Women in ancient warfare#Timeline of women in ancient warfare worldwide

File:Amazonomachia Louvre Ma2119 2.jpg battle between Greeks and Amazons, relief of a sarcophagus – {{circa|180 BCE}}, found in Thessaloniki, 1836, now in the Louvre, Department of Greek Antiquities]]

The role of women in ancient warfare differed from culture to culture. There have been various historical accounts of females participating in battle.

This article lists instances of women recorded as participating in ancient warfare, from the beginning of written records to approximately 500 CE. Contemporary archaeological research regularly provides better insight into the accuracy of ancient historical accounts.

Women active in direct warfare, such as warriors and spies, are included in this list. Also included are women who commanded armies, but did not fight.

Timeline of women in ancient warfare worldwide

=16th century BC=

16th century BC – Ahhotep I is credited with a stela at Karnak for "having pulled Egypt together, having cared for its army, having guarded it, having brought back those who fled, gathering up its deserters, having quieted the South, subduing those who defy her".{{cite book|last=Rice|first=Michael|title=Who's Who in Ancient Egypt|year=1999|isbn=0415154480|page=[https://archive.org/details/whoswhoinancient0000rice/page/3 3] |publisher=Routlage|location=London and New York |url=https://archive.org/details/whoswhoinancient0000rice |url-access=registration}}
Ahhotep II is buried with a dagger and axe, as well as three golden fly pendants, which were given as rewards for military valor. However, it is debated as to whether or not they actually belong to her.{{cite book |last=Graves-Brown|first=Carolyn |title=Dancing for Hathor: Women in Ancient Egypt|publisher=Continuum Books |location=London and New York |year=2010|isbn=978-1847250544|page=39|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hLqDnFZ6dAcC&q=%22Ahhotep+I%22+battle&pg=PA39}}

=15th century BC=

1479–1458 BCGender in Pre-Hispanic America, edited by Cecelia F. Klein, 2001 p. 309 – Reign of Hatshepsut. It is possible that she led military campaigns against Nubia and Canaan.{{cite book |last=Bunson|first=Margaret|title=Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt|edition=hardcover revised|year=2002|orig-year=1991 |isbn=0816045631|page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofan00buns_0/page/161 161] |publisher=Facts on File Books|location=New York |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofan00buns_0}}

=13th century BC=

File:Fu Haocrop.jpg at Yinxu]]

13th century BC{{cite book|last=Mandzuka |first=Mandzuka|title=Demystifying the Odyssey|page=100}} – Estimated time of the Trojan War. According to ancient sources, several women participate in battle (see :Category:Women of the Trojan war). Epipole of Carystus is one of the first women who are reported to have fought in a war.
13th century BC – Lady Fu Hao, consort of the Chinese emperor Wu Ding, led 3,000 troops into battle{{cite book|editor-last=Peterson|editor-first=Barbara Bennett|editor2=He Hong Fei |editor3=Wang Jiu |editor4=Han Tie |editor5=Zhang Guangyu |title=Notable Women of China: Shang Dynasty to the Early Twentieth Century |publisher=M.E. Sharpe Inc. |location=New York |year=2000 |isbn=076560504X |page=13}} during the Shang dynasty. Fu Hao had entered the royal household by marriage and took advantage of the semi-matriarchal slave society to rise through the ranks.{{cite web |url=http://www.womenofchina.cn/people/women_in_history/1405.jsp |title=Woman General Fu Hao |access-date=August 4, 2007 |publisher=All China Women's Federation |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070214080543/http://www.womenofchina.cn/people/women_in_history/1405.jsp |archive-date=February 14, 2007}} Fu Hao is known to modern scholars mainly from inscriptions on Shang dynasty oracle bone artifacts unearthed at Yinxu.{{cite web |url= http://www.ancientchina.co.uk/staff/resources/background/bg7/bg7pdf.pdf |access-date=August 4, 2007 |title=The Tomb of Lady Fu Hao |publisher=British Museum |url-status=live |archive-date=September 28, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928213038/http://www.ancientchina.co.uk/staff/resources/background/bg7/bg7pdf.pdf}} In these inscriptions she is shown to have led numerous military campaigns. The Tu fought against the Shang for generations until they finally were defeated by Fu Hao in a single decisive battle. Further campaigns against the neighbouring Yi, Qiang, and Ba followed, the latter is particularly remembered as the earliest recorded large-scale ambush in Chinese history. With up to 13,000 troops and the important generals Zhi and Hou Gao serving under her, she was the most powerful military leader of her time.{{cite web |title=Fu Hao – Queen and top general of King Wuding of Shang |url=http://www.colorq.org/Articles/article.aspx?d=asianwomen&x=fuhao |access-date=August 4, 2007 |publisher=Color Q World |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070704021715/http://www.colorq.org/Articles/article.aspx?d=asianwomen&x=fuhao |archive-date=July 4, 2007 |url-status=live}} This highly unusual status is confirmed by the many weapons, including great battle-axes, unearthed from her tomb.{{cite web |title=Shang Tomb of Fu Hao |url=http://depts.washington.edu/chinaciv/archae/2fuhmain.htm |access-date=August 4, 2007 |last=Buckley Ebrey |first=Patricia |work=A Visual Sourcebook of Chinese Civilization |publisher=University of Washington |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070813160144/http://depts.washington.edu/chinaciv/archae/2fuhmain.htm |archive-date=August 13, 2007 |url-status=live}} One of Wu Ding's other wives, Fu Jing, also participated in military expeditions.{{cite journal| title=中国古代女性阅读史分期述略 |trans-title=A brief introduction to the stages of Ancient Chinese women's written histories |language=zh |last1=Zhou 周 |first1=Ying 英 |journal=Xinshi Jitu Shiguan |issue=8 |date=2014 |pages=75–78}}
Vedic period (1200–1000 BC) roughly – The Rigveda (RV 1 and RV 10) hymns mention a female warrior named Vishpala, who lost a leg in battle, had an iron prosthesis made, and returned to warfare.{{cite web |url=http://www.acpoc.org/library/1976_05_015.asp |title=A Brief Review of the History of Amputations and Prostheses Earl E. Vanderwerker, Jr., M.D. JACPOC 1976 Vol 15, Num 5 |access-date=January 27, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071014173159/http://acpoc.org/library/1976_05_015.asp|archive-date=October 14, 2007 |url-status=live}}

= 12th century BC =

Mid-12th century BC – Deborah believed to have been appointed judge and defeated the army of King Jabin of Canaan, according to the Book of Judges.{{cite book|last= Northen Magill|first=Frank and Christina J. Moose|title= Dictionary of World Biography: The Ancient World | chapter = Deborah|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wyKaVFZqbdUC&pg=PA326 |access-date=1 April 2013|isbn=978-1579580407|date= 2003|publisher=Taylor & Francis }}

= 11th century BC =

11th century BC{{cite book |last=Mountain |first=Harry |year=1997 |title=The Celtic Encyclopedia, Volume 3 |publisher=Upublish.com|isbn=1581128932|page=729 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HhEUZs5yibUC&q=Gwendolen}} – According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, Queen Gwendolen fought her husband, Locrinus, in battle for the throne of Britain. She defeated him and became the monarch.{{sfnp|Geoffrey of Monmouth|2008|pp=59–62}} However, Geoffrey of Monmouth is not considered a reliable historical source.Princes in Exile By Richard Denning, p. 302
11th century BC – 4th century CE – Approximate time for the burial of a Kangju woman in modern Kazakhstan who was buried with a sword and a dagger.{{Cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/kazakhstan/11797523/Ancient-warrior-princess-skeleton-found-in-Kazakhstan.html |title=Ancient 'warrior princess' skeleton found in Kazakhstan |access-date=April 5, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180120144339/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/kazakhstan/11797523/Ancient-warrior-princess-skeleton-found-in-Kazakhstan.html |archive-date=January 20, 2018 |url-status=live |date=August 11, 2015 }}

