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Black Women in Antiquity
This unique volume provides an overview of the black queens, madonnas, and goddesses who dominated the history and imagination of ancient times. The authors have concentrated on Ethiopia and Egypt because the documents of the Nile Valley are voluminous compared to the sketchier records in other parts of Africa, but also because the imagination of the world, not just that of Africa, was haunted by these women. They are just as prominent a feature of European mythology as of African reality. The book is divided into three parts: Ethiopia and Egyptian Queens and Goddesses; Black Women in Ancient Art; and Conquerors and Courtesans. This second edition contains two new chapters, one on Hypatia and women's rights in ancient Egypt, and the other on the diffusion into Europe of Isis, the African goddess of Nile Valley civilizations. Black Women in Antiquity provides a dramatic account of the role black women have played in the history and development of civilization.
239 pages, Paperback
First published December 31, 1988
About the author
Ivan Van Sertima
22 books255 followersDr. Ivan Van Sertima was born in Guyana, South America. He was educated at the School of Oriental and African Studies (London University) and the Rutgers Graduate School and held degrees in African Studies and Anthropology. From 1957-1959 he served as a Press and Broadcasting Officer in the Guyana Information Services. During the decade of the 1960s he broadcast weekly from Britain to Africa and the Caribbean.
He was a literary critic, a linguist, and an anthropologist who made a name in all three fields.
As a literary critic, he is the author of Caribbean Writers, a collection of critical essays on the Caribbean novel. He is also the author of several major literary reviews published in Denmark, India, Britain and the United States. He was honored for his work in this field by being asked by the Nobel Committee of the Swedish Academy to nominate candidates for the Nobel Prize in Literature from 1976-1980. He was honored as an historian of world repute by being asked to join UNESCO's International Commission for Rewriting the Scientific and Cultural History of Mankind.
As a linguist, published essays on the dialect of the Sea Islands off the Georgia Coast. He also compiled the Swahili Dictionary of Legal Terms, based on his field work in Tanzania, East Africa, in 1967.
He is the author of They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America, which was published by Random House in 1977 and is presently in its twenty-ninth printing. It was published in French in 1981 and in the same year, was awarded the Clarence L. Holte Prize, a prize awarded every two years “for a work of excellence in literature and the humanities relating to the cultural heritage of Africa and the African diaspora.”
He also authored Early America Revisited, a book that has enriched the study of a wide range of subjects, from archaeology to anthropology, and has resulted in profound changes in the reordering of historical priorities and pedagogy.
Professor of African Studies at Rutgers University, Dr. Van Sertima was also Visiting Professor at Princeton University. He was the Editor of the Journal of African Civilizations, which he founded in 1979 and has published several major anthologies which have influenced the development of multicultural curriculum in the United States. These anthologies include Blacks in Science: ancient and modern, Black Women in Antiquity, Egypt Revisited, Egypt: Child of Africa, Nile Valley Civilizations (out of print), African Presence in the Art of the Americas (due 2007), African Presence in Early Asia (co-edited with Runoko Rashidi), African Presence in Early Europe, African Presence in Early America, Great African Thinkers, Great Black Leaders: ancient and modern and Golden Age of the Moor.
As an acclaimed poet, his work graces the pages of River and the Wall, 1953 and has been published in English and German. As an essayist, his major pieces were published in Talk That Talk, 1989, Future Directions for African and African American Content in the School Curriculum, 1986, Enigma of Values, 1979, and in Black Life and Culture in the United States, 1971.
Dr. Van Sertima has lectured at more than 100 universities in the United States and has also lectured in Canada, the Caribbean, South America and Europe. In 1991 Dr. Van Sertima defended his highly controversial thesis on the African presence in pre-Columbian America before the Smithsonian. In 1994 they published his address in Race, Discourse and the Origin of the Americas: A New World View of 1492.
He also appeared before a Congressional Committee on July 7, 1987 to challenge the Columbus myth. This landmark presentation before Congress was illuminating and brilliantly presented in the name of all peoples of color across the world.
He was a literary critic, a linguist, and an anthropologist who made a name in all three fields.
As a literary critic, he is the author of Caribbean Writers, a collection of critical essays on the Caribbean novel. He is also the author of several major literary reviews published in Denmark, India, Britain and the United States. He was honored for his work in this field by being asked by the Nobel Committee of the Swedish Academy to nominate candidates for the Nobel Prize in Literature from 1976-1980. He was honored as an historian of world repute by being asked to join UNESCO's International Commission for Rewriting the Scientific and Cultural History of Mankind.
