Constantinus. She is credited for finding the relics of the True Cross. This was the cross that Jesus Christ was “crucified” on according to the Christians.
5. Livia Drusilla:
She was a member of the Claudian family, who was married to Tiberius Claudius Nero until the emperor Augustus forced her to become his wife. She was intelligent and provided administrative help to her husband. She was also active in helping her son, Tiberius in his rule, until her death at age 85.
This is the last chance for her on this list for she is going to be thirty in September this year. She was born on September 4 1981. Right now she is hot in the right places. A Grammy winner many times she is a great beauty and a great singer. She was a part of the R&B band Destiny’s Child before she took off very successfully on her solo career. She really is very blessed by God in her looks.
This talented lady is a superb actress and has the hot looks to sustain her in the top ten hot women list forever. She is a BAFTA and Golden Globe winner for her acting. She was born on 22 November 1984 in New York. She has also won a Tony. The only words that can describe this child star of only a few years back is as a voluptuous and luscious blonde. She has a special smile which wins the hearts of her fans. She has also been the model for such brands as Calvin Klein, L’Oreal and Louis Vitton. She is a regular on the Sexy women list.
Megan Fox is another regular on the Hot list. She was born on May 16, 1986. Now she is famous as the Transformer girl. She was born in Oakridge, Tennessee. She has been on the cover of many famous magazines. The British paper The Sun has declared August 4 as a Megan Fox day because they feel she deserves an exclusive day of her own on the calendar. That is the kind of response she gets in some people. She is much tattooed and has eight tattoos all over her body.
Adriana Lima has only this chance to be on our list because this June 12 she will be thirty. She looks sexier as she grows older and has been on many hot lists. She is a Brazilian model who has been a Victoria’s Secret Angel since 2000. She has worked as a model for many famous designers like Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren, Louis Vitton and Givenchy. She has been featured in Vanity Fair magazine.
Irina Shaykhlislamova was born in the USSR on January 6, 1986. Now she is better known as Irina Shayk or Irina Sheik. She is the cover model for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue this year. She has also been the face of Intimissimi an Italian clothing brand. She has been featured in famous magazines like Harper’s Bazaar and Elle Spain. She is already on the sexiest models list as number ten. She has become famous also as being footballer Cristiano Ronaldo’s girl friend.
Arguably history’s first political powerhouse woman: Generally known simply as “Cleopatra”—as in the Cleopatra, star of story, legend, and drama—the Egyptian queen departed from her fiercely Greek Ptolemaic predecessors, learning the Egyptian language and declaring herself a reincarnation of the goddess Isis. After Roman conspirators assassinated Caesar in 44BC, Cleopatra forged an alliance with Marc Antony and Caesar’s opposition. The political hook-up, however, paled by comparison with the historic consequences of their love affair. According to most storytellers, Cleopatra made conquest of all the ancient world’s most powerful men, seducing and them compromising them with her irresistible beauty and her even more compelling wit, charm, and intellect.
History’s first “uppity woman,” married to the Baron of Coventry, England, and champion of her oppressed people. To his wife’s considerable chagrin and over her repeated protests, the greedy and gluttonous Baron relentlessly taxed the people to support his own excesses. Finally, Lady Godiva wore down the Baron’s objections, and the two struck a deal: He would remit the taxes if she rode “naked” through Coventry; precise definitions of “naked” remain the subject of spirited debate among scholars, but artists always have chosen the no-clothes version, usually covering her with her own luscious, languorous locks. Jealous of his trophy wife’s considerable good looks, the Baron decreed that the townspeople had to shutter their windows as she cruised the main street. As the story goes, all but once citizen complied: the infamous “Peeping Tom” secured a permanent place in the history of voyeurism by drilling a hole in his shutters to catch a glorious glimpse of milady’s tenderest parts. For his troubles, Peeping Tom allegedly was struck blind. Lady Godiva took her brazen ride, and the Baron enacted the tax cuts as promised. History offers no record of the Coventry citizens’ living happily ever after.
Fifteenth century warriorette, who claimed she had visions from God instructing her to free France from English domination. Then uncrowned Charles VII sent nineteen-year-old Joan to the siege of Orleans, ostensibly as part of a relief mission. Once there, Joan scrutinized les vieux garcons battle plans, threw-out the old playbook, and lifted the siege in just nine days. She subsequently led French forces to several more quick and decisive victories, securing Charles VII’s coronation and the end of the dispute about his rights to the French throne. For her efforts on France’s behalf and because of her claims about divine intervention, an English Ecclesiastical Court found her guilty of heresy, promptly burning her at the stake. Twenty-five years later, Pope Callixtus III overturned her conviction and declared her a martyr. Joan of Arc was canonized in 1920 and promoted to one of the patron saints of the French.