=10th century BC=

10th century BCThings Can Only Get Feta: Two Journalists and Their Crazy Dog Living Through the Greek Crisis By Marjory McGinn – According to Greek legendary history, Messene conquered a territory and founded a city at roughly this time.Scholia on Euripides, Orestes, 932Pausanias, Description of Greece, 4. 1. 1–2Pausanias, Description of Greece, 4. 3. 9Pausanias, Description of Greece, 4. 31. 11

=9th century BC=

Late 9th century–8th century BC – Shammuramat (Semiramis) ruled the Neo-Assyrian Empire.{{cite encyclopedia|title=Britannica.com |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/520556/Sammu-ramat|access-date=October 6, 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141010190253/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/520556/Sammu-ramat|archive-date=October 10, 2014}}[http://www.kent.net/DisplacedDynasties/Contestants_for_Syrian_Domination.html Reilly, Jim (2000) "Contestants for Syrian Domination" in "Chapter 3: Assyrian & Hittite Synchronisms" The Genealogy of Ashakhet] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120311175148/http://www.kent.net/DisplacedDynasties/Contestants_for_Syrian_Domination.html |date=March 11, 2012 }}; She was the first woman to rule an empire without a man ruling with her.{{cite web |title=City native donates statue of ancient Assyrian ruler |url=http://www.turlockjournal.com/archives/18327/|access-date=October 6, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141010084300/http://www.turlockjournal.com/archives/18327/|archive-date=October 10, 2014|url-status=dead}} She is believed to have been the inspiration for the legendary warrior queen Semiramis.{{cite book |last=Gera |first=Deborah |title=Warrior Women: The Anonymous Tractatus De Mulieribus |publisher= E.J. Brill, Leiden, the Netherlands |year=1997 |isbn=9004106650 |page=69}}
Late 9th– 8th century BCShakespeare the Thinker By Anthony David Nuttall p. 300 – According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, Queen Cordelia, on whom the character in Shakespeare's King Lear is based, battled her nephews for control of her kingdom.{{sfnp|Geoffrey of Monmouth|2008|pp=64–68}} However, Geoffrey of Monmouth is not considered a reliable historical source.

=8th century BCE=

8th to 6th centuries BCE – Early Armenian period. A woman is buried in the Armenian highlands at this time. Her skeleton indicates strong muscles and a healed wound to her skeleton contained an iron arrowhead. Other injuries suggest that she was a warrior.{{cite journal|title=An Early Armenian female warrior of the 8–6 century BC from Bover I site (Armenia) |last1=Khudaverdyan |first1=Anahit Y. |last2=Yengibaryan |first2=Azat A. |last3=Hobosyan |first3=Suren G. |last4=Hovhanesyan |first4=Arshak A. |last5=Saratikyan |first5=Ani A. |journal=International Journal of Osteoarchaeology |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=119–128 |date=November 2019 |doi=10.1002/oa.2838 |s2cid=209261577 |issn=1047-482X}}
732 BCE – Approximate time of the reign of Samsi, an Arabian queen who may have been the successor of Zabibe.{{cite book|last=Bryce|first=Trevor|title=The World of The Neo-Hittite Kingdoms: A Political and Military History |publisher=Oxford University Press, Oxford|year=2012|isbn=978-0199218721|page=270}} She revolted against the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III.{{cite book | title= An Archaic Dictionary: Biographical, Historical, and Mythological, from the Egyptian, Assyrian, and Etruscan Monuments and Papyri| url= https://archive.org/details/anarchaicdictio02coopgoog| author=Cooper, W.R.| publisher=Samuel Bagster and Sons, 15 Pater Noster Row, London| year=1876 |page=[https://archive.org/details/anarchaicdictio02coopgoog/page/n513 484]}}{{Cite book|title=The Ancient Arabs: Nomads on the Borders of the Fertile Crescent 9th–5th Centuries B.C|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2-QO9Noo-ygC|first1=Israel|last1=Ephʻal|publisher=Brill |year=1982|isbn=978-9652234001}}{{Cite book |title=Who's Who in the Ancient Near East|first1=Gwendolyn |last1=Leick|edition=Illustrated |publisher=Routledge |year=2001|isbn= 978-0415132312|pages=85–86}}

=7th century BCE=

660 BCE – Lady Xu Mu is credited with saving the state of Wey from military invasion with her appeals for aid. The Wey people remembered her for bringing supplies, getting military aid and rebuilding the state. She is also the first recorded female poet in Chinese history.{{cite book | title=Notable Women of China: Shang Dynasty to the Early Twentieth Century | last=Bennet Peterson | first=Barbara | page=21 | year=2000 | publisher=M.E. Sharpe, Inc}}
654 BCE – Lampsacus is founded by the Greeks.The Companion Guide to Istanbul and Around the Marmara By John Freely, p. 346 According to Greek legendary history, written centuries later, a Bebryces woman named Lampsace informed the Greeks of a plot against them by the Bebryces, and thus enabled them to conquer the area and found the city, which was named in her honor. She was deified and worshipped as a goddess.Plutarch, On the Virtues of Women, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0207%3Achapter%3D18 18] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141018084452/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0207%3Achapter%3D18 |date=October 18, 2014 }}Polyaenus, Stratagems of War, [http://www.attalus.org/translate/polyaenus8B.html 8. 37] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006154052/http://www.attalus.org/translate/polyaenus8B.html |date=October 6, 2014 }}Stephanus of Byzantium s. v. Lampsakos: "Lampsacus, a city in Propontis, [named] after Lampsace, a local girl"
A Scythian warrior girl, aged approximately 13, is buried Saryg-Bulun in Central Tuva, Russia. The remains, discovered in 1988, were originally assumed to be male, but DNA sequencing in 2020 determines the mummy to be female.{{Cite web|url=https://bigthink.com/surprising-science/scythian-warrior-women?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1|title = DNA shows Scythian warrior mummy was a 13-year-old girl| date=June 26, 2020 }}

=6th century BCE=

6th through 4th centuries BCE – Women are buried with weapons as well as jewelry on the Kazakhstan-Russia border at roughly this time.{{Cite web|url=https://www.deccanherald.com/|title=News: Latest & Breaking News, Latest News Headlines|website=Deccan Herald}}
6th century BCE{{Cite book |last=Rawlinson |first=George |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1p8NAAAAQAAJ&dq=Pheretima+BC+army&pg=PA165 |title=A Manual of Ancient History: From the Earliest Times to the Fall of the Western Empire, Comprising the History of Chaldea, Assyria, Media, Babylonia, Lydia, Phoenicia, Syria, Judea, Egypt, Carthage, Persia, Greece, Macedonia, Rome, and Parthia |date=1869 |publisher=Clarendon Press |language=en}} – Pheretima (Cyrenaean queen) leads a military force.Herodotus, The Histories, Book 4Morkot, R., The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Greece, Penguin Books, The Bath Press – Avon, Great Britain, 1996{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/dictionarygreek03smitgoog|title=Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology|first=William|last=Smith|date=May 15, 1849|publisher=Boston, C.C. Little and J. Brown; [etc., etc.]|via=Internet Archive}}{{Cite web |url=http://www.mediterranees.net/dictionnaires/smith/cyrene.html |title=A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, by William Smith (1873) – Cyrene |access-date=October 8, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141013183330/http://www.mediterranees.net/dictionnaires/smith/cyrene.html |archive-date=October 13, 2014 |url-status=live}}{{Cite web |title=Polyaenus: Stratagems – Book 8 (B) |url=http://www.attalus.org/translate/polyaenus8B.html#47.1 |access-date=July 9, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-date=October 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006154052/http://www.attalus.org/translate/polyaenus8B.html#47.1}}