As a linguist, published essays on the dialect of the Sea Islands off the Georgia Coast. He also compiled the Swahili Dictionary of Legal Terms, based on his field work in Tanzania, East Africa, in 1967.
He is the author of They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America, which was published by Random House in 1977 and is presently in its twenty-ninth printing. It was published in French in 1981 and in the same year, was awarded the Clarence L. Holte Prize, a prize awarded every two years “for a work of excellence in literature and the humanities relating to the cultural heritage of Africa and the African diaspora.”
He also authored Early America Revisited, a book that has enriched the study of a wide range of subjects, from archaeology to anthropology, and has resulted in profound changes in the reordering of historical priorities and pedagogy.
Professor of African Studies at Rutgers University, Dr. Van Sertima was also Visiting Professor at Princeton University. He was the Editor of the Journal of African Civilizations, which he founded in 1979 and has published several major anthologies which have influenced the development of multicultural curriculum in the United States. These anthologies include Blacks in Science: ancient and modern, Black Women in Antiquity, Egypt Revisited, Egypt: Child of Africa, Nile Valley Civilizations (out of print), African Presence in the Art of the Americas (due 2007), African Presence in Early Asia (co-edited with Runoko Rashidi), African Presence in Early Europe, African Presence in Early America, Great African Thinkers, Great Black Leaders: ancient and modern and Golden Age of the Moor.
As an acclaimed poet, his work graces the pages of River and the Wall, 1953 and has been published in English and German. As an essayist, his major pieces were published in Talk That Talk, 1989, Future Directions for African and African American Content in the School Curriculum, 1986, Enigma of Values, 1979, and in Black Life and Culture in the United States, 1971.
Dr. Van Sertima has lectured at more than 100 universities in the United States and has also lectured in Canada, the Caribbean, South America and Europe. In 1991 Dr. Van Sertima defended his highly controversial thesis on the African presence in pre-Columbian America before the Smithsonian. In 1994 they published his address in Race, Discourse and the Origin of the Americas: A New World View of 1492.
He also appeared before a Congressional Committee on July 7, 1987 to challenge the Columbus myth. This landmark presentation before Congress was illuminating and brilliantly presented in the name of all peoples of color across the world.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 3, 2025
This book is a most recommended read for all Black Women...from ancient Kemet North Africa (Egypt), to the aboriginal Blacks in Europe, to the Americas. Black Women have influence and contributed heavily to society's progression in civilization. All documented facts...Please Black Queen, Black goddesses...know that you are beautiful and the most important woman in all of humanity. I'm saying this not out of arrogance or to gas you up, but out of humility and understanding. The African Black Woman gave birth to ultimately all races of humanity, understand and know your value and remember subconsciously who you are and the representation you bring to the world. Act out of grace, not iniquity. When you remember your value of self, you will never have to compare yourself to other women again because you will know who you are and why you're here. Lead. You are the strength we all need. I thank you Black Women, for being a part of the collective and I'm glad I sprung up from your lineage and I hope that any race of women who loves us will also love you just as much. Only become combative when you have to defend yourself.
While you're here on the earth, study yourself, find your history, find your knowledge of self. There are librariez and resources you can find that will provide you enough clarity to shift the paradigm. Be at peace with yourself when you're on the journey to self discovery. Don't indulge in self abasement. If you love who you are don't be afraid to show it off. When you honor and display the beauty within yourself other women will see that and find beauty in you and themselves as well.
While you're here on the earth, study yourself, find your history, find your knowledge of self. There are librariez and resources you can find that will provide you enough clarity to shift the paradigm. Be at peace with yourself when you're on the journey to self discovery. Don't indulge in self abasement. If you love who you are don't be afraid to show it off. When you honor and display the beauty within yourself other women will see that and find beauty in you and themselves as well.
January 16, 2021
There is a new found pride in my identity after reading this book. It was everything I thought it would be. Black women were the blueprint for so many societies in history. This book a national treasure. It’s truly unfortunate it’s not in print anymore, it’s a book every black woman should read.
January 30, 2008
I learned that African women were indeed powerful and wise rulers of Egypt and Africa, Dr. Van Sertima's research takes the reader to ancient civilizations and the time frame of their ascent on the throne. check it out.
Want to Read
July 27, 2019please how can get this book???
please help me!!!
please help me!!!
May 20, 2026
A DIVERSE SERIES OF ESSAYS, COVERING QUEENS, GODDESSES, AND MORE
Ivan Gladstone Van Sertima (1935-2009) was a Guyanese-born associate professor of Africana Studies at Rutgers University.
