city of ladies
TRANSCRIPT
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The Book of the City of Ladies
Christine de Pizan
(c.1364-1430)
Malaspina Great Books
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Life
Born Venice c. 1363
Moved to Paris at age 5 with father Thomas de Pisan
Father was astrologer and secretary to King Charles V
Married at 14 to Etienne du Castel
Widowed at 25
Earned living by writing
Compared (in her day) to Cicero & Cato
Instructional: Wrote Le Livre de Paix, a treatise dealing with the education of princes(note: de Officiis & The Prince)
Poetry & Music: Le Livre des Mutations de Fortune; Le Chemin de Longue Etude; LeLivre des cent Histoires de Troie: Hymn to Joan of Arc(last known work); collection ofshorter Ballades and Rondeaux several set to music later by 3rd parties
Biography: The Book of the Deeds and Good Manners of the Wise King Charles V
Autobiography: Vision of Christine (approx. 75 years after Dantes Comedy) Prose: The Book of the City of the Ladies; The Treasure of the City of Ladies;
Lamentations on the Civil War; The Book of Feats of Arms and Chivalry; Livre ducorps de policie
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Preface (a letter from Christine)
The Romance of the Rose (Jean de Meun)
Letter from Royal Secretary Master Gontier Col, Secretary of the King ourLord whocriticized Pizans objections to The Romance of the Rose:
....Thus you accuse me, a woman, of folly and presumption in daring to correct andreproach a teacher as exalted, well-qualified, and worthy as you claim the author of
that book to be. Hence, you earnestly exhort me to recant and repent....
And if you despise my reasons so much because of the inadequacy of my faculties,which you criticize by your words, "a woman impassioned," etc., rest assured that Ido not feel any sting in such criticism, thanks to the comfort I find in the knowledgethat there are, and have been, vast numbers of excellent, praiseworthy women,schooled in all the virtues---which I would rather resemble than to be enriched with allthe goods of fortune.
But, further, if you seek in every way to minimize my firm beliefs by your anti-feministattacks, please recall that a small dagger or knife point can pierce a great, bulgingsack and that a small fly can attack a great lion and speedily put him to flight.
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AnotherLetter
This to Pierre Col another royal secretary
....And since you are angry at me without reason, you attack me harshlywith, "Oh outrageous presumption! Oh excessively foolish pride! Oh opinionuttered too quickly and thoughtlessly by the mouth of a woman! A womanwho condemns a man of high understanding and dedicated study, a manwho, by great labor and mature deliberation, has made the very noble bookof the Rose, which surpasses all others that were ever written in French.When you have read this book a hundred times, provided you haveunderstood the greater part of it, you will discover that you could never haveput your time and intellect to better use!
My answer: Oh man deceived by willful opinion! I could assuredly answer
but I prefer not to do it with insult, although, groundlessly, you yourselfslander me with ugly accusations. Oh darkened understanding! Ohperverted knowledge.... A simple little housewife sustained by the doctrineof Holy Church could criticize your error!
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L'Avision-Christine (1405)
An allegorical dream vision in which Christine learns about the history ofFrance, its present problems, and the meaning of her own life
I was already midway through the journey of my pilgrimage when one dayat eventide, I found myself fatigued by the long road and desirous of shelter.Since I had arrived here through a desire for sleep, after I said grace andtaken and received the nourishment necessary for human life, Irecommended myself to the author of all things and betook myself to a bedof troubled rest.
Soon thereafter, my senses bound by the weight of sleep, an amazingvision overcame me as a strange, prophetic sign. Even though I am hardlyNebuchadnezzar, Scipio, or Joseph, the secrets of the Almighty are not
denied to the more unsophisticated.
I wish to reveal everything to you.
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L'Avision-Christine (1405)
A crowned lady, whom Christine's preface has identified as at once theearth, the human soul and France, appeared and gave Christine a task:
"Friend, to whom God and Nature have conceded the gift of a love of studyfar beyond the common lot of women, prepare parchment, quill, and ink,and write the words issuing from my breast; for I wish to reveal everything toyou."
...[W]hen I was at the two fonts of Philosophy themselves---those noblefountains so bright and wholesome---I, like a young and pampered fool, tooknot my fill of them, even though the beautiful water pleased me; rather, justlike the simpleton who sees the bright sun shining and considers not therain but thinks it will last forever, I neglected those things and thought torecover my loss in time....