File:Tomyris.jpg from Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum]]

580 BCE – Massagetae Queen Tomyris led an army that defeated a Persian army under Cyrus the Great. Tomyris would be known forever after as "the killer of Cyrus", although the actual soldier who slew Cyrus is unknown.F. Altheim und R. Stiehl, Geschichte Mittelasiens im Altertum (Berlin, 1970), pp. 127–128Karasulas, Antony. Mounted Archers Of The Steppe 600 BC–AD 1300 (Elite). Osprey Publishing, 2004, {{ISBN|978-1841768090}}, p. 7.Grousset, René. The Empire of the Steppes. Rutgers University Press, 1989, {{ISBN|0813513049}}, p. 547.
539 BCE – Pantea Arteshbod participate in the Battle of Opis as a Lieutenant Commander in the army of Cyrus the Great.{{Cite web |last=Mark |first=Joshua J. |title=Twelve Great Women of Ancient Persia |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1493/twelve-great-women-of-ancient-persia/ |access-date=2023-09-13 |website=World History Encyclopedia |language=en}}
514–496 BCE – During the Warring States period of China,{{cite book |author=Tzu |title=The Art of War|publisher=Cloud Hands Inc. |year=2003|isbn=0974201324|chapter=introduction}} Sun Tzu wrote a contemporary report of how Ho Lu, King of Wu (ruled in 514–496) tested his skill by ordering him to train an army of 180 women.{{cite book|author=Tzu|translator=Ralph D. Sawyer|title=The Art of War |publisher=Westview Press |place=Boulder, Colorado|year=1994|isbn=081331951X|page=[https://archive.org/details/artofwarsunzib00sunz/page/296 296]|url=https://archive.org/details/artofwarsunzib00sunz}}
510 BCE – Greek poet Telesilla defended the city of Argos from the Spartans.Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Telesilla". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.{{cite web |url=http://www.theoi.com/Text/Pausanias3A.html#3 |title=Pausanias: Description of Greece, ARGOLIS- 2.20.8 |access-date=October 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141017041540/http://www.theoi.com/Text/Pausanias3A.html#3|archive-date=October 17, 2014 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=http://www.theoi.com/Text/Pausanias2B.html |title=Pausanias: Description of Greece, ARGOLIS- 2.20.9 |access-date=October 6, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111203154809/http://www.theoi.com/Text/Pausanias2B.html|archive-date=December 3, 2011|url-status=live}}{{Cite web |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/Bravery_of_Women*/A.html |title=Plutarch – On the Bravery of Women – Sections I–XV |website=penelope.uchicago.edu}}{{Cite book |last1=Plant |first1=Ian Michael |year=2004 |isbn=978-0806136219 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uYGay_yqBLUC&q=telesilla&pg=PA33 |title=Women Writers of Ancient Greece and Rome: An Anthology |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |access-date=October 9, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131028181336/http://books.google.com/books?id=uYGay_yqBLUC&pg=PA33&dq=telesilla&hl=en&sa=X&ei=_X5EUpjOI4qE4ASX3oDQDw&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=telesilla&f=false |archive-date=October 28, 2013 |url-status=live}}

File:Cloelia.png from Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum]]

506 BCE – Cloelia, a Roman girl{{cite book | title=Women's Life in Greece and Rome: A Source Book in Translation |author1=Fant, M.B. |author2=Lefkowitz, M. R. |author2-link=Mary Lefkowitz |name-list-style=amp |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland|year=2005|isbn=0801883105|page=131}} who was given as a hostage to the Etruscans, escaped her captors and led several others to safety.{{cite book |title=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology |editor=Smith, William |place=Boston |publisher=Little, Brown, and Company |year=1867 |volume=I |page=214}}

=5th century BCE=

5th century BCE – The Lady of Yue trained the soldiers of the army of King Goujian of Yue.{{cite book |title=Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: Antiquity Through Sui, 1600 B.C.E.-618 C.E. |editor1-last=Lee |editor1-first=Lily Xiao Hong |editor2-last=Stefanowska |editor2-first=A.D. |year=2007 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |page=91 |isbn=978-0765617507}}

File:Artemisia I - Caria.png from Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum]]

480 BCE – Artemisia I of Caria, Queen of Halicarnassus, was a naval commander and advisor to Xerxes at the Battle of Salamis.[http://www.attalus.org/translate/polyaenus8B.html#53.1 Polyaenus: Stratagems – Book 8, 53.5] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006154052/http://www.attalus.org/translate/polyaenus8B.html#53.1 |date=October 6, 2014 }} "Artemisia, queen of Caria, fought as an ally of Xerxes against the Greeks."[http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hh/hh8060.htm Herodotus Book 8: Urania, 68] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140604200703/http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hh/hh8060.htm |date=June 4, 2014 }} "...which have been fought near Euboea and have displayed deeds not inferior to those of others, speak to him thus:..."{{cite web |author=N.S. Gill |url=http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/artemisia/a/20112-Herodotus-Passages-On-Artemisia-Of-Halicarnassus.htm |title=Herodotus Passages on Artemisia of Halicarnassus |work=About|access-date=October 6, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141010053709/http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/artemisia/a/20112-Herodotus-Passages-On-Artemisia-Of-Halicarnassus.htm|archive-date=October 10, 2014|url-status=live}}
480 BCEUnited States Naval Institute Proceedings, Volume 68, 1942, p. 662 – Greek diver Hydna and her father sabotaged enemy ships before a critical battle, thus causing the Greeks to win.A New Classical Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography Mythology and Geography, By Sir William Smith, Charles Anthony LLD, 1878 p. 792
460–425 BCE The History of Herodotus: A New English Version, Volume 3, edited by George Rawlinson, Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson, Sir John Gardner Wilkinson, p. 345 – Greek historian Herodotus{{cite book|title=A History of Greek Literature: from Homer to the Hellenistic Period|author=Dihle, Albert|publisher=Routledge, London |year=1994|isbn=0415086205|page=158}} described Scythian Amazons.Herodotus, Book 4: Melpomene, verses 110–117 Herodotus' in The Histories{{cite book|title=The Histories |author=Herodotus, translated by Robin Waterfield|publisher=Oxford University Press, Oxford|year=1998|isbn=0192126091|no-pp=true |page=[https://archive.org/details/histories0000hero/page/ xlvii]|url=https://archive.org/details/histories0000hero/page/}} recorded that queen Tomyris of the Massagetae fought and defeated Cyrus the Great.{{cite book |title=The History of Herodotus|author=Herodotus, English Translation by G.C. Macaulay|publisher=Macmillan |place=London and New York |year=1890 |at=Book I: Clio, verses 210–214}} He also records the Zaueces people of Ancient Libya, whom he describes as having their women drive their chariots to war, as well as the festival of Athena Tritogenia among the Ausean people, whose young women are divided into two groups and fight each other with stones and sticks.Herodotus: Volume 2: Herodotus and the World, By Rosaria Vignolo Munson p. 230 This festival, taking place in Ancient Libya, describes the girls from the Machlyans and Auseans tribes fighting each other, and those who died were labeled false virgins.Herodotus. Histories, 4.180.
460–370 BCE – Approximate lifetime of Hippocrates,{{cite book|title=World Almanac Library of the Middle Ages: Plague and Medicine in the Middle Ages|author=Macdonald, Fiona|page=18}} who wrote of the Sauromatae, Scythian women fighting battles.{{cite book|title=The Genuine Works of Hippocrates|author=Hippocrates, English translation by Charles Darwin Adams|publisher=New York, Dover|year=1868|pages=37}}
Late 400s:Ctesias' 'History of Persia': Tales of the Orient By Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, James Robson Ctesias records the story of Zarinaea, a Sacae woman who participated in battle.{{Cite book |last=Duncker |first=Max |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qIkBAAAAQAAJ&dq=Zarinaea&pg=PA303 |title=The History of Antiquity |date=1881 |publisher=R. Bentley & son |language=en}}

