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Ten Great Ancient Mesopotamian Women: Monarchs, Generals, and Scribes
worldhistory.org
Ancient Mesopotamian society was patriarchal, meaning it was organized around men holding primary power. This structure strictly defined social roles and limited the rights of women. Despite these significant constraints, many remarkable women achieved positions of great power. They became successful scribes, military leaders, and reigning monarchs.
While women likely had the most extensive legal rights during the Early Dynastic Period, influential women continued to appear in later times. One prominent group was the naditu priestesses of Sippar, who served the sun god Shamash. These women were involved in profitable business and were largely free from the social pressure to have children, giving them personal autonomy. The biblical story of Queen Esther, though likely fictional, shows a narrative model of a woman gaining great influence. In it, she persuades her husband, King Ahasuerus, to save the Jewish people from destruction. Scholars think this story may have been inspired by the real political activities of Mesopotamian queens.
The following ten women stand out for their exceptional achievements within this difficult social structure.
Most of these women were members of royal families. Historians know about them from royal inscriptions, their own writings, family business records, or, in Puabi's case, the incredible objects found in her tomb. Scholar Gwendolyn Leick notes that the status of women at the highest levels of society gradually declined after the Early Dynastic Period. However, influential positions for women, like the high priestess of the moon god at Ur, did continue. Princesses and queens got their social rank from their relationship to the king, yet some were able to use significant power, especially after a king's death.
In ancient Mesopotamia, a woman's main role was as a wife and mother. She was expected to manage the household, raise children, and care for her husband's extended family. Society had a strict social order. The king and nobility were at the top, followed by the clergy, the upper class, the lower class, and slaves. Women were further classified within these broad groups, ranging from noblewomen and female administrators to prostitutes, temple dependents, and enslaved women. Moving up in society was possible but rare. Even noblewomen were considered lower than men, which makes the political power achieved by the women on this list especially notable.
In every case of a female monarch or authority figure, all evidence suggests an effective and prosperous reign, and where the woman is not the central ruling figure, her influence is evident and, according to modern-day scholarship, becoming more evident as in the case of Azadokht Shahbanu. The details of many of these women have been lost (or await discovery), but what is known of their lives suggests powerful individuals who refused to live their lives according to the dictates of others.
Queen Puabi is known only from the archaeological discovery of her tomb. In 1922, British archaeologist Leonard Woolley uncovered her burial site in the Royal Cemetery at Ur. Her grave contained a magnificent headdress made of gold leaves, ribbons, and beads of carnelian and lapis lazuli.
Woolley's excavation revealed many valuable artifacts. Most importantly, her cylinder seal—a personal identifier in Mesopotamia—named her as a queen without mentioning a king. This evidence leads archaeologists to conclude she ruled the city of Ur on her own, most likely during the Early Dynastic II or III period. The wealth in her tomb and the servants buried with her show her power and high status.
According to the Sumerian King List, Kubaba was a tavern keeper before becoming the Queen of Kish. The records do not explain her rise to power, but she is the only woman listed as a reigning monarch. The King List states that she founded the Third Dynasty of Kish. After her dynasty was temporarily overthrown, her son regained power and established the Fourth Dynasty. Some scholars believe parts of her story later inspired the Anatolian goddess Cybele.
Ama-e was a successful Sumerian businesswoman from the city of Umma. Although married, she operated her own commercial business under her own name. Scholar H.J. Marsman notes that women in early Mesopotamian society could act quite independently. Ama-e was involved in trade dealing with grain, wool, and metals. She used her profits to invest in real estate and building projects, managing a widespread trade network. These details are preserved in her family's business records, though little else is known about her life.
Enheduanna is the earliest known author in the world whose name has been recorded. She was the daughter of Sargon of Akkad and served as the High Priestess of the moon god Nanna at Ur. She became famous for her hymns praising the goddess Inanna, which offered a more personal view of the divine than earlier works by male scribes. She also wrote personal poetry. Enheduanna survived a rebellion that forced her into exile before she returned to her duties. She served as priestess and poet for over forty years, and her writings influenced later religious poetry.
Sammu-Ramat was the queen regent of the Assyrian Empire, ruling for her young son after her husband's death. Since women were barred from holding authority over men, her position was unprecedented. She started construction projects and commissioned an obelisk inscribed with her own name. She may also have led military campaigns to secure the empire. Her remarkable reign is thought to have inspired later legends about the mythical queen Semiramis.
Zakutu rose from being a secondary wife of King Sennacherib to become a powerful queen dowager. She successfully worked to have her son, Esarhaddon, named Sennacherib's successor, even though he was the youngest of many sons. During Esarhaddon's reign, she commissioned a palace and issued her own dedicatory inscription. Most importantly, she created the Treaty of Zakutu to ensure a smooth transfer of power to her grandson, Ashurbanipal. She remained an influential figure at court early in his reign.
Serua-eterat was the eldest daughter of Esarhaddon and sister of Ashurbanipal. Despite being a woman in a male-dominated society, she held a high rank at the Assyrian court. In official lists, her name appears third, directly after the heir and his brother, but before her other brothers. She is best known for a letter criticizing her sister-in-law, Ashurbanipal's wife, for being lazy in her studies and risking family dishonor through ignorance.
The Oracle of Nuska was an unnamed enslaved girl who became central to a plot to overthrow King Esarhaddon. Unlike official temple oracles, she was the property of a private citizen. Around 671 BCE, she began delivering prophecies, claiming Esarhaddon would fall and a royal official named Sasi would become king. Sasi believed her and brought her into his home as he planned a rebellion. Esarhaddon, who took prophecies seriously, captured the girl in 670 BCE. Her fate is unknown, but she was likely executed. Her importance lies in her unique position as a slave whose charismatic personality made people listen, putting her at the center of a major conspiracy.
Artemisia I was the queen regent of Caria and a naval commander. She is famous for her role in the Battle of Salamis during the Persian king Xerxes I's invasion of Greece. She ruled independently without male supervision. The historian Herodotus praised her, noting her squadron was the second most famous in the Persian fleet. She also advised Xerxes to avoid a naval battle and instead starve the Greeks into submission. Xerxes ignored her advice, was defeated at Salamis, and his invasion failed. After the war, Artemisia escorted the king's sons to safety and then vanished from historical records.
Azadokht Shahbanu was the primary wife of the Sassanian king Shapur I. Known as a diplomat and a skilled swordswoman, modern scholarship increasingly credits her with significant influence over Shapur's reign. She is believed to have been the driving force behind establishing the great intellectual and medical center at Gundeshapur. Recent studies suggest she invited Greek physicians to court specifically to found its teaching hospital and library. Her name means "free girl," and Shahbanu is a title meaning "king's wife."
As scholars like Leick have observed, women's rights in Mesopotamia declined after the Early Dynastic Period. Different theories try to explain this change, including the rise of powerful male gods replacing earlier goddesses. The decline became more pronounced after the fall of the Sassanian Empire in 651 CE and the rise of Islam. Nonetheless, scholar Jean Bottero argues that women possessed inherent tools for resistance. He writes, "In Mesopotamia, as elsewhere, every woman had up her sleeve two reliable trump cards…first, her femininity; then, her personality, spirit, and character. And it was up to her to make use of these to swim against the opposing current." The ten women profiled here used these exact qualities to secure their place in history, as did countless others whose names are now lost.