Warrior Women

Warrior Women consists of fifteen short stories of women who led men into battle, fought alongside them, or resisted invasion of their homeland by foreign forces. Some are well known, others less known.

From ancient times, I chose Atalanta, who played a significant role in the Calydonian Boar Hunt, and according to some of the chroniclers, sailed with Jason on the Argo in search of the Golden Fleece. Another from this era, Artemisia, the Queen of Caria, fought for Xerxes against the Greeks in the Greco-Persian War, and Cynane, the little-known half-sister of Alexander the Great, herself a fine warrior who led her army into battle.

From the Roman era, this compilation would not be complete without Boudica of the Britons, and I have included two others who resisted the Romans who were determined to impose the ways of Rome on their culture: Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, and Mavia, of the Tanūkhids, (Saracens), who led a similar revolt against the Romans one hundred years after Zenobia.

From Asia, I chose Nakano Takeko, who fought to uphold the shogun and the samurai traditions. She led a squad of women against the riflemen of the Imperial army of Emperor Meiji, armed with only her naginata, the traditional samurai pole weapon, in the Boshin War. Also, from this region, and my favourite, I have Ba Trieu, the Korean warrior who resisted the Chinese invasion in the third century. She must have looked magnificent as she rode into battle on her great war-elephant, with her yellow cloak billowing in the breeze.

Another who would resist the Chinese, though in a different age, was Ani Pachen, the young Tibetan warrior nun, who fought the Chinese after they invaded Tibet in the 1950s, and when captured, would spend more than twenty years in prison.

Closer to home, I have included Lagertha, the Viking shield maiden; Gwenllian, the Welsh warrior princess Maurice of Londres mercilessly beheaded, as with Boudica, it would be inexcusable not to include Joan of Arc.

From North America, I have included the Apache warrior, Lozen, another who rarely gets mentioned in history books but who fought alongside her brother, Victorio, against the United States and Mexican armies, who were determined to wipe out the Native American.

From South America, Juana Azurduy de Padilla fought in the Bolivian War of Independence against the Spanish. Achieving the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and was revered by the President, Simon Bolivar. She died penniless and forgotten.

In this collection, the continent of Africa representative is Yaa Asantewaa, of the Ashanti, who opposed the British colonisation of their home, now part of modern-day Ghana. She died in exile on the distant shores of the Seychelles Islands.