Ancient Queenship (Art, Power, and Presence)

This publication explores the meaning, functions and representations of royal feminine power across the ancient world to the present day.

In the ancient Mediterranean and West Asian worlds, queens and royal dynastic women, including Arsinoe II, Ada, Naqia and Cleopatra VII, maintained power through their artistic portrayal, their cultural patronage and their relationship with cult worship. Ancient Queenship: Art, Power, and Presence recovers the lived experiences, responsibilities and public personas of dynastic women. Sources drawn from the first millennium BCE to today question our assumptions on queenly status, and ask us to reconsider who holds power, to examine how histories are created and altered, and to center the often-unexplored narratives of royal women.

The volume looks at how the theme of queenship has been “re-owned” and repositioned over time by creating conversation between ancient objects and artworks and ephemera dating from the fifteenth through the twenty-first century. These dynamic visions of ancient feminine power occupy new contexts in contemporary popular culture. The blurring of the historical and archaeological records with more modern mythologies, especially those of Salome and the Queen of Sheba, continue to facilitate new connections with royal women over 2000 years old.

Ancient Queenship features over 60 artworks drawn from international museum collections, and includes a specially-commissioned piece by contemporary artist Maryam Yousif.