Section 1: Ancient Greats

The four women honored in his section lived at a time before the complete fall of the Roman Empire and the rise of monotheistic, Western religions, from about 510 BC to 60 AD.  While there were no washing machines, computers or cars then, the pre-Christian era may have had its blessings for many women of the West. 

Before the implementation of extreme practices designed to keep “Eve” docile in the back of the tent (and out of history books), there was a time people praised feminine characteristics in their deities (and heroic humans), as well as in men. This sometimes resulted in more respect for women as free agents. In those societies that acknowledged and honored the unique characteristics of women, ancient heroines may have had an easier time -- in some ways -- reaching their full potential. When and where societies did not respect those attributes, women suffered (as millions continue to suffer today in cultures that deny women legal, religious, financial, educational, physical and emotional equality).

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These Ancient Greats lived so long ago it’s hard to know their full personal histories. Scraps of documents survive. But what is obvious is that they played so remarkable a role in history that we can at least outline their lives.  

Sappho headed a famous dance school and wrote lyrical Greek love poetry that enthralled the civilized world then, and still does today – in what few poems and fragments have been found. 

Cleopatra was Egypt’s queen-stateswoman. We all know of her supposed charm with Julius Caesar (and Mark Antony). But few remember her as the first in her ancestral Greek line to bother learning the language of the Egyptians she ruled.  

Boudicca, deposed ruler of an early southern English tribe, led a revolt against the Romans which almost succeeded in driving them from English soil.  

Hypatia was a world-class mathematician and scientist; a brilliant teacher who lived in Egypt as early Christians were rising to power.

These Timeless Women lived so long ago we are lucky to have enough strands of their stories to see them at all, through time’s cloudy, distorted mirror. The poems that sing their praises attempt to capture their essential sparks and the individual genius of each as she attempted to transcend the cultural boundaries of her time. One way or another, each is an eternal example of what women throughout time have been very good at: surviving as long as possible under difficult situations, while demonstrating the highest qualities attainable by human beings.