For with my present desires, if I had such clarity at my side now, beingcompletely devoted to study and wearied of all other useless occupationsand pastimes, I would replenish myself from those fountains so exceedinglyand thoroughly that no woman born for a long time would surpass me.
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L'Avision-Christine (1405)
Then Nature ordered Christine to write
She told me, "Take the tools and strike the anvil. Thematerial I will give you is so durable that neither iron or
fire nor anything else will be able to destroy it. So forgepleasing things.
"When you carried children in your womb, youexperienced great pain in order to give birth. Now I want
books brought forth from you which will present yourmemory before the worldly princes in the future and keepit always and everywhere bright; these you will deliverfrom your memory in joy and pleasure notwithstandingthe pain and labor."
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Diti de Jehanne d'Arc
(1.XXII) Blessed be He who created you, Joan, who were born at apropitious hour! Maiden sent from God, into whom the Holy Spirit pouredHis great grace, in whom there was and is an abundance of noblegifts, never did Providence refuse you any request. Who can ever begin torepay you?
(1.XXVIII) I have heard of Esther, Judith and Deborah, who were women ofgreat worth, through whom God delivered is people from oppression, and Ihave heard of many other worthy women as well, champions every one,through them He performed many miracles, but He has accomplished morethrough this Maid.
(1.XXXIV) Oh! What honour for the female sex! It is perfectly obvious that
God has special regard for it when all these wretched people who destroyedthe whole Kingdom - now recovered and made safe by a woman, something that 5000 men could not have done - and the traitors [have been]exterminated. Before the event they would scarcely have believed thispossible.
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Ballade
Severe or slight, my heart has felt no wound
From Loves sharp arrows that they say make war
In many of us folk, Ive not been bound
God be thanked, by prison or snares, whats more,
Of the god ofLove.
Nothing I ask, nothing I seek to move,Without him I live in joy and sunlight:
I love no lover: I want no loves delight.
Im not afraid either of being enslaved
By a glance or a gift or a long pursuit,
Nor of drowning deep in flatterys wave,
For my heart theres no man would suit:Let none call above
For succour from me, Id reject his love
Immediately, and tell him outright:
I love no lover: I want no loves delight.
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Ballade (Continued)
I laugh indeed at a woman whos bound:
In such danger, shed surely be better
To seize any sword or dagger aroundAnd kill herself, having lost her honour.
And therefore I choose
To pass my days in this state and muse:
Saying to all who would love me quite:
I love no lover, I want no loves delight.
Lord ofLove, what use at your court am I?
I love no lover, I want no loves delight.
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Valentine
Not long ago, in the early morning,
The white sun, bearing his candle-shine,
Into my close chamber came stealing
In secret: the day was Saint Valentines.
All the brightness he had brought
Wakened me from the sleep of Care,
In which Id passed the whole night there,
On the harsh bed of Wearied Thought.
On that day too all the birds came flocking
To share what they had ofLoves treasure,
Aloud in their own sweet Latin calling,
Demanding Nature grant equal measure
All She ordained for them they sought:
A mate that is, as each might select.
Their noise was such none could have slept
On the harsh bed of Wearied Thought.
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Valentine (continued)
Then drenching my pillow with my tears,
I lamented my cruel destiny,
Saying: You birds can have never a fear
Of finding the joy and pleasure you seek:
Each one an agreeable mate has caught
While I have none, for Death has betrayed me,
Taken my mate, so I languish grieving,
On the harsh bed of Wearied Thought.
Let them choose a Valentine as they ought
Those men and women ofLoves party,
This year Im alone, no comfort for me,
On the harsh bed of Wearied Thought.
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Grief and Care and Melancholy
Off with you now, away, away,
Grief and Care and Melancholy!
Think you to take control of me
All my life, like yesterday?
I promise you, no, never, I say:
Reason shall have the mastery.Off with you now, away, away,
Grief and Care and Melancholy!
If you ever come back this way
You and your whole, company,
May God curse you, all you three,
And whatever brought you, I pray:
Off with you now, away, away,
Grief and Care and Melancholy!
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OF ALL THE LILIES OF THE
FIEL
D...
