• Christine de Pizan

    Christine de Pizan

    Christine de Pizan (ca.1364-1430) was a brilliant writer, poet, philosopher, and feminist. At a time when females were regarded as profoundly defective beings, Christine boldly imagined a "City of ...

  • Demeter

    Demeter

    Demeter is the Greek goddess of agriculture and the bountiful earth. It is she who makes the crops grow---except for those months when her daughter Persephone is in the Underworld, for then Demeter ...

  • Diana Ross

    Diana Ross

    This is vintage Diana Ross, you understand: Diana Ross as a Supreme. Not only were The Supremes the top American singing group of the 60s, but they were also style leaders. Glamour was always ...

  • Emma Goldman

    Emma Goldman

    "If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution." Did Emma Goldman (1869-1940) really say that? In a word, no. The sentiment was certainly hers, and in her memoirs she told of being ...

  • Enheduanna

    Enheduanna

    Enheduanna (ca. 2300 BCE) has been called the Shakespeare of Sumerian literature. It might be more accurate to call Shakespeare the Enheduanna of English literature. Enheduanna is the earliest ...

  • Freyja

    Freyja

    Poor Freyja! More than any other goddess, she's been subjected to the strippers-with-swords treatment in contemporary art. But those deformed creatures with giant implants and chainmail bikinis ...

  • Frida Kahlo

    Frida Kahlo

    Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) is quite possibly the most celebrated female artist in history. The elements of her personal style have become iconic: long skirt, Mexican blouse, rebozo, flowers on her ...

  • Fu Hao

    Fu Hao

    Before Mulan, there was Fu Hao (ca. 1200 BCE). This Shang Dynasty queen was a remarkable figure: not only was she King Wu Ding's wife and the mother of his children, but she was also his chief ...

  • Grace Kelly

    Grace Kelly

    Before she married Prince Rainier of Monaco, Grace Kelly (1929-1982) was an Oscar-winning actress at the very top of the Hollywood game. On-screen she played cool beauties; off-screen she was ...

  • Hatshepsut

    Hatshepsut

    Hatshepsut (ca. 1508-1458 BCE) was an extremely successful pharaoh whose reign was full of accomplishments: important trade missions, gorgeous architecture, a booming economy. But the thing she's ...

  • Himiko

    Himiko

    Himiko (3rd century) was the first recorded ruler of Japan. The Chinese chroniclers described her as a great shaman queen who united 30 warring clans, established the imperial throne, sent ...

  • Isis

    Isis

    Isis is the Egyptian goddess of magic and motherhood, but putting it that way rather understates the case. Isis is simply one of the all-time great goddesses of world civilization. Worshiped by the ...