Women Writers in Ancient Japan

The immense cultural achievements of women writers in ancient Japan —Murasaki Shikibu (c. 973 or 978-c. 1014 or 1031 CE), Sei Shonagon (c. 966-c. 1017 or 1025 CE), and Izumi Shikibu (c. 976-c. 1040 CE) — facilitated the first flowering of classical Japanese literature. Women wrote Japan’s and perhaps Asia’s first autobiographical narratives in diaries and memoirs, as well as miscellaneous writings composed of poems, lists, observations, and personal essays during the Heian era (794-1185 CE). For this reason, the Japanese can uniquely claim to have a literary golden age dominated by women.

In this exclusive interview, James Blake Wiener of Ancient History Encyclopedia (AHE) speaks to Professor Lynne K. Miyake of Pomona College about the importance of these women writers and what enabled their literary brilliance.

read interview in its entirety here @ et cetera Ancient History

Bringing Up The Body

The bones of a woman who lived 2,000 years ago, and found in a bay off the Isle of Wight, are to be gifted to Island’s museum.

Brothers, Hubert and Graham Smyth discovered the skeletal remains as they set a string of swinging boat moorings at Fishbourne Beach at low tide on 9 March 2015. The bones were in the silt which is under the waterline when the tide is in.

Graham Smyth, who is a radiographer, gently lifted out one of the bones and was confident it was a human radius, so he left the rest of the skeleton in situ and called the police.

The remains were dated to AD 28 to AD90 – almost 2,000 years old and from the Late Iron Age.

read more here @ On The Wight

Powerful Women Buried at Stonehenge

The remains of 14 women believed to be of high status and importance have been found at Stonehenge, the iconic prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, England.

The discovery, along with other finds, supports the theory that Stonehenge functioned, at least for part of its long history, as a cremation cemetery for leaders and other noteworthy individuals, according to a report published in the latest issue of British Archaeology.

During the recent excavation, more women than men were found buried at Stonehenge, a fact that could change its present image.

Stonehenge, now a World Heritage Site, radiates timeless beauty and achievement, but it seems women's status proved to be more ephemeral.

Willis said that the role of women in society "probably declined again towards the 3rd millennium B.C...both archaeological and historical evidence has shown that women's status has gone up and down quite noticeably at different times in the past."

read more @ Seeker

Iceland's "Woman In Blue"

From Message To Eagle dot com:

A Viking-age (9th/ 10th century) woman grave was discovered at Ketilsstaðir, eastern Iceland, in 1938. Her skeleton was very poorly preserved and incomplete. The woman from Ketilsstaðir wore typical copper-alloy Scandinavian oval brooches, one of which was in direct contact with her face, resulting in significant soft tissue and textile preservation.  Now, researchers say that the unknown woman buried with Viking-era objects, was a child of some of the island’s earliest settlers, researchers say. Tooth development and wear suggest she was between 17 and 25 years old when she died. (read more here @ Message To Eagle)

From New Historian:

She’s known as the Icelandic “Woman in Blue” due to the color of the apron she wore to her grave. In less romantic terms she’s a partial skeleton and one of Iceland’s earliest inhabitants. Her grave, including the skeleton and other Viking-era burial goods, was discovered in 1938 in Eastern Iceland near the town of Ketilsstaðir. During a recent annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, researchers presented the results of their ongoing examination and testing of the girl’s remains and the objects found buried with her.

The incomplete and poorly preserved skeletal remains belong to a young woman determined to have been between 17 and 25 years old (radiocarbon testing of the fabric and tooth show she was born around the year 900 CE and the time of her death was sometime around the year 920 CE). Based on the chemical analysis of one of her teeth, the Woman in Blue moved from the British Isles or Scandinavia to Iceland when she was between five and ten years old, a fact indicated by her change in diet from mostly land animals and plants to one that included a large amount of seafood and fish. (read more here @ New Historian)

From Iceland Magazine:

The grave was that of a young woman, most likely in her twenties, who was believed to have moved to Iceland from Scotland at the age of five or ten. She is thought to have died around 920. Buried with her were two silver brooches and an expensive pearl necklace. One of the brooches laid pressed up against the girl’s chin, amazingly preserving part of her skin, enabling researchers to determine her age, origin as well as other information which will be presented at the exhibition. (read more here @ Iceland Magazine)

From Iceland Monitor:

The ‘Woman in Blue’ moved to Iceland as a young child, probably from Scotland. She died at just over twenty years of age around 920.  In a marvellous struck of luck for anthropologists, one of two copper brooches that the ‘Woman in Blue’ took to her grave moved position, covering the cheek of the buried body. The result is that the woman’s jawbone and cheek have been preserved for over 1,100 years.  This material gives us today an inestimable insight into the life of our Viking-age ‘Woman in Blue’, so named as she was found buried in blue clothes of Icelandic wool. (read more here @ Iceland Monitor)