Of all the lilies of the field
fairest, worthiest of praise,at my will in all ways,
my choice, unparalleled.
Young, beautiful and mildof manner: my courteous prizeof all the lilies of the field.
And if I bloom, fulfilled
in his love; if he ismy all, blame me the lessthat it was him I chose and heldof all the lilies of the field.
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Christine to Her Son
I have no great fortune, my son,To make you rich. In place of oneHere are some lessons I have learned--the finest things I've ever earned.Before the world has borne you far,Try to know people as they are.Knowing that will help you take
The path that keeps you from mistake.
Pity anyone who is poorAnd stands in rags outside your doorHelp them when you hear them cry!Remember that you, too will die.
Love those who have love for you
And keep your enemy in view:Of allies none can have too many,Small enemies there are not any.
Never lose what the good Lord gaveTo this, our world too much enslaved:The foolish rush to end their lives.Only the steadfast soul survives.
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Gilles Binchois: Dueil angoisseux(text by Christine de Pisan)
grievous despair, full of madness,
endless languor and cursed life,
filled with tears, anguish and torment,
doleful heart which lives in darkness,ghostly body at the brink of death,
I have ceaselessly,continually;
and so I can neither be healed nor die.
Disdain, harshness without joy,
sad thoughts, deep sighs,
Great anguish locked in the weary heart.
Fierce bitterness borne secretly,
mournful expession or without joy,dread which silences all hope,
are in me and never leave me;
and so I can neither be healed nor die.
Cares and concerns which have continued forever,
bitter waking, shuddering sleep,
pointless labor , with languid expression,
doomed to the torment of grief,
and all the evils which one could evertell or think about, without hope of cure,
torment me immeasurably;
and so I can neither be healed nor die.
Envoi:
Princes, pray to God that very soon
he will give me death, if he does not wish
by any other means to cure the suffering in which I so bitterly anguish
and so I can neither be healed nor die.
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Seulete sui. . .Alone am I Alone am I and alone I wish to be,
Alone my gentle friend has left me,
Alone am I, with neither master nor companion,Alone am I, in bitterness and in pain,Alone am I in tormented lamentation,Alone am I much more than any wandering soul,Alone am I and without a friend remain.
Alone am I at door or at the window,Alone am I when huddled in the corner,
Alone am I and have shed my fill of tears,Alone am I, whether mourning or consoled,Alone am I,--and nothing suits me so--Alone am I shut up inside my chamber,Alone am I and without a friend remain.
Alone am I in every place and state,Alone am I, where e'er I go or sit,Alone am I much more than any earthly thing,Alone am I, by one and all forsaken,Alone am I and deeply down am sunk,Alone am I and so often drowned in tears,Alone am I and without a friend remain.
Prince, now is my pain begun.Alone am I, as every grief afflicts me,Alone am I, by darkness overtaken,Alone am I and without a friend remain.
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Feminism
1. The belief that women and men are, and have been,treated differently by our society, and that women havefrequently and systematically been unable to participatefully in all social arenas and institutions.
2. A desire to change that situation.
3. That this gives a "new" point-of-view on society, when
eliminating old assumptions about why things are theway they are, and looking at it from the perspective thatwomen are not inferior and men are not "the norm."
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Pizans Internalized Inferiority
But just the sight of this book, even though it was of no
authority, made me wonder how it happened that somany different men and learned men among them
have been and are so inclined to express both in
speaking and in their treatises and writings so many
devilish and wicked thoughts about women and their
behavior (Pizan on Matholeus)
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Pizans Depression
And I finally decided that God formed a vile creature when He madewoman, and I wondered how such a worthy artisan could havedeigned to make such and abominable work
great unhappiness welled up in my heart, for I detested myself and
the entire feminine sex, as though we were monstrosities in nature.
I considered myself most unfortunate because God had made meinhabit a female body in this world.
Women have been defined out and marginalized in every
philosophical system and have therefore had to struggle not onlyagainst exclusion, but against a content which defines them assubhuman and deviant (Gerda Lerner)
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Pizans Strategy
Christine acknowledges a pressing need for female dialectic,communication, information flow, and support between women.