He wrote in the Introduction to the updated 1988 edition of this 1984 book, “Most of our writers have concentrated on the queens and goddesses of Ethiopia and Egypt. This has been so, not only because of the fact that documents in the Nile Valley are voluminous compared to the sketchier record in other parts of Africa but because of the imagination of the world, not just that of Africa, was haunted by these black women. They feature just as prominently in European mythology as in African reality. Andromeda, daughter of the Ethiopian king, is taken to wife by the legendary Greek hero, Perseus. Circe, a magician of Homer’s Odyssey, is painted on Greek vases as a black woman. Her niece, Medea… uses her powers to help young Jason in his quest for the golden fleece.
“Larry Williams and Charles Finch trace these women, so prominent in Greek myth, back to their Ethiopian origin. They also introduce us to the most powerful line of all black queens---the Candaces… they point out that unlike the Egyptian queens, who largely owed their authority to being the great wives of pharaohs… the Ethiopian queens were independent rulers… [They] contend, however, that ‘such independent female rulers are found throughout Africa in time and space,’ and that ‘the relative frequency of the queenship---compared to other parts of the world---reflected the persistent matriarchal patterns in Africa through the course of history.’”
Van Sertima continues, “no black queen of ancient times… had such a legend built around her as Makeda, the queen of Sheba. She is known in the Bible as the great black beauty who melted King Solomon’s heart into a song. The child she bore for him, Menelik, started the Solomonic line of Ethiopian kings, a line which, but for an interruption of 300 years, continued right down to the late Haile Selassie. Williams and Finch show that the story of the romance between Solomon and the queen of Sheba probably overshadows more important roles and accomplishments of this black queen. She organized an extensive trade network and ruled an empire larger and more substantial than Solomon’s, her business with him involving commercial and diplomatic settlements, not just romantic concerns. The hospitality he lavished upon her was a tribute not simply to her beauty but to her position of eminence and influence in the ancient world.
“The later Ethiopian queens (300 BC-300 AD) which we have come to know as the Candaces, were among the greatest of African builders, erecting magnificent palaces and tombs, ushering a cultural renaissance that produced some of the finest examples of Meroitic architecture and art. Perhaps the most memorable among them is Amanirenas, who struck back at the Roman invaders under Augustus Caesar. When the Romans occupied Egypt and threatened Nubia, the warrior queen led the Kushite army across the Egyptian border, attacked the Roman-occupied towns, and routed their garrisons, destroying the statues of Caesar. The Romans reacted savagely, sacking the towns of the blacks, razing their capital at Napata. But she retreated and regrouped and struck again, forcing them to renounce the tribute they had imposed upon the people of Lower Nubia in her domain. This was the spirit of these great queens.
“They were not only masters of the state but masters of the spiritual capitals as well… The pharaohs of the 25th dynasty made it a practice to install their female relatives as the high-priestesses of Amon at Thebes. These women were given almost royal privileges and formed a kind of parallel dynasty, with succession from aunt to niece. While the Ethiopian pharaohs rule, there were two lines of high-priestesses---one at Thebes (Mistress of Egypt) and one at Napata (mistress of Kush).