A classic example of the story far outstripping the facts: According to the popular press, and especially according to J. Edgar Hoover and his fledgling squad of G-Men, Ma Barker was a tough-talking, cigar-smoking, Tommy-gun toting criminal mastermind who orchestrated approximately 100 hundred heinous crimes—big bank heists, high-profile kidnappings, and murders—between 1931 and 1935. On January 8, 1935, the Feds nabbed “Doc” Barker, who unfortunately carried a map to the Barker-Karpis gang’s Ocklawaha, Florida, hideout. Eight days later, federal agents surrounded the house, ordering the gangsters to surrender. Instead, Fred Barker opened fire on the agents, initiating a protracted fire-fight; witnesses and participants agreed it lasted several hours. Both Ma and Fred died in the gun battle, and FBI spokespeople reported Ma was found with a machine gun in her hands. The government publicly displayed their bodies, ostensibly to discourage other gangsters and criminal entrepreneurs, but also to boost the FBI’s public image. Witnesses and historians since have proven she never participated in any criminal activity, and they allege that FBI agents planted the gun in her hands after she died.
Barely twenty-one when she began her notorious criminal exploits, Bonnie Parker was every bit as tough, sassy, and sexy as Fay Dunaway made her appear in the 1967 movie of her three-year crime spree with partner and lover Clyde Barrow. In the same way Bonnie and Clyde introduced explicit violence to the movies, the real-life Bonnie and Clyde introduced extreme and sometimes gratuitous violence into the relatively simple business of holding-up small rural banks and markets. The stylish villains of pulp fiction killed at least nine police officers and at least two innocent bystanders during their rampages across the Midwest and rural South. Arguably the first criminals to manage their own public relations, the couple posed for titillating and sensational pictures that inevitably found their way into the newspapers and newsreels of the early thirties. According to historian Jeff Guinn, “Without Bonnie, the media outside Texas might have dismissed Clyde as a gun-toting punk, if it ever considered him at all. With her sassy photographs, Bonnie supplied the sex-appeal, the oomph, that allowed the two of them to transcend the small-scale thefts and needless killings that actually comprised their criminal careers.” Bonnie and Clyde ultimately died in an attack by Louisiana law enforcement officials in 1934.
Eleanor was a part of the wealthiest family in Europe thousands of years back. She received a massive inheritance which came along with a title after her father passed away. This is when she became an autonomous ruler. She played a major part in developing Aquitaine and transformed it into a major cultural centre. Eleanor went on to become Queen in 1137.
Hatshepsut will go down in history as the most influential woman as far as Egyptian history is concerned. According to records, she was the most admirable and tolerant at the time and ruled independently till she died.
Maria Theresa of Austria was born in 1717 and she became an empress in 1740. This powerful woman modified her empire in many ways and recruited soldiers to the existing army. She also changed the face of the Government and her efforts bore fruit when the economy flourished in front of her eyes. She abolished many evil practices and spread awareness about various subjects.
Empress Theodora was an actress before she married Emperor Justinian I. She and her husband looked over the functioning of the empire but mostly all the decisions were made with Theodora’s blessing. She also supported her husband and helped the country win many battles. Not only that, but she also created awareness about the importance of women’s rights.
Empress Wu Zetian was very firm and made all the decisions when her husband was on his death-bed. She soon became the Emperor of China and put an end to the Tang Dynasty and gave rise to the Zhou Dynasty. She was ruthless in many ways and managed to spread Buddhism as a religion.
A single whiff of this Davidoff fragrance is enough to make you smile. It has been making women smell divine ever since 1988. Cool Water is basically an amalgamation of musk, jasmine and sandalwood. What could be better?
Vera Wang always creates beautiful merchandise and this fragrance further consolidates that fact. The bottle is purple and heart-shaped with a gold crown at its neck. It is perfect for those women who want to smell like royalty every day! Vanilla never smelt this good!
Nina Ricci sure knows her perfumes! Live in Paris has been created for a confident, dazzling and sparkling woman. According to the advertising campaign, it is powerful enough to seduce even non living objects. If you want to know what it smells and feels like, think of a rose covered in velvet!
When one thinks of Amethyste, the terms delicate and fragile pop up. That is exactly what this Bvlgari perfume smells like. It is fresh and graceful with a hint of sensuality. It is a perfume for the woman who likes her pink clothes and fluffy towels! You can wear it all through the day, every day.
While the Chanel No.5 is ideal for older women, Coco Mademoiselle is perfect for younger girls. One can never go wrong when wearing Chanel and Jacques Polge is smart enough to fuel this belief every single time! It has been a best seller ever since its creation in 2001 and will continue to lure Chanel lovers till the end of time.
