Helpful Score: 3
Okay, you've heard of Sappho, Nefertiti, maybe even the pharaoh Hatshepsut and the warrior queen Tomyris. But what about the murderous Macedonian queen Arsinoe, the Talmudic teacher Beruria, the Greek priestess Lysimache, or Audata-Eurydice, Philip of Macedon's horse-riding Illyrian queen? And then there is Kisaya, a Sumerian slave who sued for the right to choose her own husband. Leon has collected hundreds of historical women's names and the facts about the lives of those who bore them. Where very little is known, she fleshes out the text with fascinating cultural tidbits. Rendered in a zippy tone, such stuff makes delightful reading.
Helpful Score: 2
Great facts, really interesting, really juicy tidbits! Only little thing I personally didn't like a lot was the at-times-ultra-cool-and-hip style of the narrative. :)
Helpful Score: 1
200 uproarious pirates, pyramid builders, poets, poisoners, panderers, power brokers, and princesses. Full of piquant details on sex, sports, madness, celebrities, gossip, and gore, Uppity Women of Ancient Times excavates a treasure of little-known or long-suppressed facts about biblical babes, classical consorts, and Mesopotamian maids for the armchair archaeologist in all of us. It is sure to inspire women to take history into their own hands.