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TheAlaniDragonRising View Drop Down
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    Posted: 20-Jan-2012 at 14:15
2nd century BC - Queen Rhodogune of Parthia was informed of a rebellion while preparing for her bath. She vowed not to brush her hair until the rebellion was ended. She waged a long war to suppress the rebellion, and won it without breaking her vow

In 138 BCE Rhodogune married Seleucid king Demetrius II Nicator (ruled 146-139 BCE, 129-126 BCE). After bearing several children with him, she was presumably abandoned in 131 BCE when Demetrius, after numerous failed attempts to escape from Parthia, was dispatched back to Antioch during the invasion of Parthia by Demetrius' brother, Antiochus VII Sidetes.

During their marriage, she had been temporarily a hostage in the Parthian court after an ill-fated campaign.

Polyaenus (8.27) tells us that Rhodogune, informed of a revolt while preparing for a bath, vowed not to bathe or brush her hair until the revolt was neutralised. She immediately went to battle, riding out to the head of her army. She successfully directed the battle, and was depicted thereafter with long, disheveled hair because of her adherence to her vow. He is the sole source of the story.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodogune_of_Parthia
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Sassanid warrior woman,  Paygospanan Banu

......a Persian female warrior/governess known as the Paygospanan Banu
She has fired arrows into two Turanian warriors and is about to draw her fatal arrow against them. In the middle is a late Sassanian commander knight (Framandar) and to the left is the Marzban of Abarshahr who has drawn his sword. In Sassanian Persia, women acted as warriors, commanders and leaders.....
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Not that I have much information on them(hopefully someone else will step in and flesh this out somewhat) but today I heard of the Bulgar warrior women of the ninth century AD.

 
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 Nubian queen Amanishabheto reigned over Kush or Nubia. A depiction of her on a pylon tower of a chapel shows her striking the shoulders of prisoners with her lance.

Amanishabheto


Amanishabheto [also Amanishakheto] was Kandake (queen) of Kush from 10BC to 1AD. She succeeded the Candace Amanirenas. Amanishakheto was Crown Princess for several years before she became Kandake. When the Roman Emperor Augustus attempted to conquer Nubia, she fought the Roman Army in three battles from 24-21 BCE. When the Augustus attempted to tax the Kushites, she and her son Akinidad attacked a Roman fort in Egypt. The Romans eventually negotiated peace. She was succeeded by her daughter, Amanitore.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanishabheto
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Arachidamia


Arachidamia (Greek: Αραχιδάμεια) was a wealthy Spartan queen, wife of Eudamidas I, mother of Archidamus IV and Agesistrata, grandmother of Eudamidas II, great-grandmother and grandmother of Agis IV.

We first hear of her leading Spartan women against Pyrrhus during his siege of Lacedaemon in the 3rd century BC. In the face of Pyrrhus's invasion, the SpartanGerousia considered sending the Spartan women to Crete for their safety. Arachidamia, speaking on behalf of the Spartan women, entered the Gerousia, "with sword in hand," and contested this proposal, questioning whether the Spartan women were expected to survive the ruin of their own city.

With the matter settled, the Spartans initiated the construction of a defensive trench running parallel to Pyrrhus's camp. We may presume that Arachidamia helped direct the Spartan women in this respect, since it is reported that the Spartan women impressively "completed with their own hands a third of the trench." We may also presume Arachidamia led the efforts Spartan women during the subsequent battle against Pyrrhus, as they are noted for supplying the defenders with weapons and refreshment during combat, and extracting wounded from the battlefield.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arachidamia
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One of the major cities in the north of Iran is Rasht, you can find a large number of jokes about Rashti men and their wives in the web, you can read some of them here: http://www.rootgarden.com/rashti-jokes.htm
 
For example the number 10 can't really be considered as a joke:
 
Once upon a time a Shirazi, a Ghazvini and a Rashti were chatting about women. Shirazi guy says: Woman is like a flower. You look at it, you smell it and you water it. Ghazvini guy says: Woman is like a record player. You play one side, then you turn it and play the other. Rashti guy says: Woman is like a newspaper. You read it, and then you pass it to your neighbour to read it.
 