“The power of the queen in Egypt, however, seems to have been (in spite of the same African emphasis on the woman as the key to succession) qualitatively different. Diedre Wimby argues, in fact, that ‘the Kemetic concept of rulership categorically denies this position to women.’ Women came to the throne only under particular circumstances, even though they wielded considerable power behind the throne. If the pharaoh died and left no male heir, then the queen would be allowed to rule until such time as a new dynasty could be initiated. Also, in cases where the king’s only legal heir was too young to assume office, the queen consort was expected to rule until he attained maturity.” (Pg. 5-7)
He continues, “Not one of these Egyptian queens, of course, dominated the times in which she lived, like the Pharaoh Hatshepsut. She is known as a warrior queen and it is true that she was aggressive, overpowering, a born dynast. But her battles were against her own rivals for power in the Egyptian hierarchy. She waged no wars abroad… She organized commercial expeditions instead of military campaigns… She is the most unusual of Egyptian queens… She donned male attire, sported a beard, even referred to herself, and insisted on being referred to, as ‘he.’” (Pg. 7)
He summarizes, “In the end it is the force of personality, the stature of an unusual individual, that overrides these chauvinistic prejudices and conventions. Such an individual was Queen Tyre, mother of Akhnaton, mother-in-law of Nefertiti… she was born in Nubia but reigned as queen consort and queen mother of Egypt for half a century.” (Pg. 8)
Diedre Wimby states, “The foremost and most significant fact to bear in mind when dealing with the issue of women and leadership in ancient Kemet (Egypt) is simply that there was equality between men and women. The women had political power as well as a general voice in the running of the country, as did her sisters in other parts of Africa. The woman had the opportunity to hold high office and was often very wealthy and prosperous. This was in contrast to the situation of her counterpart, the woman of the Near East and Asia. Several women of ancient Kemet ruled the entire nation from time to time and in addition the royal line was determined through the female. Kemet is by far the best documented of the ancient African nations and its female citizens probably had more freedom than any other women in the ancient world. A question often raised is why the office of kingship could not have been … occupied by either the female or the male… The rulership of Kemet was entrusted exclusively to the male… The Egyptian social order was conceived as a preordained portion of the cosmic order. The king was endowed with divine powers…” (Pg. 36)
Eloise McKinney-Johnson explains, “The ancient Egyptians believed that Isis taught women how to comb and curl their hair and that she taught them the pleasures and powers of perfume, and of cosmetics in general… The Egyptians revered Isis as a moon goddess and as an embodiment of all the feminine qualities which render women desirable.” (Pg. 64)
Runoko Rashidi states, “While recognizing the inner African origin of religious myths, we must agree that it is in Egypt, the greatest nation of antiquity, that we find the must substantial documentation for the goddess as an integral part of a major African civilization.” (Pg. 72)
Rosalind Jeffries observes, “The image conveyed by the term ‘prehistoric man’ or ‘caveman’ has led us to envision ancient man as so threatening in his masculinity as to … reduce to diminutive status, ancient woman. This is a false view of the earliest human family, especially of the earliest woman, the Black Woman… Prehistorical women were both passive and aggressive, assertive and forthright on her own, sometimes wielding the power of a god, even as she stood as a reticent supporter behind or at the side of her man.” (Pg. 98)
Essays in the book also cover the Queen of Sheba (Pg. 16-20), Cleopatra (Pg. 126-128), Hypatia (Pg.155-156), and the Black Madonna (Pg. 171-186).
This book will be of great interest to anyone studying ancient women in Africa.
Ivan Gladstone Van Sertima (1935-2009) was a Guyanese-born associate professor of Africana Studies at Rutgers University.
He wrote in the Introduction to the updated 1988 edition of this 1984 book, “Most of our writers have concentrated on the queens and goddesses of Ethiopia and Egypt. This has been so, not only because of the fact that documents in the Nile Valley are voluminous compared to the sketchier record in other parts of Africa but because of the imagination of the world, not just that of Africa, was haunted by these black women. They feature just as prominently in European mythology as in African reality. Andromeda, daughter of the Ethiopian king, is taken to wife by the legendary Greek hero, Perseus. Circe, a magician of Homer’s Odyssey, is painted on Greek vases as a black woman. Her niece, Medea… uses her powers to help young Jason in his quest for the golden fleece.
“Larry Williams and Charles Finch trace these women, so prominent in Greek myth, back to their Ethiopian origin. They also introduce us to the most powerful line of all black queens---the Candaces… they point out that unlike the Egyptian queens, who largely owed their authority to being the great wives of pharaohs… the Ethiopian queens were independent rulers… [They] contend, however, that ‘such independent female rulers are found throughout Africa in time and space,’ and that ‘the relative frequency of the queenship---compared to other parts of the world---reflected the persistent matriarchal patterns in Africa through the course of history.’”
Van Sertima continues, “no black queen of ancient times… had such a legend built around her as Makeda, the queen of Sheba. She is known in the Bible as the great black beauty who melted King Solomon’s heart into a song. The child she bore for him, Menelik, started the Solomonic line of Ethiopian kings, a line which, but for an interruption of 300 years, continued right down to the late Haile Selassie. Williams and Finch show that the story of the romance between Solomon and the queen of Sheba probably overshadows more important roles and accomplishments of this black queen. She organized an extensive trade network and ruled an empire larger and more substantial than Solomon’s, her business with him involving commercial and diplomatic settlements, not just romantic concerns. The hospitality he lavished upon her was a tribute not simply to her beauty but to her position of eminence and influence in the ancient world.