=4th century BCE=

4th century BCE – Onomaris is estimated to have lived around this time period.{{cite book|last=Freedman |first=Phillip |title=The Philosopher and the Druids: A Journey Among the Ancient Celts |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York|year=2006 |isbn=0743289064|page=115 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PdZMbuVuElEC&q=Onomaris&pg=PA27}} According to Tractatus De Mulieribus, she led her people in migration to a new land and conquered the local inhabitants.Gera, Deborah (1997). Warrior Women: The Anonymous Tractatus De Mulieribus. E.J. Brill, Leiden, the Netherlands. pp. 10–11. {{ISBN|9004106650}}.
4th century BCE – Cynane, a half-sister to Alexander the Great, accompanied her father on a military campaign and killed an Illyrian leader named Caeria in hand-to-hand combat, and defeated the Illyrian army.Arrian, Anabasis Alexandri, [http://websfor.org/alexander/arrian/book1a.asp i. 5] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140701140338/http://websfor.org/alexander/arrian/book1a.asp |date=July 1, 2014 }}; Photius, Bibliotheca, [http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/photius_03bibliotheca.htm cod. 92] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110109222512/http://tertullian.org/fathers/photius_03bibliotheca.htm |date=January 9, 2011 }}; Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae, [http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/Literature/Literature-idx?type=turn&entity=Literature000801890080&q1=cynna&pview=hide xiii. 5] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140427011001/http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/Literature/Literature-idx?type=turn&entity=Literature000801890080&q1=cynna&pview=hide |date=April 27, 2014 }}; Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca, xix. 52; Polyaenus, Stratagemata, [http://remacle.org/bloodwolf/erudits/polyen/huit.htm viii. 60] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131016115731/http://remacle.org/bloodwolf/erudits/polyen/huit.htm |date=October 16, 2013 }}; Aelian, Varia Historia, [http://remacle.org/bloodwolf/historiens/elien/13.htm xiii. 36] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141121130631/http://remacle.org/bloodwolf/historiens/elien/13.htm |date=November 21, 2014 }}
4th century BCEThe Philosophers of the Ancient World: An A–Z Guide By Trevor Curnow. p. 273 – Pythagorean philosopher, Timycha, was captured by Sicilian soldiers during a battle. She and her husband were the only survivors. She is admired for her defiance after capture, because while being questioned by the Sicilian tyrant, she bit off her tongue and spat it at his feet.On the Pythagorean Life By Iamblichus pp. 82–84, translation with notes by Gillian Clark, 1989
4th century BCE – Chinese statesman Shang Yang wrote The Book of Lord Shang,{{cite book |author=Tzu |translator=Minford, John|title=The Art of War|publisher=Penguin Group, New York |year=2002 |isbn=0670031569 |page=xlii}} in which he recommended dividing the members of an army into three categories; strong men, strong women, and the weak and old of both sexes. He recommended that the strong men serve as the first line of defence, that the strong women defend the forts and build traps, and that the weak and elderly of both sexes control the supply chain. He also recommended that these three groups not be intermingled, on the basis that doing so would be detrimental to morale.{{cite book|title=The Book of Lord Shang:A Classic of the Chinese School of Law|author=Yang Shang |translator=Jan Julius Lodewijk Duyvendak |publisher=The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. |year=2002 |pages=250–252 |isbn=1584772417}}
4th century BCE – Artemisia II of Caria led a fleet and played a role in the military-political affairs of the Aegean after the decline in Athenian naval superiority.
350 BCE – According to Heracleides of Cyme, Achaemenid kings employed a 300-woman entourage of concubines who served also as bodyguards.{{cite book|title=Postcolonial Amazons: Female Masculinity and Courage in Ancient Greek and Sanskrit Literature|last=Penrose, Jr.|first=Walter Duvall|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2016}}
339 BCE – Mania became satrap of Dardanus.{{cite book|last1=Xenophon|editor1-last=Brownson |editor1-first=Carleton L.|title=Hellenica|pages=3.1.10–14|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0206%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D10|access-date=24 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131014114349/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0206%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D10|archive-date=October 14, 2013|url-status=live}} Polyaenus described her as going into battle riding in a chariot, and as being such an excellent general that she was never defeated.Polyaenus: Stratagems – Book 8, Chapters 26–71 [54] http://www.attalus.org/translate/polyaenus8B.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006154052/http://www.attalus.org/translate/polyaenus8B.html |date=October 6, 2014 }}
335 BCE – Timoclea, after being raped by one of Alexander the Great's soldiers during his attack on Thebes, pushed her rapist down a well and killed him. Alexander was so impressed with her cunning in luring him to the well that he ordered her to be released and that she not be punished for killing his soldier.{{cite web |url=http://classics.mit.edu/Plutarch/alexandr.html |title=Plutarch→Life of Alexander|access-date=October 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141012223231/http://classics.mit.edu/Plutarch/alexandr.html|archive-date=October 12, 2014|url-status=live}}
333 BCE – Stateira I accompanied her husband Darius III while he went to war. It was because of this that she was captured by Alexander the Great after the Battle of Issus at the town of Issus.A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, Vol. III, edited by William Smith, 1872 p. 901 Other female family members, including Drypetis, Stateira II, and Sisygambis were present and were captured as well.{{citation|last=Heckel|first=Waldemar|title=Who's who in the age of Alexander the Great: A prosopography of Alexander's empire |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |location=Malden, MA|date=2006|isbn=1405112107|page=116}}
332 BCE – The Nubian queen, Candace of Meroe, intimidated Alexander the Great with her armies and her strategy while confronting him, causing him to avoid Nubia, instead heading to Egypt, according to Pseudo-Callisthenes.{{cite book | title=The History of Alexander the Great | url=https://archive.org/details/historyalexande00callgoog | author=Pseudo-Callisthenes |others=Ernest Alfred Wallis Budge (trans.)| publisher=Cambridge University Press| year=1889 |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyalexande00callgoog/page/n243 124]}} However, Pseudo-Callisthenes is not considered a reliable source, and it is possible that the entire event is fiction.{{cite book | title=Greek Fiction: The Greek Novel in Context |author1=Morgan, J.R. |author2=Stoneman, Richard |name-list-style=amp |publisher=Routledge| year=1994| isbn=0415085071|pages=117–118}} More reliable historical accounts indicate that Alexander never attacked Nubia and never attempted to move farther south than the oasis of Siwa in Egypt.{{cite book |title=The Curse of Ham: Race and Slavery in Early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam |last=Gutenberg |first=David M. |year=2003 |publisher=Princeton University Press |page=64}}
331 BCE – Alexander the Great and his troops burned down Persepolis several months after its capture; traditionally Thaïs (a hetaera who accompanied Alexander on campaigns) suggested it when they were drunk, but others record that it had been discussed previously.{{cite book|last1=Bosworth|first1=A.B.|title=Conquest and empire : the reign of Alexander the Great |url=https://archive.org/details/conquestempire00abbo|url-access=registration|date=1988|publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge|isbn=052140679X|page=[https://archive.org/details/conquestempire00abbo/page/93 93]|edition=Canto}}
January 330 BCE – Youtab fights against Greek Macedonian King Alexander the Great at the Battle of the Persian Gate.Shadows in the Desert: Ancient Persia at War By Kaveh Farrokh p. 106
320s BCE – Cleophis surrendered to Alexander the Great after he laid siege to her city.{{cite book|title=The Early History of India from 600 BCE to the Muhammadan Conquest: including the invasion of Alexander the Great|author=Smith, Vincent Arthur|publisher=Clarendon Press, Oxford|year=1904|pages=46–48}}{{cite book|title= Alexander the Great: Historical Texts in Translation|author=Yardley, J.C. |author2=Heckel, Waldemar|publisher=Blackwell Publishing Ltd., Malden, MA|year=2004|isbn=0631228209|page=206}} In the same battle, the wives of Indian mercenaries took up the weapons and armors of their fallen husbands and fought against the Macedonians.{{Cite web|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus%20Siculus/17E*.html|title=Diodorus Siculus (Book XVII, continued)}}
320s BCE – Reign of Chandragupta Maurya, who started the custom of kings of the ancient India to employ armed women as bodyguards. They rode war chariots, horses and elephants, and would also partake in military campaigns.Strabo, Geographica, XV. 55{{cite book|title=Armies of the Macedonian and Punic Wars, 359 BC to 146 BC: Organisation, Tactics, Dress and Weapons|last=Head|first=Duncan|publisher=Wargames Research Group|year=1982}} This custom apparently was still in force until the Gupta period (320 to 550 AD).A.V. Narasimha Murthy, Female Bodyguards of Indian Kings, 2009, University of Mysore
324 BCE – The satrap Atropates presented Alexander the Great with 100 horsewomen armed with war axes and light shields. Alexander did not add them to his army, however, believing their presence might incite his troops to molest them. This has been considered related to the myth of Thalestris.Elizabeth Baynham, Alexander and the Amazons, The Classical Quarterly, New Series, Vol. 51, No. 1. (2001), pp. 115–126.
318 BCE – Eurydice III of Macedon fought Polyperchon and Olympias.{{cite book |title=Ancient history:exhibiting the rise, progress, decline and fall of the states and nations of antiquity |author-link=John Robinson (historian) |last=Robinson|first=John|publisher=London|year=1821|pages=291}}
314–308 BCE – Cratesipolis commanded an army and forced cities to submit to her.Smith, William (editor); Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070405185610/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0894.html "Cratesipolis"]}}, Boston, (1867)Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca, xix. 67, xx. 37; Polyaenus, Ruses de guerre, [http://remacle.org/bloodwolf/erudits/polyen/huit.htm viii. 58] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131016115731/http://remacle.org/bloodwolf/erudits/polyen/huit.htm |date=October 16, 2013 }}; Plutarch, Parallel Lives, "Demetrius", [http://www.attalus.org/old/demetrius1.html#9 9] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141011033556/http://www.attalus.org/old/demetrius1.html#9 |date=October 11, 2014 }}

File:Olympias.jpg from Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum]]

File:Sirani,_Elisabetta_-_Timoclea_uccide_il_capitano_di_Alessandro_Magno_-_1659.jpg|Timoclea

File:Joshua Reynoldsre thais.jpg|18th century depiction of Thaïs

=3rd century BCE=

File:Oktadrachmon Berenike II.jpg of Egypt]]

File:Consort_Yu.jpg]]

Early 3rd century BCE – Legendary Empress Jingū of Japan may have led an invasion against Korea at this time. However, the story is regarded as semi-fictional by many scholars.{{cite book|title=India and Japan |author=Thakur, Upendra|publisher=Shaki Malik, Abhinav Publications, New Delhi|year=1992|pages=8|isbn=8170172896}}
3rd century BCE – Graves of women warriors buried at during this period were found near the Sea of Azov.{{cite web|url=http://www.archaeology.org/9701/abstracts/sarmatians.html|title=Warrior Women of Eurasia, by Jeannine Davis Kimball, Archaeology, Volume 50, number 1, January/February 1997|access-date=January 27, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070127023451/http://www.archaeology.org/9701/abstracts/sarmatians.html|archive-date=January 27, 2007|url-status=live}}
3rd century BCE – Stratonice of Macedon revolts against Seleucus II Callinicus.{{Cite web |url=https://www.livius.org/ap-ark/apame/apame_iii.html |title=Apame III |access-date=October 8, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303183203/https://www.livius.org/ap-ark/apame/apame_iii.html |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |url-status=live}}Eusebius, Chronicon (Schoene ed.), [http://www.attalus.org/translate/eusebius2.html#249 pag. 249] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629144911/http://www.attalus.org/translate/eusebius2.html#249 |date=June 29, 2011 }}Justin, Epitome of Pompeius Trogus, [http://www.attalus.org/translate/justin4.html#28.1 xxviii. 1] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805031847/http://www.attalus.org/translate/justin4.html#28.1 |date=August 5, 2011 }}; Josephus, Against Apion, [http://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/text/josephus/apion1.html i. 22] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006005347/http://earlyjewishwritings.com/text/josephus/apion1.html |date=October 6, 2014 }}Smith, William (editor); Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20150124205050/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/3258.html "Stratonice (4)"]}}, Boston, (1867)
295 BCE – Phila (daughter of Antipater) was besieged in Salamis, Cyprus by the king of Egypt Ptolemy I, and ultimately compelled to surrender, but was treated by him in the most honourable manner and sent together with her children in safety to Macedonia.{{Citation needed|date=July 2015}}
279 BCE – During the Gallic Invasion of Greece a large Gallic force entered Aetolia. Women and the elderly joined in its defense.{{cite web|url=https://www.livius.org/di-dn/diadochi/diadochi_t12.html|title=Pausanias Guide for Greece|access-date=October 6, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141009092347/https://www.livius.org/di-dn/diadochi/diadochi_t12.html|archive-date=October 9, 2014|url-status=live}}
272 BCE – When Pyrrhus attacked Sparta, the women of the city assisted in the defense, assisted by Chilonis.Plutarch, Life of Pyrrhus [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Pyrrhus*.html 26–28]Plutarch, Life of Pyrrhus 26.Plutarch, Life of Pyrrhus, 27–28.
272 BCE – Spartan princess Archidamia leads Spartan women in the construction of a defensive trench and in the aiding of the wounded in battle during the siege of Pyrrhus.Plutarch, Parallel Lives: Life of Pyrrhus § 27.4Plutarch, Parallel Lives: Life of Pyrrhus § 29.3
272 BCE – Pyrrhus of Epirus, the conqueror and source of the term pyrrhic victory, according to Plutarch died while fighting an urban battle in Argos when an old woman threw a roof tile at him, stunning him and allowing an Argive soldier to kill him.{{Citation|author=Thornton, W.|year=1968 |title=Allusions in Ulysses|publisher=University of North Carolina Press Chapel Hill|isbn=0807840890 |oclc=185879476|page=29|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dof6ABIIfwkC&q=Pyrrhus+roof+tile+-wikipedia&pg=PA29}}
231 BCE – Teuta (Illyrian: *Teutana, 'mistress of the people, queen'; {{langx|grc|Τεύτα}}; {{langx|la|Teuta}}) was the queen regent{{Cref2|A|2}} of the Ardiaei tribe in Illyria.[https://www.loebclassics.com/view/polybius-histories/2010/pb_LCL128.271.xml Polybius 2010] 2:4:6: "King Agron (...) was succeeded on the throne by his wife Teuta..."{{cite book|last=Wilkes|first=John|title=The Illyrians |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|year=1992 |isbn=0631198075 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Nv6SPRKqs8C |pages=80, 129, 167}}. Following the death of her spouse Agron in 231 BC, she assumed the regency of the Ardiaean Kingdom for her stepson Pinnes, continuing Agron's policy of expansion in the Adriatic Sea, in the context of an ongoing conflict with the Roman Republic regarding the effects of Illyrian piracy on regional trade.{{cite book|last=Wilkes |first=John|title=The Illyrians|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|year=1992 |isbn=0631198075|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Nv6SPRKqs8C|page=158}}{{cite book|last=Elsie |first=Robert|author-link=Robert Elsie|chapter-url=http://www.elsie.de/pdf/articles/A2015EarlyHistoryAlbania.pdf|title=Keeping an Eye on the Albanians: Selected Writings in the Field of Albanian Studies|date=2015 |isbn=978-1514157268|volume=16 |chapter=The Early History of Albania |page=3|publisher=Centre for Albanian Studies }}
220 BCE – Vaccaei and Vetton women fought in the siege of Salmantica against Hannibal. The inhabitants pretended to give up the city, but the women carried hidden weapons in their clothing while they exited, and once outside they armed themselves and the men and attacked the Carthaginians. One of the women disarmed the Carthaginian interpreter, Banno, and attacked him with his own spear. Many of the Salmantines managed to reach the mountains, from where they negotiated with Hannibal. The latter was so impressed that he gave them back their city.Plutarch, De Mulierum Virtutibus, 10
220 BCE – Cisalpine Gaul women served as judges in their people's disputes with Hannibal.Plutarch, Mulierum virtutes, 6
219 BCE – A possibly fictitious Libyan princess named Asbyte fights for Hannibal at the Siege of Saguntum along with an entourage of horsewomen and war charioteers.Silius Italicus, Punica, 2{{cite book|author=Adrienne Mayor|title=The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women across the Ancient World|date=2016|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1400865130}}{{cite book|author=Walter Duvall Penrose Jr.|title=Postcolonial Amazons: Female Masculinity and Courage in Ancient Greek and Sanskrit Literature|date=2016|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0191088032}}
217 BCE – Arsinoe III of Egypt accompanied Ptolemy IV at the Battle of Raphia. When the battle went poorly, she appeared before the troops and exhorted them to fight to defend their families. She also promised two minas of gold to each of them if they won the battle, which they did.{{cite book | title=Women in Scripture: A Dictionary of Named and Unnamed Women in the Hebrew Bible, the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books, and the New Testament |editor=Meyers, Carol |editor2=Craven, Tony |editor3=Kraemer, Ross S. | publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company, New York| year=2000|isbn=0395709369|page=397}}
216 BCE – During the siege of Petelia, women accompanied their husbands in sorties against Hannibal.Appian, Roman History, I-29
216 BCE – Busa of Canosa di Puglia is recorded as aiding soldiers fleeing Hannibal.Livy, Ab urbe condita libri XXII.52Valerius Maximus, Factorum at dictorum memorabilium libri IV.8.2Virginia Brown's translation of Giovanni Boccaccio's Famous Women, pp. 140–142; Harvard University Press, 2001; {{ISBN|0674011309}}
206 BCE – Iberian women assisted in the siege of Illiturgis against Scipio Africanus.Livy, The History of Rome, Volumen 2
206–202 BCE – Consort Yu accompanies Xiang Yu on all battles during the Chu–Han Contention.The China Journal Volume 3, Issue 2. p. 374 Arthur de Carle Sowerby – 1925

