Ancient Women - Three Studies

Queen Salome: Jerusalem’s Warrior Monarch of the First Century B.C.E. by Kenneth Atkinson

As the ruler of Judea from 76 to 67 B.C.E., Queen Salome Alexandra (ca. 141 B.C.E.–67 B.C.E.) appointed the kingdom’s high priest, led its men in battle, subjugated neighboring kings, and stopped the religious violence that plagued her society. Presiding over Judea’s greatest period of peace and prosperity, she shaped the Judaism of Jesus’ day as well as our own. Virtually unknown today, Queen Salome remained so unique that historians have largely ignored her rather than try to explain the perplexing circumstances that brought her to power. This volume recreates Queen Salome’s fascinating life and the time in which she lived—an age when women ruled the Middle East.

Perpetua of Carthage: Portrait of a Third-Century Martyr by William Farina

This is a study of the life and times of Saint Perpetua, Saint Felicity and their companions, all martyred at Carthage in A.D. 203. Unlike most early Christian saints, whose lives are often shrouded in legend and myth, Perpetua left an authentic prison diary, later completed by an anonymous eyewitness to her execution, that is now considered a classic of Christian, Latin and feminist literature. Perpetua was also unusual in that she was wealthy, educated, married, and a young mother. The book includes the first English translations of French archaeological scholarship covering the discovery of the martyrs’ tombs.

The Queen of Sheba: Legend, Literature and Lore by Deborah M. Coulter-Harris

Part I of this book begins with a scriptural study of all Sheba references, particularly the origins and genealogy of the name and its connections with Hebrew patriarchs such as Abraham and kings Saul and David; it later explores the literature and legends surrounding king Solomon and his trade negotiations with Sheba. The text analyzes theories and links between the Queen of Sheba and Pharaoh Hatshepsut, and concludes that Sheba may well be the Pharaoh based upon linguistic associations and the related stories from a multitude of regions and countries. Part II travels into ancient Arabian, Yemeni, Ethiopian, and Eritrean tales of the Queen of Sheba, and examines the mention of Sheba in an array of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim texts. It scrutinizes associations between ancient gods and pharaohs, particularly the similarity of their iconographic representations, the meaning of their symbols and signs that connect with Sheba legends and Hatshepsut’s history, the real extent and location of her vast empire.