 
The jokes made about people from various cities are not meant as an insult. The people of every city make fun of people in other cities. It's the same all over the world.
In fact , the reason they have made jokes about Rashti women is that they have always been one step ahead of other women. Even back in the old days, when a strange man knocked on the door of someone's house, the Rashti women responded. Clerics considered this immoral [and thus Rashti women were seen as permiscuous.]
 
It is interesting to read about the history of this region, the historical name of the southern part of Caspian sea was Tapuria (Tabaristan): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabaristan
 
Tapuria (widely known as Tabaristan) was the name of the former historic region in the Southern coasts of Caspian sea roughly in the location of northern and southern slopes of Elburz range in Iran.
 
Pietro Della Valle, who visited a town near Pirouzcow in Mazandaran, noted that Mazandarani women never wore the veil and didn't hesitate to talk to foreigners.
 
Some ancient historians have talked about the cultural life of these people, for example the famous Greek historian Strabo (64 BC - 24 AD) says:
 
 
The Tapyri are said to live between the Derbices and the Hyrcanians. It is reported of the Tapyri that it was a custom of theirs to give their wives in marriage to other husbands as soon as they had had two or three children by them. (Strabo, Geography, Book 11.9.3)


Edited by Cyrus Shahmiri - 03-Jan-2012 at 17:22
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Originally posted by Cyrus Shahmiri

Madar-shahi (matriarchy) and Zan-shahi are two different things, the first one refers to a social organization in which descent and relationship are reckoned through the female line but the second one is about a female social organization.
 
As I mentioned about the village of Alasht in Mazandaran, in this village women and girls have higher social status than men and boys, they have created a female community to rule over the village and men can't have any role.
 
But the important poinst is that "Women of Alasht are the core of their family, who like the mountains of their residence, are proud facing the difficulties of life."
Personally I'm into equality, but I guess there's no kind of ruling to stop one group stopping such a thing there.
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Madar-shahi (matriarchy) and Zan-shahi are two different things, the first one refers to a social organization in which descent and relationship are reckoned through the female line but the second one is about a female social organization.
 
As I mentioned about the village of Alasht in Mazandaran, in this village women and girls have higher social status than men and boys, they have created a female community to rule over the village and men can't have any role.
 
But the important poinst is that "Women of Alasht are the core of their family, who like the mountains of their residence, are proud facing the difficulties of life."
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Originally posted by cavalry4ever

I don't think ultra-feminism is the right term. All major civilizations started as matriarchies. It also applies to ancient religions. The traces of matriarchies can be observed in many societies to this day.
Yes I've got to agree with you there, I don't look upon these fighting women as ultra-feminists, more like women doing what the men were doing. As for civilizations starting as matriarchies, they were probably safer than when the men later took to sabre rattling in a big way. 
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Posts: 589 		  Quote cavalry4ever Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03-Jan-2012 at 14:02
I don't think ultra-feminism is the right term. All major civilizations started as matriarchies. It also applies to ancient religions. The traces of matriarchies can be observed in many societies to this day.
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Originally posted by Cyrus Shahmiri

Originally posted by TheAlaniDragonRising

Do you have any information as to when the women of that region became enlightened enough to allow their males with their heads, Cyrus?
 
It is not clear, of course there could be some mythical beliefs in the story too, we certainly know that Mazani women have always preferred to rule the villages, one of the reasons could be that women really work more than men in this region, it is interesting to read this article about Mazandaran Rural Areas: http://www.sid.ir/en/VEWSSID/J_pdf/112920090404.pdf
 
In line with previous studies, this survey revealed an accentuated role of women in all aspects of rural life. Women do most of the work in home making, cattle husbandry, keeping poultry and pasture exploitation.
 
Table 5- Role of men and women in pasture exploitation in selected villages:
 
To me that would suggest that at some time in there history the women have had to rely on themselves heavily. This could have occurred if the men spent prolonged time away from them, or the men had been killed fighting. Of course this doesn't mean they couldn't be Amazons.Smile
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Originally posted by TheAlaniDragonRising

Do you have any information as to when the women of that region became enlightened enough to allow their males with their heads, Cyrus?
 