“The later Ethiopian queens (300 BC-300 AD) which we have come to know as the Candaces, were among the greatest of African builders, erecting magnificent palaces and tombs, ushering a cultural renaissance that produced some of the finest examples of Meroitic architecture and art. Perhaps the most memorable among them is Amanirenas, who struck back at the Roman invaders under Augustus Caesar. When the Romans occupied Egypt and threatened Nubia, the warrior queen led the Kushite army across the Egyptian border, attacked the Roman-occupied towns, and routed their garrisons, destroying the statues of Caesar. The Romans reacted savagely, sacking the towns of the blacks, razing their capital at Napata. But she retreated and regrouped and struck again, forcing them to renounce the tribute they had imposed upon the people of Lower Nubia in her domain. This was the spirit of these great queens.
“They were not only masters of the state but masters of the spiritual capitals as well… The pharaohs of the 25th dynasty made it a practice to install their female relatives as the high-priestesses of Amon at Thebes. These women were given almost royal privileges and formed a kind of parallel dynasty, with succession from aunt to niece. While the Ethiopian pharaohs rule, there were two lines of high-priestesses---one at Thebes (Mistress of Egypt) and one at Napata (mistress of Kush).
“The power of the queen in Egypt, however, seems to have been (in spite of the same African emphasis on the woman as the key to succession) qualitatively different. Diedre Wimby argues, in fact, that ‘the Kemetic concept of rulership categorically denies this position to women.’ Women came to the throne only under particular circumstances, even though they wielded considerable power behind the throne. If the pharaoh died and left no male heir, then the queen would be allowed to rule until such time as a new dynasty could be initiated. Also, in cases where the king’s only legal heir was too young to assume office, the queen consort was expected to rule until he attained maturity.” (Pg. 5-7)
He continues, “Not one of these Egyptian queens, of course, dominated the times in which she lived, like the Pharaoh Hatshepsut. She is known as a warrior queen and it is true that she was aggressive, overpowering, a born dynast. But her battles were against her own rivals for power in the Egyptian hierarchy. She waged no wars abroad… She organized commercial expeditions instead of military campaigns… She is the most unusual of Egyptian queens… She donned male attire, sported a beard, even referred to herself, and insisted on being referred to, as ‘he.’” (Pg. 7)
He summarizes, “In the end it is the force of personality, the stature of an unusual individual, that overrides these chauvinistic prejudices and conventions. Such an individual was Queen Tyre, mother of Akhnaton, mother-in-law of Nefertiti… she was born in Nubia but reigned as queen consort and queen mother of Egypt for half a century.” (Pg. 8)
Diedre Wimby states, “The foremost and most significant fact to bear in mind when dealing with the issue of women and leadership in ancient Kemet (Egypt) is simply that there was equality between men and women. The women had political power as well as a general voice in the running of the country, as did her sisters in other parts of Africa. The woman had the opportunity to hold high office and was often very wealthy and prosperous. This was in contrast to the situation of her counterpart, the woman of the Near East and Asia. Several women of ancient Kemet ruled the entire nation from time to time and in addition the royal line was determined through the female. Kemet is by far the best documented of the ancient African nations and its female citizens probably had more freedom than any other women in the ancient world. A question often raised is why the office of kingship could not have been … occupied by either the female or the male… The rulership of Kemet was entrusted exclusively to the male… The Egyptian social order was conceived as a preordained portion of the cosmic order. The king was endowed with divine powers…” (Pg. 36)
Eloise McKinney-Johnson explains, “The ancient Egyptians believed that Isis taught women how to comb and curl their hair and that she taught them the pleasures and powers of perfume, and of cosmetics in general… The Egyptians revered Isis as a moon goddess and as an embodiment of all the feminine qualities which render women desirable.” (Pg. 64)
Runoko Rashidi states, “While recognizing the inner African origin of religious myths, we must agree that it is in Egypt, the greatest nation of antiquity, that we find the must substantial documentation for the goddess as an integral part of a major African civilization.” (Pg. 72)
Rosalind Jeffries observes, “The image conveyed by the term ‘prehistoric man’ or ‘caveman’ has led us to envision ancient man as so threatening in his masculinity as to … reduce to diminutive status, ancient woman. This is a false view of the earliest human family, especially of the earliest woman, the Black Woman… Prehistorical women were both passive and aggressive, assertive and forthright on her own, sometimes wielding the power of a god, even as she stood as a reticent supporter behind or at the side of her man.” (Pg. 98)
Essays in the book also cover the Queen of Sheba (Pg. 16-20), Cleopatra (Pg. 126-128), Hypatia (Pg.155-156), and the Black Madonna (Pg. 171-186).
This book will be of great interest to anyone studying ancient women in Africa.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews