Joie de Vivre Magazine: History: People and Places: Mighty Female Warriors From Around the World

Thursday, June 22, 2023

History: People and Places: Mighty Female Warriors From Around the World

There are stories of women who are written into world history as mighty female warriors. But were they really?

The stories of these women are written into world history books and other publications as mighty female warriors. According to the historical accounts they were … a lot of “F” words. Fierce! Fearsome! Fighters! And??? Dare I say it? I dare. They were … Feminine.

Oh yes! Just because they could handle a weapon just as well or perhaps better than their male counterparts and boldly engage the enemy in a battle to the death, none of those from the opposite sex would ever say that they were not 100% woman. Indeed. Men would probably exclaim to each other: “What a woman!”

If you research the topic of women warriors you will find 7 listed in the Encyclopedia Brittanica.

Boudicca
Joan of Arc
Cleopatra
Penthesilea ( an Amazon queen in Greek mythology)
Susan B. Anthony
Rosa Parks
Harriet Tubman

Interesting list. Although I’m not sure the Amazon queen is a real person so I don’t know why she would be on the list. (O.o) But who am I to argue with a trusted encyclopedic resource that people rely on for research. The last 3 women on the list never even wielded a weapon of war. But they were fierce fearsome fighters nevertheless.

Live Science published a list of 12 women warriors and described them as “mighty”. They start their list with a woman in China. There are only 11 names below because Boudicca’s name is already on the Brittanica list.

Fu Hao (military general in the Shang Dynasty)
Gudit (Ethiopian queen)
Tomoe Gozen (female samurai)
Ana Nzinga (queen of Ndongo, an African-state)
Khutulun (descendant of Genghis Khan, “wrestler princess”)
Mai Bhago (Sikh warrior)
Rani Velu Nachiyar (Tamil woman, fought against the British colonials)
Micaela Bastidas Puyucahua (warrior woman of Peru, rebelled against the Spanish)
“Dahomey Amazons” (Not mythical; real West African female soldiers)
Buffalo Calf Road Woman (Native American; Northern Cheyenne warrior)
Yaa Asantewaa (led the Asante people (Ghana, West Africa) in an uprising against the British)

History Hit’s list named 10 great female warriors. Since Boudicca and Fu Hao are on the other lists, they are not mentioned again. Thus there are only 8 names listed.

Tomyris (Queen of the Massaegetae who waged war against Cyrus, King of Persia)
Artemisia I of Caria (Greek Queen of Halicarnassus and ally of Xerxes I. King of Persia)
Cynane (half-sister of Alexander the Great; but not half the warrior nor half the ambition)
Olympias (mother of Alexander the Great)
Adea Eurydice (daughter of Cynane, the half-sister of Alexander the Great)
Queen Teuta (Queen of the Ardiaei tribe in Illyria, fought with Rome and lost)
Triệu Thị Trinh (Vietnamese woman who freed her country from the rule of China, for a while)
Zenobia (Queen of Syria’s Palmyrene Empire; defeated by Roman Emperor Aurelian)

Boudicca, the Queen of the British Celtic Iceni tribe, left such a mark in history that she was not only on the 3 lists explored, but her name ends up on practically every list of woman warriors compiled by any publication. I don’t know what makes her so great. In the end, she was defeated and committed suicide. If you’re going to be a warrior, die fighting! Her true story is that she was just a woman driven mad with anger and grief who used war to ease her pain and lessen her sorrow. It is likely she died still in tremendous pain and extremely sorrowful. (Feel free to disagree. I am not a professional historian.)

Fu Hao, the Chinese general was on two lists. Were it not for the discovery of her tomb in 1096, it is not certain the world would have ever known that she even existed. There is not really a lot of information about her military exploits. She wasn’t just a general but she was also a high priestess, and she was one of the wives of the emperor Stories about her life seem to more the stuff of legend than of facts.

MY OPINION: I don’t know if I agree with labeling all of these women warriors. The word “warrior” (at least in my mind connotes a brave person who is fighting for a noble cause like … let’s say … freedom from oppressive rule. Some of those women, like Olympias and Adea Eurydice were just engaged in a power struggle. What’s so noble about that?

This is a very fascinating topic and you probably want to know more. But I am not writing a book, just publishing a brief introduction. So below is the combination of the three (3) lists, in alpha order, with links for further research: Have fun exploring!