"There is no other anthology that brings together similar stories of ancient women in power.
These women threaten male power by stepping into the roles traditionally held by men. They
command armies exercise sexual autonomy and even dominance speak in public issue laws and
subject others (even masculine heroes and citizen men) to their control. All of these stories
were written by men and none of them can be read as affirmations or celebrations of women in
power. They are instead misogynistic tales that aim to shore up masculine authority by exposing
the consequences when women rather than men wield it. The sexist attitudes voiced in these
stories continue to justify women's exclusion from power in our contemporary world. Yet
despite the fear and suspicion the male authors direct toward these women we can find much to
admire in their tales from the coordinated action of the women of Aristophanes' Assemblywomen
to Dido's questioning of the male value system that leads Aeneas to abandon her to the
righteous anger of Boudicca against sexual violence by men in power to the successful
resistance of Amanirenas against Rome's colonial expansion. Read differently these tales
testify to the long history of women in power and help us forge new paths for female
empowerment"--