=2nd century BCE=

2nd century BCE – Queen Stratonice convinced Docimus to leave his stronghold, and her forces took him captive.Smith, William, Vol. 1, p. 1057
2nd century BCE – The Book of Judith was probably written at this time.{{cite book|last=Branick|first=Vincent P.|title=Understanding the Historical Books of the Old Testament |publisher=Paulist Press, Mahlah, New Jersey|year=2011|isbn=978-0809147281|page=299|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ICyF8tSCze8C&q=Book+of+Judith+bc&pg=PA229}} It describes Judith as assassinating Holofernes, an enemy general.{{cite book|last=Marsden|first=Richard|title=The Cambridge Old English Reader|publisher=Cambridge University Press, Cambridge|year=2004|isbn=0521454263|pages=147–148|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OE4Vqj3IYrcC&q=Judith+Holofernes&pg=PA147}} However, this incident is regarded by historians fictional due to the historical anachronisms within the text.{{Cite book |last=Stone |first=Michael E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2zffXWORVUcC&dq=Judith+anachronisms+fiction&pg=PA48 |title=Jewish Writings of the Second Temple Period: Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Qumran, Sectarian Writings, Philo, Josephus |date=1984-01-01 |publisher=Fortress Press |isbn=978-1-4514-1465-3 |language=en}}
Late 2nd century BCEThe Role of Women in the Altaic World, edited by Veronika Veit, 2007, p. 261 – Amage, a Sarmatian queen, attacked a Scythian prince who was making incursions onto her protectorates. She rode to Scythia with 120 warriors, where she killed his guards, his friends, his family, and ultimately, killed the prince himself. She allowed his son to live on the condition that he obey her.Polyaenus: Stratagems – Book 8, Chapters 26–71 [56]. Translation by Andrew Smith, Adapted from the translation by R. Shepherd (1793). http://www.attalus.org/translate/polyaenus8B.html, accessed July 9, 2014
186 BCE – Chiomara, a Galatian princess, was captured in a battle between Rome and the Galatians and was raped by a centurion. After a reversal she ordered him killed by her companions, and she had him beheaded after he was dead. She then delivered his head to her husband.{{cite book | title=A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography: Consisting of Sketches of All Women | url=https://archive.org/details/acyclopaediafem00adamgoog | author-link=Henry Gardiner Adams | last=Adams | first=Henry Gardiner | publisher=Groombridge | year=1857 | page=[https://archive.org/details/acyclopaediafem00adamgoog/page/n205 183]}}
2nd century BCE – 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.attalus.org/translate/polyaenus8B.html#27.1|title=(8.27)|access-date=October 6, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006154052/http://www.attalus.org/translate/polyaenus8B.html#27.1|archive-date=October 6, 2014|url-status=live}}
138 BCE – The Roman Decimus Junius Brutus found that in Lusitania the women were "fighting and perishing in company with the men with such bravery that they uttered no cry even in the midst of slaughter". He also noted that the Bracari women were "bearing arms with the men, who fought never turning, never showing their backs, or uttering a cry."{{cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0230;query=chapter%3D%2320;layout=;loc=Hisp.%2011.61|title=Appian, The Foreign Wars (ed. Horace White).The wars in Spain. Chapter XII|access-date=October 6, 2014}}
131 BCE – Cleopatra II led a rebellion against Ptolemy VIII in 131 BCE, and drove him and Cleopatra III out of Egypt.[http://www.tyndalehouse.com/Egypt/ptolemies/cleopatra_ii_fr.htm Cleopatra II] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110523081805/http://www.tyndalehouse.com/Egypt/ptolemies/cleopatra_ii_fr.htm |date=May 23, 2011}} by Chris Bennett
102 BCE – A battle between Romans and the Teutonic Ambrones at Aquae Sextiae took place during this time. Plutarch described that "the fight had been no less fierce with the women than with the men themselves... the women charged with swords and axes and fell upon their opponents uttering a hideous outcry." The women attacked both the Romans and the Ambrones who tried to desert.{{Cite web |title=Plutarch • Life of Marius |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Marius*.html|website=penelope.uchicago.edu}}
102/101 BCENational Geographic Visual History of the World, Page 145. Klaus Berndl, 2005 – General Marius of the Romans fought the Teutonic Cimbrians. Cimbrian women accompanied their men into war, created a line in battle with their wagons and fought with poles and lances,Woman and Labour By Olive Schreiner, p. 93 as well as staves, stones, and swords.Famous Women By Giovanni Boccaccio, edited and translated by Virginia Brown, 2001. p. 337 When the Cimbrian women saw that defeat was imminent, they killed their children and committed suicide rather than be taken as captives.Sketches: Historical, Literary, Biographical, Economic, Etc By Thomas Edward Watson, p. 124, 1912

File:Woodcut_illustration_of_Chiomara,_wife_of_Orgiagon_of_Galatia_-_Penn_Provenance_Project.jpg|Chiomara

File:Lagid queen Isis Ma3546.jpg|Cleopatra II

=1st century BCE=

File:Hypsicratea.jpg from Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum]]

1st century BCEA Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology: Earinus-Nyx p. 1102 edited by Sir William Smith – Hypsicratea fights in battles.Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans, Volume 4 By Plutarch, Donato Acciaiuoli, Simon Goulart
41–40 BCE – Fulvia becomes involved in the Perusine War. The extent of her involvement is not agreed upon by scholars.{{cite thesis|url=https://qspace.library.queensu.ca/handle/1974/966|title=Weir, ii.|access-date=October 6, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304084122/https://qspace.library.queensu.ca/handle/1974/966|archive-date=March 4, 2016|url-status=live|date=January 3, 2008|type=thesis|last1=Weir|first1=Allison Jean}}
27–21 BCE – Amanirenas led the Kushite armies against the Romans.[https://books.google.com/books?id=Dh6jydKXikoC&dq=Amanirenas&pg=PA713 Tony Jaques, Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: A Guide to 8,500 Battles from Antiquity through the Twenty-first Century, Volume 2, F–O] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140107203456/http://books.google.com/books?id=Dh6jydKXikoC&pg=PA713&dq=Amanirenas&lr=&as_drrb_is=b&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=2000&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=2010&as_brr=3&client=firefox-a&cd=15#v=onepage&q=Amanirenas&f=false |date=January 7, 2014 }} Retrieved from books.google.com{{Cite web |url=http://afraf.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/XXVIII/CIX/55.pdf |title=African Affairs – Sign In Page |access-date=November 23, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090305173625/http://afraf.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/XXVIII/CIX/55.pdf |archive-date=March 5, 2009 |url-status=live}}

File:Fulvia Antonia.jpg|Fulvia of Roman Empire

=1st century CE=

1st century – There were detailed reports of women accompanying their men on Germanic battlefields to provide morale support. Tacitus mentions them twice; in his Germania and again in his Annals, specifically at the battle near modern Nijmegen when the XV Primigenia and V Alaudae legions were sent packing back to Castra Vetera where they were later besieged during the Revolt of the Batavi. He writes in detail how the women would gather behind the warhost, and show their breasts to flagging warriors while screaming that their loss that day would mean the enemy gaining these as slaves. Women held an honored position in German tribes, and were seen as holy spirits as shown by their adoration of such as Aurinia and Veleda. Slavery was the fate of cowards and the unlucky – and letting one's women fall into that fate was a hideous deed. Thus the men were encouraged to fight harder.{{cite book |author1=Tacitus |editor1-last=Church |editor1-first=Alfred John |editor2-last=Brodribb |editor2-first=William Jackson |title=Germania: The Origin and Situation of the Germans |date=1876 |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Germania_(Church_%26_Brodribb)#VII |language=Latin, English |chapter=VII, VIII}}
1st century – A Sarmatian woman was buried with weapons in what is now modern Russia.{{Cite news |url=http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/archaeology/1.682980 |title=How Did a Judean Seal End up in a 2,000-year-old Russian Warrior Woman's Grave? |access-date=October 7, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161111213949/http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/archaeology/1.682980 |archive-date=November 11, 2016 |url-status=live |newspaper=Haaretz |date=October 29, 2015 |last1=Fridman |first1=Julia }}
1st century – A woman was entombed with a sword in Tabriz, Iran. The tomb was discovered in 2004.{{cite news |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna6661426 |title=Woman warrior found in Iranian tomb|publisher=NBC News|access-date=November 26, 2006|date=December 6, 2004}}
1st century – Cartimandua, queen of the Brigantes, allied with the Roman Empire against other Britons.Celtic culture: a historical encyclopedia. Vol. 1–2, edited by John T. Koch pp. 345–346
1st century: The historian Tacitus wrote that Triaria, wife of Lucius Vitellius the younger, was accused of having armed herself with a sword and behaved with arrogance and cruelty while at Tarracina, a captured city.{{cite book | title=The Histories| author=Tacitus, Cornelius|translator= W.H. Fyfe|editor=D.S. Levene|publisher= Oxford University Press Inc., New York|year=1997|isbn=0192839586|page=vii}}Tacitus, p. 164
1st century: There are several historical Roman references to female gladiators from this time period.Women's Life in Greece and Rome: A Source Book in Translation edited by Mary R. Lefkowitz, Maureen B. Fant, pp. 213–215
1st century – 5th century: Four women were buried in Phum Snay, Cambodia with metal swords. The graves date approximately from this time period, and were discovered in 2007.{{cite web |title=Women warriors may have fought in ancient Cambodia |website=The Brunei Times |url=http://www.bt.com.bn/en/life/2007/11/17/women_warriors_may_have_fought_in_ancient_cambodia |date=November 17, 2007 |access-date=November 22, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090309063754/http://www.bt.com.bn/en/life/2007/11/17/women_warriors_may_have_fought_in_ancient_cambodia|archive-date=March 9, 2009}}
14–18 – Lu Mu, a Chinese peasant also known as Mother Lu, led a rebellion against Wang Mang.{{cite web|url=http://www.colorq.org/Articles/article.aspx?d=asianwomen&x=lumu|title=Lu Mu – mother of a revolution from Colorq.org|access-date=February 21, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070310200251/http://www.colorq.org/Articles/article.aspx?d=asianwomen&x=lumu|archive-date=March 10, 2007|url-status=live}}
15 – Agrippina the Elder defends a bridge upon the Rhine.{{cite book|last=Barrett|first=Anthony A.|title=Agrippina: Sex, Power, and Politics in the Early Empire|publisher=Yale University Press|orig-year=1996|year=1999|isbn=0300078560|page=201}}
21 – Debate erupted as to whether or not the wives of Roman governors should accompany their husbands in the provinces. Caecina Severus said that they should not, because they "paraded among the soldiers" and that "a woman had presided at the exercises of the cohorts and the manoeuvres of the legions".{{cite book | title=Women in Roman Britain| author=Jones, Lindsay Allason| year=1989| publisher=British Museum Publications|isbn=0714113921}}
40 – The Trung Sisters revolt against the Chinese in Vietnam.{{cite book|first=Jacques|last=Gernet|title=A History of Chinese Civilization|year=1996 |publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0521497817 |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofchinese00gern_0/page/126 126] |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofchinese00gern_0}} Phung Thi Chinh joins them.Encyclopedia of Asian American Folklore and Folklife, Volume 1 edited by Jonathan H. X. Lee, Kathleen M. Nadeau, p. 1239
60 – According to Tacitus, druidesses among the Britannian lines waged psychological warfare against the Roman forces in the island of Mona.Tacitus, Annals
60–61 – Boudica, a Celtic queen of the Iceni in Britannia, led a massive uprising against the occupying Roman forces.{{cite book |title=Who's Who in the Roman World|url=https://archive.org/details/whoswhoinromanwo00john|url-access=registration| author=Hazel, John |publisher=Routledge, London|year=2001|isbn=0415224101}} According to Suetonius, her enemy Gaius Suetonius Paulinus encouraged his soldiers by joking that her army contained more women than men, implying the presence of warrior women.Boudica: Iron Age Warrior Queen, By Richard Hingley, p. 60
69–70 – Veleda of the Germanic Bructeri tribe wielded a great deal of influence in the Batavian rebellion. She was acknowledged as a strategic leader, a priestess, a prophet, and as a living deity.{{cite web | url = https://www.livius.org/va-vh/veleda/veleda.html |title=Veleda |access-date=December 2, 2006 |last=Lendering |first=Jona |author-link=Jona Lendering |work=Livius |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061210083844/https://www.livius.org/va-vh/veleda/veleda.html |archive-date=December 10, 2006 |url-status=live}}

File:De_mulieribus_claris_(BnF_Français_599)_f82v_-_Triaria.jpg|Medieval depiction of Triaria