It is not clear, of course there could be some mythical beliefs in the story too, we certainly know that Mazani women have always preferred to rule the villages, one of the reasons could be that women really work more than men in this region, it is interesting to read this article about Mazandaran Rural Areas: http://www.sid.ir/en/VEWSSID/J_pdf/112920090404.pdf
 
In line with previous studies, this survey revealed an accentuated role of women in all aspects of rural life. Women do most of the work in home making, cattle husbandry, keeping poultry and pasture exploitation.
 
Table 5- Role of men and women in pasture exploitation in selected villages:
 
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1st century - Agrippina the Younger, wife of Emperor Claudius, commanded Roman legions in Britain. The defeated Celtic captives bowed before her throne and ignored that of the emperor.
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Originally posted by Cyrus Shahmiri

The fact is that Ultra-feminism was a major problem in Mazandaran from the anceint times. As I mentioned in another thread about "Zan-shahi", in the ancient times Mazani women organized small empires in the northern villages of Iran. They usually invaded other villages and captured some men, after having intercourse with them, they beheaded those poor men and used their bloods to fertilize their farms. The same thing happened about every male child who was born in the village.
 
For this reason Mazandaran has been called as the land of demons in Avesta: http://www.avesta.org/vendidad/vd1sbe.htm
Do you have any information as to when the women of that region became enlightened enough to allow their males with their heads, Cyrus?
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The fact is that Ultra-feminism was a major problem in Mazandaran from the anceint times. As I mentioned in another thread about "Zan-shahi", in the ancient times Mazani women organized small empires in the northern villages of Iran. They usually invaded other villages and captured some men, after having intercourse with them, they beheaded those poor men and used their bloods to fertilize their farms. The same thing happened about every male child who was born in the village.
 
For this reason Mazandaran has been called as the land of demons in Avesta: http://www.avesta.org/vendidad/vd1sbe.htm
 
The fourteenth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the four-cornered Varena39, for which was born Thraetaona, who smote Azi Dahaka [Zohak].

Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created abnormal issues in women40, and barbarian oppression41.

41. The aborigines of the Caspian littoral were Anarian savages, the so-called 'Demons of Mazana [Mazendaran].'
 
 
A day in the Persian month unique of Ordibehesht (April 21-May 21) of every year is an interesting occasion for all the women of Aab-Ask Village in northern Iran.
On this day, no man is allowed to stay in the village and women take charge of all the village affairs, Mehr News Agency reported.
On one Friday of Ordibehesht, the ancient ritual called ‘Zan Shahi’ (literally meaning the monarchical rule of women) or ‘Varf Chal’ is celebrated by the residents of Aab-Ask Village, 80 km from Amol, Mazandaran province.
Village Tradition
The day is usually selected by the village’s elders. All inhabitants gather in the village’s big square. Members of the Village Council and the elderly sing songs and inform everybody that no man, between 5 and 50 years, could stay in the village.
When the day arrives, before sunrise, women of the village prepare the things the men of the household need for a day, burn wild rue and see them off till they leave the village.
In the meantime, the women prepare themselves to rule over the village. The tradition is that one of the women becomes the queen and another becomes the symbolic bride of the village. Others become ministers, guards and soldiers.
The soldiers are busier than all other women, as they should constantly report to the queen about the village’s conditions. The guards ensure that no man enters the village.
The queen and all her entourage first visit families who are mourning the loss of one of their members. Then they go to families who have a sick person at home. The bride of the village congratulates all women who have been newly married.
The queen, who has been selected from among the prominent women of the village, should resolve the problems facing the women of the village on this day.
If a woman has a complaint about another woman, she should raise the matter in public so that the issue would be tackled.
On this day, many women who have had their vows fulfilled prepare food and distribute them.
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Posts: 589 		  Quote cavalry4ever Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02-Jan-2012 at 14:32
I am surprised no one mentioned Queen Zenobia from Palmyra. She caused few headaches to roman generals. She was a field commander of her army and quite skillful one.

Edited by cavalry4ever - 03-Jan-2012 at 13:54
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That is most interesting, Cyrus.Smile Personally, and maybe it's in my blood somehow, but I like the idea of a woman in competition with me, as an equal, pushing the limits. But then again my reading material shows how I love the idea of adventure, and I love the adventure of a woman competing with me. I believe that the meaning of life is to strive, and that is to say when it stops it dies. So you should aim to do what you can in the time given to you. Aim to follow your dreams as far as you can. Smile

This is something else I've read about Amazons:
The Amazons were a society of female warriors reputed to be the daughters of the war god, Ares and the nymph, Harmonia.

The Amazons lived at the fringe of the civilized world beyond the shores of the Black Sea in the land of Scythia.

The Greek word, Amazon, comes from the combination of A (meaning Without) and Mazos (meaning Breast); the Amazons were said to have cut off their right breast so that it would not interfere with their use of the bow in battle.

The historian, Herodotus, said that the Scythians called the Amazons oeorpata which is the equivalent of Man Killers (orer being the Scythian word for Man and pata meaning Kill).

Early artwork representing the Amazons showed them as fierce warriors but later renderings showed them as comely women dressed in Persian garb
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Some million Mazanis (ancient Amazones) still live in the Mazandaran province in the south and the east of the Caspian sea, the original name was "Hamazan", in Persian "hama-" is used as a prefix almost the same as Greek "homo-" and "hama-" (together) and "Zan" means woman.
 
Of course they don't live the same as ancient Amazones but some ancient traditions and ceremonies have been preserved in the region.
 
For example you can read about Aabesk: http://landandpeople.blogspot.com/2009_05_01_archive.html
 
Aabesk (آب اسک) is a village in the north of Iran, 90 Km away fromTehran toward Caspian Sea. Every year and by the second month of spring, people in Aabesk perform very interesting ceremony that is called, Barfchal (برف چال/ Barf: Snow / Chal: Ditch) and Zanshahi ( /زنشاهیZan: Woman / Shahi: Kingdom).

By the first or second week of the second month of spring, all men from 7 to 70 years old in the village go to the mountain and cut pieceof snow. Then they carry the cut pieces and bury them in a special ditch by 12 meters depth and 10 meters width. During this time when men are out of the village, women perform a womanly ceremony and call the ceremony as “Women Kingdom”. During the day the whole village is under authority of women and they dance in the streets and present breakfast and lunch to the inhabitant. In case they find any man in the village they would catch him and detain him in a stable, or even hit him hard! So no man dares to remain in the village whatsoever!
 
Or you can read in Cultural Heritage News Agency about Alasht: http://www.chnpress.com/news/?section=1&id=1004
 
Walking in the streets of Alasht, men should remember that facing any woman they must lower their head and say hello, because there is the Village of women.
 
From the top of the mountains surrounding the village, any traveler may notice a small home-like building few hundred meters off the village, to which a narrow winding path is led.

As a matter of fact this building is a shrine called Dokhtar-e Pak (Immaculate Girl). Locals believe that this shrine belongs to a grand lady and according to an old superstition, men should not approach the shrine or they will be bitten by its guardian serpent. Every weekend women and girls pray in the shrine in the hope of meeting their wishes.
 
Women of Alasht are the core of their family, who like the mountains of their residence, are proud facing the difficulties of life.
 
It is interesting to know that Mazani women were used as warriors in the Islamic times too, it is good to read this book: http://books.google.com/books?id=uuwcfCe284EC
 
 
More info about Khayr al-Nisa in this book: http://books.google.com/books?id=jDXdyMCx4xYC
 
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Originally posted by Nick1986


I'm surprised nobody's mentioned the legendary Amazons yet. Is there any evidence this tribe of warrior women existed?
They were going to be my next lot, Nick. This is because of there connection with my last two. They were said to have removed a breast to help with firing of their bows. Probably Sarmatian fighting women I think. Not uncommon in Sarmatian tribal society.
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I'm surprised nobody's mentioned the legendary Amazons yet. Is there any evidence this tribe of warrior women existed?
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