From New York Times:

Though she was dressed in traditional Viking attire for her burial, researchers are unable to conclude whether she was Viking or hailed from Northern Europe. In addition to her clothing and the blue apron, she was also buried with an extravagant pearl necklace and two Scandinavian brooches — and one of the brooches, in an amazing twist of fate, contained the clue that opened to door to her life story. (read more here @ New York Times)

From Archaeology Magazine:

The remains of the “Woman in Blue,” discovered in 1938 in eastern Iceland, have been subjected to a battery of tests that have revealed new details about her origins and life history. Chief among these is that the woman, named after a blue-dyed apron she was buried in, appears to have come to Iceland during its early settlement period. (read more here @ Archaeology Magazine)

How Did Two Faustinas Transform Roman Society?

Ancient Origins has again posted another great article - this time on two Roman women a mother-daughter power-team.  They were Annia Galeria Faustina, known as Faustina the Elder (or Faustina I), wife of Antoninus Pius (d.161AD), and her daughter, Annia Galeria Faustina Minor, known as Faustina the Younger (or Faustina II), wife of Marcus Aurelius (d.180AD)

While their husbands ruled as emperors, the two women were changing the world they knew into a better one. Moreover, the eternal fame they gained placed them in the pantheon of goddesses. Two women who lived during the 2nd century AD proved that being the wife of the most powerful man in the empire is not only a dangerous task, but also a generous gift - which could bring many benefits.

read entire article here @ Ancient Origins

read more here @ Roman Emperors - De Imperatoribus Romanis

Mysterious 'Witch Girl' of Northern Italy

From Huffington Post:

Archaeologists in northern Italy have unearthed the skeleton of a teenage girl who lived there hundreds of years ago. The skeleton itself is unremarkable, but its unusual face-down position in the grave has some calling the child a "witch girl.". The skeleton was discovered in San Calocero in Albenga on the Ligurian Riviera.

The skeleton -- believed to be that of a 13-year-old -- was unearthed by a team from the Pontifical Institute of Christian Archaeology near a church built on the site of a burial ground in the town of Albenga. The archaeologists said the prone burial may have been intended to punish the girl, perhaps because she had committed a heinous crime.

read more here at Huffington Post and @ Yahoo News

Matilda, Daughter of Henry I | History Extra

Another great article in History Extra, this time by historian Helen Castor on one of England's more enigmatic pseudo-Queens of England - Matilda, Empress and daughter of King Henry I of England (March 2012).

A little snippet for you - read more here @ History Extra:

Matilda’s story left a complex and ambiguous precedent in English politics. Women could pass on the throne to their male heirs, that much was clear, and no principle had been explicitly established to exclude them from the succession.

All that stood in the way of Matilda’s path to the throne, it transpired, was another coup exactly like the one that had made her father king. The result was civil war. Despite her sex, Matilda’s claim was not dismissed out of hand by the nobles she sought to rule. 

Matilda is a fascinating character - much has been written about her and her times, most notably, “Queen Emma & Queen Edith: Queenship and Women’s Power in Eleventh-Century England” by Pauline Stafford, and “The Empress Matilda: Queen Consort, Queen Mother and Lady of the English” by Majorie Chibnall.

Noblewomen in the Wars of the Roses by Lauren Johnson

I chanced upon this rather informative blog post by Lauren Johnson (October 2013) regarding the status of noblewomen who lived through those turbulent times known as The Wars of the Roses. It formed part of her masters thesis The impact of the Wars of the Roses on Noblewomen, 1450-1509 (October 2007).

Here is a little teaser:

However, for every man directly involved in the Wars of the Roses there were numerous female relatives who were not only themselves affected by the conflict, but played an active part in it. 

On the contrary, efforts to claw lands back to one’s family by battling through the law courts or pleading with prominent powerholders were deemed essential to those involved, and at a time when many men found themselves on the wrong side of the law or battlefield, and thus lost their authority (or their life), it fell to their wives and mothers to try to save their estates.

Read more of this and other interesting posts @ Lauren's Blog

Florence Nightingale's 'rubbish' amulets

A collection of ancient Egyptian amulets acquired by Florence Nightingale in the winter of 1849 when she went on an adventurous Egyptian holiday are going on display for the first time – and the curator at the World Museum in Liverpool is rather more impressed by them than the Lady of the Lamp herself was.

Five years before she sailed to Scutari, Istanbul, during the Crimean war, Nightingale travelled to Egypt at a time when mass tourism there was in its infancy. She wrote vivid letters home to her older sister, Parthenope, who later published them, but described her little amulets as “rubbish”.

“What she brought back is fascinating to us, but I think she expected to be offered ancient treasures and she was very disappointed with what was available,” he said. “Ironically we are displaying some of the objects which she did rate and was very pleased at getting hold of – which have turned out, alas, to be fakes.”

Read more here at The Guardian