File:Agripina Maior (M.A.N. Madrid) 01.jpg|Agrippina the Elder

File:Hai Ba Trung statue in HCMC.JPG|Statue of the Trung sisters in Ho Chi Minh City

File:Queen Boudica by John Opie.jpg|John Opie's Boadicea Haranguing the Britons

File:Velleda.jpg|Veleda

=2nd century CE=

In this time period,Historical and Ethnological Society of Greece, Aristéa Papanicolaou Christensen, The Panathenaic Stadium – Its History Over the Centuries (2003), p. 162 Pausanias describes a sacrificial feast to Ares Gynaecothoenas in Tegea in which only women are allowed to participate, due to them having defeated Lacedaemonians without male help.Pausanias' Description of Greece, translated into English with notes and index by Arthur Richard Shilleto, 1900 Volume 2, Book VII, Arcadia By Pausanias p. 139
170–174: Faustina the Younger accompanies her husband to war in Germany, and is hailed as "Mother of the Army" after one of his victories.{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Women in the Ancient World| author=Salisbury, Joyce E.|author-link= Joyce E. Salisbury |publisher=ABC-CLIO Inc, Santa Barbara, California|year=2001|isbn=1576070921|page=125}}
195 – Julia Domna accompanied her husband, Emperor Septimius Severus, in his campaigns in Mesopotamia.{{cite book |title=The Reign of the Emperor L. Septimius Severus, from the Evidence of the Inscriptions| author=Murphy, Gerard James|publisher=University of Pennsylvania|year=1945|page=23}}

File:Faustina Minor Louvre Ma1144.jpg|Faustina the Younger

File:Julia domna.jpg|Julia Domna

=3rd century CE=

210s – Wang Yi (wife of Zhao Ang) participated in multiple battles alongside her husband against the warlord Ma Chao.(遂共閉門逐超，超奔漢中，從張魯得兵還。異復與昂保祁山，為超所圍，三十日救兵到，乃解。超卒殺異子月。凡自兾城之難，至于祁山，昂出九奇，異輒參焉。) Lie Nü Zhuan annotation in Sanguozhi vol. 25.(會馬超攻兾，異躬著布韝，佐昂守備，又悉脫所佩環、黼黻以賞戰士。) Lie Nü Zhuan annotation in Sanguozhi vol. 25.
240s – Women are described as fighting amongst the cavalry ranks of the Sasanian Empire under Shapur I, dressed and armed like men.Zonaras, XII 23, 595, 7–596
248 – Trieu Thi Trinh led a rebellion against the Chinese in Vietnam.The Birth of Vietnam By Keith Weller Taylor p. 90
270–272 – Zenobia, the queen of Palmyra, led armies into battle against the Roman Empire.Memoirs of Celebrated Female Sovereigns in Two Volumes. Volume 1. By Mrs. Jameson (Anna), 1838 pp. 61–65
274 – A group of Gothic women, who were captured by Romans while fighting in the same garb as their male peers, were paraded in a Roman triumph wearing signs that said, "Amazons".{{cite book | title=Islands of Women and Amazons: Representations and Realities|author=Weinbaum, Batya | publisher=University of Texas Press | year=1999 |isbn=0292791267| page=109}}{{cite book |last1=Beard |first1=Mary |title=The Roman Triumph |date=2007 |publisher=The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press |location=Campbridge, MA; London|isbn=978-0674026131 |pages=122–123}}

File:Ba_trieu_cuoi_voi.jpg|Folk art depiction of Lady Triệu

File:Zenobia_obversee.png|Coin depicting Zenobia

=4th century CE=

{{multiple image |total_width=275 |align=right

|image1=Xun Guan Peking opera.jpg|caption1=Xun Guan portrayed by a Peking opera actress during a 2015 performance in Tianchan Theatre, Shanghai, China.

|image2=Mulan statuecrop.jpg|caption2=Hua Mulan

}}

File:Last_Battle_of_Queen_Pharandzem.jpg|Pharandzem

306–307 – As military commander for the Emperor of China, Li Xiu took her father's place and defeated a rebellion.{{cite web |title=Li Xiu – defender of Ningzhou from Colorq.org |url=http://www.colorq.org/Articles/article.aspx?d=asianwomen&x=lixiu |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070310200301/http://www.colorq.org/Articles/article.aspx?d=asianwomen&x=lixiu |archive-date=March 10, 2007 |access-date=February 20, 2007}}
315 – Xun Guan famously led a group of soldiers into battle at the age of thirteen. As daughter of the governor of Xiangyang she is said to have broken through enemy lines to assemble reinforcements and prevent the city of Wancheng from being invaded.{{cite book |last1=Mayor |first1=Adrienne |title=The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women across the Ancient World |date=2014 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1400865130 |page=420}}
368–370 – Queen Pharandzem defended the fort Artogeressa against the Persian army of Shapur II.N. Lenski, Failure of Empire: Valens and the Roman State in the Fourth Century A.D., University of California Press, 2003
375Byzantium and the Arabs in the Fourth Century By Irfan Shahîd, p. 139 – The Arab Queen Mavia led troops against the Romans.A History of the Church in nine books, from A.D. 324 to A.D. 440 By Sozomen, p. 317
378 – Roman Empress Albia Dominica organized her people in defense against the invading Goths after her husband had died in battle.{{cite web |last=Banchich |first=Thomas |title=Domnica Augusta, Wife of the Emperor Valens |publisher=Canisius College |date=November 3, 1997 |url=http://www.roman-emperors.org/domnica.htm |access-date=May 10, 2007 |archive-date=June 17, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070617192817/http://www.roman-emperors.org/domnica.htm |url-status=live}}
4th–6th centuries: Possible time period that the legendary woman warrior Hua Mulan may have lived.Folktales and Fairy Tales: Traditions and Texts from around the World, 2nd ed. edited by Anne E. Duggan Ph.D., Donald Haase Ph.D., Helen J. Callow p. 674

=5th century=

5th century: Princess Sela acts as a pirate. The Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus described Sela as a "skilled warrior and experienced in roving."{{cite book |last=Grammaticus |first=Saxo |title=The Danish History, Books I–IX |via=Project Gutenberg |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1150/1150-h/1150-h.htm |access-date=November 21, 2018}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tbvZLaFhCWMC&q=Princess+Sela&pg=PA25|title=Daring Pirate Women|last=Sharp|first=Anne Wallace|publisher=Twenty-First Century Books|year=2002|isbn=978-0822500315|pages=25}}
450 – A Moche woman was buried with two ceremonial war clubs and twenty-eight spear throwers. The South American grave is discovered in 2006, and is the first known grave of a Moche woman to contain weapons.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/17/world/americas/17mummy.html?ex=1305518400en=ddd14d20b9b8b6c5ei=5088partner=rssnytemc=rss|title=A Peruvian Woman of AD 450 Seems to Have Had Two Careers |author=John Noble Wilford| work=The New York Times | date=May 17, 2006 | access-date=May 25, 2010}}
451: Saint Genevieve is credited with averting Attila from Paris by rallying the people in prayer.{{cite book | title=The Book of Religions: Comprising the Views, Creeds, Sentiments, Or Opinions of all the Principal Sects in the World, Particularly of All Christian Denominations in Europe and America to which are added Church and Missionary Statistics together with Biographical Sketches| url=https://archive.org/details/bookreligionsco04haywgoog| author=Hayward, John| publisher=Boston: Sanborn, Carter, Bazin and Company |year=1857|page=[https://archive.org/details/bookreligionsco04haywgoog/page/n434 428]}}

References

=Sources=

{{cite book|author=Geoffrey of Monmouth |translator=Michael A. Faletra|title=The History of the Kings of Britain |publisher=Broadview Press |location=Toronto|isbn=978-1551116396|year=2008}}