However, she understands there is a missing feminist consciousness alack of female voice. Without knowledge of the past, no group of womencould test their own ideas against equals, those who had come out of
similar conditions and life experiences. Every thinking woman had to arguewith the 'great man' inside her head
The actual plot ofThe Book of the City of Ladies begins when threeallegorical goddesses arrive and tell Christine that she must build a city forhonorable women of all types. Reason, Rectitude and Justice tell Christine:We have come to vanquish from the world the same problem upon which
you have fallen, so that from now on, ladies and valiant women may have arefuge and a defense against the various assailants.
This allegoric need for a space where women can come together points tothe key element of feminist history: the formation of group subjectivity andshared consciousness between women of all sorts.
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Pizans Solutions
Clearing the Field of Letters
Building Walls
Revisionism
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Clearing the Field of Letters
Pizan moves away from scholarly fact and toward her ownpersonal experience (the personal as political). In addressing theRomance of the Rose and other texts like it that speak poorly ofwomen, Christines first response is to debunk their writing on thebasis of common-sense logic. I could not see or realize how theirclaims could be true when compared to the natural behavior andcharacter of women. This argument is the first step in her allegoricalprocess of clearing out the field of letters for the foundation of hercity: with a literary shovel, Lady Reason helps her debunk this andother miscomprehensions of misogyny.
The stance that personal experience is a valid match for scholarly
evidence becomes a platform for new histories based in theexperiences of groups outside the norm.
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Building Walls
Pizan then appropriates the medieval tradition ofexemples: lists of biblical, mythical and historicprecedents, to help her argument.
These serve the dual purpose of defending the sexagainst anti-feminist rhetoric and of giving womenreaders an impressive, expansive sense of the manyhistoric role models that are available to them.
Christine de Pizan offers the idea that women shouldlook to other women for their defense, and that acollective past of women could be a source of energy intheir collective struggle for justice.
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Revisionism
Finally, Pizan rewrites history in a revisionistspirit. She reorders these women, excludes allevil women, and reinterprets stories of womenwith bad reputations. (example ofMedea where
she shifts blame to Jason).
Pizans goal is to restore women to history,restore history to women. The foundation that
Christine builds for herCity of Ladies is todevelop an historic base upon which a traditionof feminist thinking, strategizing, andhistoricizing can begin.
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Pizans Choices
Analyze examples under rubric of Clearing
the Field ofLetters, building of walls and of
revisionism
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Queen Fredegunde (c.545597 )
Frankish queen. The mistress of King Chilperic I ofNeustria, she became his wife after inducing him tomurder his wife Galswintha (567). Fredegunde andBrunhilda, Galswintha's sister and wife of King Sigebert I
of Austrasia, were among the leading figures in the longwar (561613) between the Frankish kingdoms ofNeustria and Austrasia. Fredegunde procured the deathsof Sigebert I and of her own stepchildren. AfterChilperic's murder (584) she acted as regent for her son
Clotaire II. Clotaire had Brunhilda put to the rack andstretched for three days, then chained between fourhorses and eventually ripped limb from limb.
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Pizans Account
Although the lady was unnaturally
cruel for a woman, she nonetheless ruled
over the kingdom of France most wisely
after her husbands death[she]managed to save her son from his
enemies. She even brought him up
herself and crowned him with her own
hands. All this would have been
impossible had she been lacking inprudence (p. 31)
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Semiramis Semi-legendary
Assyrian Queen (9th c. BCE)
King Ninus of Babylon became captivated by her beauty, and afterher first husband conveniently committed suicide, he married her.
Semiramis, now Queen of Babylon, convinced Ninus to make her"Regent for a Day." He did so - and on that day, she had him
executed, and she took the throne. She is said to have had a long string of one-night-stands with
handsome soldiers. So that her power would not be threatened by aman who presumed on their relationship, she had each lover killedafter a night of passion.
There's even one story that her army attacked and killed the sunitself (in the person of the god Er), for the crime of not returning herlove. Echoing a similar myth about the goddess Ishtar, she imploredthe other gods to restore the sun to life.
Rossini's opera, Semiramide, premiered in 1823.
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When Semiramis was quite young it
so happened that her husband Ninus
was killed by an arrowSemiramis
confronted any type of danger with
such courage that she crushed all herenemies it is true that some
authors have criticized Semiramis
for having married her own son
[but] no other man was worthy of her
if she hadthought she was doing
anything wrong she would haverefrained from doing as she did. (p.
37)
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Amazons (legendary?)
The historical factuality of Amazons as a people is still in debate. These
warrior women are described in the Iliad as "antianeirai", meaning: thosewho go to war like men.
They were also described by Herodotus as "androktones", killers of males.It is believed they resided in Pontus, Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) butthere are differing views as to how many nations of Amazons there were.
Amazons worshiped Artemis the virgin goddess of the hunt, and Ares thegod of war. They also took men prisoner in battle, after choosing the mosthandsome they then used them for their sexual pleasure, and would eitherkill them or use them as slaves once their usefulness had been expended.
If they gave birth to a male, they would kill, blind or cripple the infant. If theykept them alive they would then use them when they grew into young men
(if they were suitable) as a supply of male seed.
In medieval times, their kingdom was called 'Femyny'.
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Pizans Account
If they gave birth to a male child, theywould send them away to be with their
fathers
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Queen Penthesilea
Penthesilea was the queen of the Amazons and the daughter ofAres and Otrere.
Penthesilea accidentally killed an ally Amazon queen (Hippolyte,Melanippe, or Glauce). To be purified of her crime, Penthesilea wentto Priam.
Apparently in return for Priam's help, Penthesilea, with herAmazons, entered the Trojan War on the side of the Trojans. Sheentered the war in its 10th and final year, after the death of Hector.
Achilles defeated Penthesilea, but when he saw her beauty, he fellin love with the brave Amazon and quickly lamented his act.
Thersites, a Greek, mocked Achilles and removed Penthesilea'seyes with his sword. With a single blow, Achilles killed Thersites.
Some traditions state that Achilles committed necrophilia with thefallen Penthesilea, and one author even goes so far as to say thatthe dead Penthesilea bore a son, Caystrius, to Achilles.
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Pizans Account
The Queen, distraught over the death of
the Trojan Hector (killed by Achilles),
seeks out and severely wounds Achilles
son Pyrrhus. Pyrrhus later returns and
after other Greeks tear off her helmet,
Pyrrhus splits her skull in two with an axe.
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Zenobia, Queen of Palmyria
(c. 231--271)
Many modern historians believe she was descendedfrom Cleopatra VII of Egypt.
In 269, she crushed an Egyptian who challenged Roman
rule and proclaimed herselfQueen of Egypt. Zenobia was captured and paraded wearing gold chains
by the Roman emperor Aurelian. She was granted a villain Tivoli, Italy, where she spent the rest of her life as aphilosopher and socialite.
It is probable that she treated the Jews in Palmyra withfavour; she is referred to in the Talmud, as protectingJewish rabbis.
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Pizans Account
The noble Zenobia had an extremely
beautiful face and body but she paid no
attention to her looks she consented
to intercourse solely for the purpose ofhaving children She ate off plates
decorated with gold and precious stones
and dressed in luxurious robes her
greatest accomplishment was her
knowledge of the arts she was well
schooled Her chosen teacher wasLonginus the philosopher she wrote a
very elegant abridged history of
contemporary events in Latin and Greek
she wanted her children to have an
education similar to her own
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Queen Artemesia
(Herodotos) I consider her to be a particular object of admirationbecause she was a woman who played a part in the war againstGreece. She took power on the death of her husband, as she had ason who was still a youth. Because of her courage and spirit shewent to war although she had no need to do so.
For, according to the story, the king was watching and saw that itwas her ship that made the attack. What is more, one of the peoplewith him said, " Master, do you see how well Artemisia is fighting?She has sunk an enemy ship." When the king asked whether it wasreally Artemisia who had done so, they confirmed it was becausethey recognised her vessel's flag clearly and assumed that she had
sunk an enemy ship. As far as the rest of the story goes, the incidentturned out to her advantage because no one from the Calyndianship survived to bring a charge against her. Xerxes is said to havereplied to the news, "My men have become women and my women,men." This, they say, was the king's response.
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Artemisia - Rembrandt
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Pizans Account
In short, she fought so well that she
crushed Xerxes as thoroughly on sea as
she had done on land. The dishonourable
king then took to his heels and fled (p.
53)
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Cloelia
Modern historians debate whether the story of Cloelia isa genuine historical record or a myth, although the truthof the account was widely upheld by the Romansthemselves. According to Roman tradition, Cloelia wasone of the young Roman girls given as hostages to Lars
Porsenna, king of the Etruscan town of Chiusi. Cloelia,however, escaped her captors, swimming across theriver Tiber. She also led many of the other Roman girlsto safety. Porsenna was furious when he learned of theescape, but he eventually came to admire Cloelia's
courage. He granted her a promise of safety, should shereturn to his camp, and even swore to return her to herparents when his troops had left Roman territory. In latertimes of peace, Rome celebrated her courage bybuilding a statue of her on the Via Sacra.
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Manto
The daughter of Tiresias of Thebes. After Thebes wastaken by the Epigonoi, Manto was brought back to Apolloat Delphi as war prize. Apollo ordered the girl to found aoracle of him in Colophon (Asia Minor). There, she
became the mother of the seer Mopsus. According toanother tradition, she ended up in Italy where shebecame by Tiberinus the mother of Ocnus, the founderof Mantua (Mantova) (Virgil X, 199). Other sourcesmention that the city was named after a different Manto,
who was regarded as the daughter of Heracles. Mantuais also connected to Mantus, god of the underworld.
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Pizan: Being gifted and intelligent she acquired a complete
knowledge of pyromancy, the art of diving the future from fire.
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Medea
Medea was a devotee of the goddess Hecate, and one of the greatsorceresses of the ancient world. She was the daughter of King Aeetes ofColchis, and the granddaughter of Helios, the sun god.
King Aeetes' most valuable possession was a golden ram's fleece. WhenJason and the crew of the Argo arrived at Colchis seeking the Golden
Fleece, Aeetes was unwilling to relinquish it and set Jason a series ofseemingly impossible tasks as the price of obtaining it. Medea fell in lovewith Jason and agreed to use her magic to help him, in return for Jason'spromise to marry her.
Medea bore Jason two children before Jason forsook her in order to marrythe daughter of Creon, the king of Corinth. Medea got revenge for Jason'sdesertion by killing the new bride with a poisoned robe and crown whichburned the flesh from her body; King Creon died as well when he tried toembrace his dying daughter. Medea fled Corinth in a chariot, drawn bywinged dragons, which belonged to her grandfather Helios. She took withher the bodies of her two children, whom she had murdered in order to giveJason further pain.
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Medea Christopher Cairns
Pizans Account
Avoids the nasty bits
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Ceres
she was responsible for
inventing both the science and the
techniques of agriculture as well as
all the necessary tools
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Isis
she showed the people many different
things, including how to create gardens,
grow plants and graft cuttings of one
species onto another. She also set up a
number of fine and decent laws
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Arachne
Arachne was the first person
to create the arts of dyeing
wool in different colours and
of producing what we would
call fine tapestries from
weaving pictures on cloth tomake them look like
paintings. There was even a
fable about Arachne which
tells how she was turned into
a spider by the goddess
Pallas whom she had daredto challenge.
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Pamphile
This lady was highly skilled in various
arts and took such delight in
experimenting and discovering new
things that it was she who first
invented the art of creating silk.
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Sempronia of Rome
Her phenomenal intelligence meant
that there was no discipline, no
matter how difficult it was either
intellectually or practically, that she
couldnt immediately pick up and
master
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Queen Dido
good sense
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Cassandra
she was often beaten by
her brothers and her father
who told her she was mad
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Xanthippe wife of
Socrates
The honourable lady
Xanthippe was a very wise
and virtuous woman who
married the great philosopher
Socrates the good lady
never stopped loving him
never stopped grieving for
him
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Sulpicia
she preferred to follow her husband into penury and banishment
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Portia Catos
daughter
she went over to the
fire and swallowed some
live coals
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Judith
In the city lived a noble and
valiant lady named Judith, who
was a young and lovely woman
of exemplary virtue and chastity
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Esther The wise and noble Queen Esther
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Veturia
pleaded with her son to cease his siege on Rome shealone was able to do what Romes most prominent citizens
were unable to achieve.
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Rebecca The good and honest lady Rebecca
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Ruth
this worthy lady was so decent
and virtuous that a whole book of
the Bible was written about her
Ruth David Buckhart
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Penelope Jacobo Bassano
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Thisbe John Waterhouse
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Hero & LeanderJMW Turner
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Ghismonda - Bacchiacca
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Afra